Before this class, I thought about game design from a player perspective and what I thought people would want to play. But after playtesting, I saw how everyone had different perspectives, some wanting features that I would like to play with and some people without, which taught me a lot about accessibility and making sure the game’s design is broad enough to be understood and be played by a wide group of people. I played more games this quarter than I have in a long time, and I learned about how playing games stimulate creativity and learning about apps from a design perspective. The MDA class concepts stuck with me now because whenever I play a game, I think about how the game is intending for players to feel. I also really like sketchnoting now and I think it’s really helpful to take notes and visualize them especially when looking back on them rather than a long list of bulleted notes. I implemented these course concepts into my work generally by sketching more in other classes, like my machine learning class. I experienced challenges in thinking more generally because I’m usually someone who focuses on a niche group, but when designing for larger groups, considering different aspects that go into a game help me think more from a designer perspective than a player perspective. I grew from a player to a designer, and being able to both playtest other games and seeing other people playtest my games helped me see what makes players have “fun.” If I keep working on my games, I would love to create an entire game and release it. I have found so much joy in both playing and creating games from this class!
