Final Class Reflection – Mateo LF

I never saw the point of games. They felt like running away. I did not grow up playing them. I did not like being bad at things. I did not like learning in front of others. Games felt noisy. Not serious. Not true.

But something changed.

In this class, I played. I watched. I listened. I spent long nights staring at my studio computer. I tried. I failed. I tried again. Slowly, I began to see what games can do. How they hold meaning in silence. How they create space for people to meet, not just through words, but through action, through risk, through play.

I made a game called Masquerade. I thought about the space between players. I thought about what is revealed and what is kept hidden. I wanted to make something that lets people see each other differently, even just for a moment. It was hard. Harder than I thought. Making a game that works is hard. Making a game that feels right is even harder.
Working with this group was hard. We had different rhythms, different ways of thinking. It took time to understand each other. It took patience. But we finished it. And I learned a lot.

Then I made The Last Acorn, a game about selflessness. A meditation. Beautiful music. Seamless mechanics. A stillness at the center of it. This time, the group felt different. We had great chemistry. We trusted each other. We worked quietly, steadily. Ideas flowed. The game came together with care.
Some ideas stayed with me. The way systems shape behavior. The idea that games are not just played, they are felt. That every rule is a kind of invitation. That every choice is a small act of trust. That design is about people. That care is a mechanic.

Group work taught me how to ask for help. How to listen. How to make room for other people’s ideas. How to give up control without giving up the vision.

I found a home in this class. I found Nina. I found friends. I found myself staying up late not because I had to, but because I wanted to.

Next time I will do things exactly as I did them the second time. I will listen closely. I will trust the process. I am interested in making games that are meditations. Games that can bring calm. Games that breathe. Games that feel like quiet. And I will keep making them. Because I now believe that play is not an escape. It is a return.