Before CS247G I thought about game design as a very player minded setup, I thought that these designers thought exactly like players to develop these games; this class showed me that that’s in fact not the case. Designers have to make game in a separate mindset from that of the players (the critical plays really enforced that).
The concepts that have really stuck with me are the 8 kinds of fun, and the cursed problem designing. The 8 kinds of fun really helped throughout the quarter, because while I was designing, play testing, or even just thinking about a game I was constantly trying to figure out what kind of fun it was and how it added to the experience of the game overall. I implemented it into my work by really trying to hone in on a few types when designing both project one and project two and coming up with clear additions that emphasized that type of fun. Cursed problems was a lot later in the quarter, but it’s stuck with me since it’s such an interesting concept. Figuring out how to get two promises that really can’t work together to somehow fit in a way that doesn’t sacrifice too much either way is so cool. I tried to implement this in our final project when we wanted to make sure there was a bit of strategy without obvious luck overruling a skill win in a mini game.
I experienced a lot of challenges in this class, I had never built a digital game before, and I was extremely nervous about having to use a new system to attempt something that’s already difficult. It was also extremely challenging for me to think like a designer instead of player while play testing games over the course of the quarter. I felt that I improved in both areas but it was definitely a challenge.
I grew, in that I added a lot to my design repertoire. I feel comfortable designing for games now, and I understand how to apply and modify the design process to game design. I really added to my knowledge about games and learned a lot about how to present myself as a designer in the industry. My skills at game design and brainstorming is where I think I took the biggest step forward, learning how to just bounce some crazy ideas for a premise and then seeing how to make something stick is definitely something that I improved upon greatly this quarter.
Next time I design a game, I’m going to focus more on the backend part of the code, and find a better way to balance luck and skill in the game.
I’m so incredibly glad that I took this class, and wouldn’t change a thing <3
playing games is easy, making games that are fun is hard! But I think it’s a fun kind of hard. So glad you enjoyed the class!:D