I’ll be honest; I thought this class was about the gamification strategies of tech products (yes, I completely misread the description). I remember in the first class, Christina asked what makes a game, and I responded with the definition of gamification (which I thought was the definition of a game). Then she said that’s actually gamification and you should take CSXXX (I forgot the exact name)…Then I remembered thinking, “I don’t know what I signed up for.” After the first class, I was hooked. It was so different than any other class I’d taken, and the last time I physically made things was in high school. But it seemed so exciting and unfamiliar, and the energy from you and Christina, as well as the students, was infectious. By far, this was the best class I’ve taken. Before this class, I thought that game design was mostly about the aesthetics and design. I thought games could be built in a few days, and the most important part was creating cool characters and pretty visuals. I had no idea what MDAO was or how much iteration was actually needed (more on this later). I had no idea that building games required so much depth of thought.
In this class, I did and learned so much. Learning the MDAO framework was so interesting because it helped me break down the games I’ve played my whole life into a systematic process. For the first time, I saw that there was actually a method to the design process. In p1/p4, I learned that actually USING MDAO to achieve a specific learning goal is a lot harder than I expected. I saw how each step of the framework contributed something unique to the game experience. It was challenging to also design a game that was educational but fun at the same time, and I’m proud to say that I think our game was able to do that. I also saw the value of playtesting. Before our first playtest, I was so confident that our game was good to go, and I couldn’t have been more wrong (we ended up changing the premise of the game entirely). I learned just how important constant testing with intent is, and it’s something I’ll do for anything I build. Going into p2, I had no idea what IF was (in fact, I never even heard of it). I’ll admit, this was the most challenging project for me as well, since I’m not too big on reading either. I ended up playing around with a bunch of different mediums, and actually ended up building my medium fromn scratch to deliver the experience that I wanted. I also learned how important vivid writing is for IF, expecially in the context of creating empathy. I learned that small words, adjustments, and descriptions actually end up going a long way, and that’s definitely something that I’ll carry into other projects that I work on.
P3 was also quite challenging for me, because I tend to struggle with games that have a lot of rules and components. Initially, I thought that all these moving parts added an unnecessary level of complications, but after learning how these systems actually work, it made a lot more sense to me; I saw the structure within all the parts. I think the topic of p3 was also very good because it was the most specific (we had to model a system). The brainstorming process was very exciting because we all drew from our experiences and models we had experiences observing or been a part of. Battle of the Bands was definitely the most ambitious project we did (especially with the speed we had to work at), but I think by actually building a systems game of my own, I was able to start fully appreciating all the systems game that I often overlooked. I also really enjoyed the cadence of the class because it allowed me to feel continuity (I never had to relearn parts or forgot what I was working on). I thought it was a lot of work, but nothing unbearable.
Lastly, sketchnotes were the biggest curveball for me. I was never good at art, so initially, sketchnotes were quite difficult for me. It also felt so unfamiliar to translate the text I read into graphics, icons, and images. But they ended up helping a lot more than I expected; by the 4th or 5th sketchnote, I felt that I was actually retaining the information a lot better and thus, I was able to extrapolate ideas from my learnings a lot more effeciently.
In conclusion, whenever I make games in the future, there are a lot of things I’d do. First, I’d spend a lot more time on the mechanics and dynamics of the game, since these will contribute to a large part of the user experience. I’d also focus a lot on having a clear goal for the game at the start, because I learned that it’s really easy to fall into the trap of building something “cool” but that doesn’t resonate with the players. Most importantly, playtest…playtest…playtest. For any game that I build in the future, I’d focus on extensive playtesting so I properly understand how different users feel about the game.
Overall, this class was simply wonderful. I learned so much, got to make new friends, and honestly, part of my felt like a little kid again when I got to physically make things. I had a great time and will definitely recommend this class to all my friends. Thank you Butch and Christina!
