I took this class for a few reasons, chief among them was that a class about game design that wasnt just about video games intrigued me, with a close second that I have had experience with making games before and I wanted to see how what I knew could be applied or changed in this class. In no aspect of this class was I dissapointed. I do think a big factor of what I enjoyed about this class was that it was my first project based college class, meaning that I was comparing it to classes solely built around lecture, or project based classes in highschool. A part of what made this course so engaging was the options and framework around the building and functioning of the teams was incredible as well. Giving information about what I wanted for a project and having a team built with people interested in a project in a similar way was a step away from arbritary team assignments(the fact that anyone in the class almost certainly took it because they wanted to and werent forced to also probably helped with the atmosphere), being around people who are present and enthusiastic is a large part of being able to do the projects in a way that I can learn from and not just feel like I am slogging through. Besides the projects a large part of this course were the sketchnotes and critical plays, which gave ideas and frameworks to use within the projects, or give new insights to avoid or revise problems in what I was doing in a project was amazing. The critical plays gave examples to work off of or to compare, and it got me to actually play some games. I have major motivation issues with actually doing things, and having an outside force that I respect to tell me that I should be doing this thing really helps me do it. I have started or played through so many things which I would have taken years more to even think about starting that I do count that as one of the greater things I got out from this class, a motivation to play more games.Yes they are fun, but the combination of “I want to change what I am doing right now(which is nothing), but kinda dont and cant” and decision paralysis is a nasty combo. This has given me a framework to work through that in. The second but no less important effect the critical plays had was giving me more of a headspace to look at games from a designers perspective, not just look at the design. Before this class I would try and figure out how things worked and were made, but now I look at why or look at what it working that way does to the experience. When I would stop at mechanics before, I now go onto view the dynamics and aesthetic. That is to say that a big thing I learned from this class is how to change my perspective
