I remember when this game was like the game. I’m not someone who watches other adults play video games on the internet, but there’s a lot of people who are. And those people loved watching other adults play this game. I’d see it on the YouTube front page all the time. All of this to say, I had no clue the game was about black people. I thought it was just about robots. It’s nice to know that so many people took to a game about addressing inequality and prejudice in our world. I wish everyone had to play that black robot game.
Post thoughts on Assassin’s Creed
I don’t see the point of this. If I want to learn about ancient Egypt, I’m not looking to Assassin’s Creed. I’m probably going to – I don’t know – pick up a book.
Post thoughts on Monopoly
I love Monopoly. Money is so cool. I usually try to keep to myself in Monopoly games. I don’t think I have ever made it to the hotel stage of property ownership. I just like having the cash. In this class, I had to play with the woman rules, which prevented me from accumulating the cash surplus I’m accustomed to.
Post thoughts on McDon’s
No computer game could ever infuriate me. I’m too advanced to do that. But seeing everyone in the class rake it in on that McDonald’s game – while I could barely keep five cows alive – almost got me there. I think everyone above the age of 6 knows there has to be something sinister going on behind the scenes at McDon’s for their fries to be so delightful, so this game didn’t really open my eyes to anything. The boardroom and corporate sectors were a nice touch, though. In terms of showing corruption. Imperialism and livestock mutilation might not be enough for some people.
Generate 5 new game ideas that explore changing players minds about … (climate change, energy, politics, etc.)
- Game about doing everything right as a black astronaut and still not being allowed to go to space
- Game where you’re a beloved politician, but no matter how right or informed one of your decisions seems, you only see the worst outcomes
- Game that makes you dissect the mice used to test common medicines (this is not a statement against common medicine I just went out with a girl who does that as a research job and thought it was insane how frequently and mercilessly they kill mice)
- Game that simulates short term memory loss symptoms by dropping the player into high-context conversations – without the necessary context (maybe you can tattoo yourself like in Memento)
- Game that puts you in the position of an American Defense Planner after being notified of an unprecedented nuclear attack. There are no rules.
Post thoughts on iCivics
- I. Love. ICivics. I think I shared about all my thoughts in class, whether you wanted to hear them or not.
- Even so, in having that much love for the iCivics platform, I can admit that they are so totally useless. I never learned anything about bills or laws or gerrymandering when we played these in high school. I just wanted to have more fictional money or upset more of my fictional constituents than my chums.
- If I wanted to learn about those judicial systems and processes, I could go to a real .gov site or pick up a book. Games – at least games like that – can’t teach those things.
Post thoughts on advergames
- I have a hard time imagining the circumstances that would lead to an average person downloading or purchasing one of these games. I think they’re funny. I think that first race in the M&M’s kart game was hilarious. But I cannot see a world where anyone loads up a second race.
- I definitely fell victim to some of the Subway-Surfers Temple-Run franchised remakes, but I was also in fourth grade when the Minions version of that running and swiping game came out.
Post thoughts on Calvin Ball
I have never read Calvin and Hobbes. When I say that, people often think less of me. It’s a comic strip from, like, twenty years ago.
Any way. I can’t imagine the inventor of Calvin and Hobbes knew that Robert Morris University would offer a Game Design Studio class – let alone two iterations of it. That being said, a game like Calvin Ball is a perfectly approachable way of asking the hard-to-approach question of “What’s a rule, really?”
I don’t think this game is a game to be played more than once. I know that’s part of the “rules”. But even in practice, one game of Calvin Ball is enough to remind you of any established game that you could play to pass whatever time you were passing by playing Calvin Ball.
Did Luke Conte do a good job?
He did a great job, in fact.
He asked me everything those “pro” questions asked, just in different, chiller phrasing.
| Real Questions | Luke Questions |
| What is the goal of this task? | What can you crochet? |
| What conditions or context must be present to start the task? | Who crochets? |
| What is the reason for this task? | Why do people crochet? |
| What actions and decisions must be implemented to complete the task? | How do you crochet? |
| What concepts, processes or principle knowledge is required to adjust this task to fit novel elements? | Where do you learn to crochet? |
| What equipment and materials are required? | What kinds of yarn do we need? |
| What performance standards must be achieved? | How do you know if you’re crocheting right? |
In teams of 3 generate 5 game ideas for games that do not have an explicit end state, exploring viral spread and changeable rules)
- Soccer 2 with infinite substitutions and halves
- Capitalism simulator: Make money until you die
- Deep space explorer (black screen with occasional dots of varying color)
- Sisyphus game with purchasable accessories and alternate stones
- Game builder game (Unity engine but styled in a way that makes it look like you’re achieving something)
Five Issues
- Love
- ACL Tears
- Baby Formula Shortage
- The Two Party System
- Racial Prejudice
This is my game review can you see it
5 game ideas that revolve around a theme of of my choice
My theme is drawing
A game where two teams get different prompts, but have to draw on the same surface to get the other team to guess what their drawing is of. There would be a limit of how long one team can draw, so as to not just make a mess.
A game where players add lines to a sort of open-ended illustration, and the others vote on the best interpretation.
Pictionary-style game, but the drawer has to wear some sort of distorted goggles.
A game where players draw a mask of a famous celebrity or character, pass them to the player next to them, then have to guess who they are through a series of questions.
A narrative style game where the story is dependent on the best drawing a player conjures of their preferred plot point.
Collecting Games
A game that is basically Pokemon Go, but for sports trading cards, so you could use sports arenas and landmarks as stops.
A game where you can convince members of the other players’ tribes to join your tribe as you traverse a shared environment.
A video game where you’re a robot that can equip other parts of robots you overtake to become a sort of unkillable (or very hard to kill, rather) centipede robot.
A game that exists in town from the show South Park where you collect members of the show to unlock new scenes and scenarios.
A Beatles game where you drive around Liverpool collecting new chords to make new songs, much like IRL.
Collaborative Games
The Way of the Dragon is a board game in which the players protect and build their villages by establishing stable and compassionate trade routes with other villages.
Cardisaur is a card game in which the players complete a “dinosaur skeleton” by drawing cards from a large pool.
Boiling! is a mobile phone game in which the players must figure out who in their group is the odd man out by moving one step each turn, and their phone telling them if they are ”hotter” or “colder”.
Late for Work is a board game in which the players have to find the quickest route across the city using their unique municipal functions, all while navigating obstacles placed by the lone antagonist.
Invention Convention is a drawing game in which the players create the most useful and/or marketable invention by using the prompts and features the game provides.