Author: Barson

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Maize Runner Game

Rules:

Each player will start in a different quadrant, signified by the openings on the end of the maze.

Players will roll to see who goes first, highest number goes first, second highest goes second, etc.

Players will roll a single dice to determine how many spaces they move.

If a player rolls a 6, they get to place a wall piece to block off another players path.

If a player lands on a green dot space, you get a card to remove a wall that can be used once.

First person to the end of the maze wins the game, game can continue for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.

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Game Ideas: Week 4

  1. RGB: A game where players race to create a specific color pattern using colored tiles. Each player has a small board and a deck of color cards, each showing a different pattern. The goal is to match the pattern shown on the card using the tiles, but the tiles are drawn randomly.
  2. Maize: Players try to escape from a maze before the other players, but they can only move based on a limited number of dice rolls that tell them how far they can move and in what direction. If a 1 is rolled, the player doesn’t move but gets to draw a card for certain items that can be used in game.
  3. Stack’d: A competitive stacking game where players must stack objects based on a random card. The challenge could be stacking in specific patterns, building the tallest tower, or balancing objects.

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Week 3 Game Ideas

  1. Players take on the roles of characters who are experiencing challenges outside their usual reality. Each level is a different scenario where the player must complete tasks while dealing with the limitations of their character’s situation. The objective is to navigate the world and its challenges by understanding and overcoming barriers that others face every day.
  2. This narrative-driven game lets players experience stories of various characters from different backgrounds. Each character has a backstory, and players interact with them to build relationships, solving puzzles or helping them through life challenges. Players must learn to listen and respond, using dialog choices that reflect understanding and compassion.
  3. Players are tasked with conflicts between two groups or individuals who have opposing beliefs. They must facilitate understanding, find common ground, and propose solutions that benefit both sides. Success in the game depends on the player’s ability to listen to both sides.
  4. In this puzzle game, players connect pieces of a heart-shaped puzzle by guiding the emotions of characters. Each piece of the heart represents a different character’s journey, and players must work through these emotions to heal relationships. Players must navigate through obstacles, building empathy by learning the motivations, fears, and desires of the characters they encounter.
  5. Players experience the same events from the perspective of multiple people, where each character is affected by the situation in different ways. For example, during a natural disaster, players might experience it as a rescuer, a survivor, and a displaced family member. The game asks players to switch between perspectives and understand how individuals perceive the same event differently, teaching players to view the world through others’ eyes and make decisions that consider multiple viewpoints.

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Week 3 Questions

  • how does mary flanagan’s definition of game differ from chris crawford’s as well as the definition crafted by katie salen and eric zimmerman? 

Flanagan emphasizes that games can be seen as a form of cultural expression, while Crawford sees games as systems of interaction, focusing on the idea that games are interactive stories. Salen and Zimmerman define games more formally as structured activities

  • what is an activist game?

An activist game is a game designed with the intention of making a political, social, or cultural statement.

  • go and chess are examples of games that feature “perfect information”, what other games share that feature?

Checkers, Tic tac toe, connect four

  • why might chance or gambling games hold spiritual or religious importance to ancient cultures?

Chance or gambling games may have held spiritual or religious significance because they represent the unpredictability of life or the will of the gods.

  • when was the earliest battle between government/ religious groups and games? what modern games can you think of that have been banned or demonized?

One of the earliest recorded battles over games can be traced back to ancient Rome, where authorities sought to limit or ban games of chance like dice. In more recent years, D&D has been demonized.

  • what is a fox game, and what would be a modern example?

A fox game refers to a game that involves trickery, manipulation, or misdirection. A modern example would be Mafia.

  • what was the purpose or intent of the game: Mansion of Happiness?

Mansion of Happiness was a board game that was designed to teach children about virtue and the consequences of their actions.

  • Why do artists from the Fluxus and Surealist movements play games? Why did Surealists believe games might help everyone?

Fluxus artists were interested in the breakdown of traditional art forms and the idea of making art part of everyday life, while Surealists believed that games could reveal the unconscious mind and inspire creativity.

  • Changes in what can signal profound changes in games?

Changes in the social, cultural, or political environment can signal changes in the design and purpose of games.

  • What statements did Fluxus artists make by reskinning games like monopoly and ping pong?

By reskinning games like Monopoly and Ping Pong, Fluxus artists were challenging the commercialization of play.

  • How are artists like Lilian Ball, Marcel Duchamp, Takako Saito, Yoko Ono, Gabriel Orozco and Ruth Catlowusing war games?

These artists have engaged with war games as a means of avoiding traditional understandings of conflict and violence.

  • Why is it important for players to have agency in a critical or serious game?

Agency in serious games is important because it allows players to feel that their actions have consequences.

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Week 4 Questions

  • what learning games have you played? can you categorize them by the theory of learning types: behaviorism, constructivism, constructivism or social nature? if you played more than one which was the most effective?

I have played Behaviorism games (Duolingo), constructivism games (say minecraft), and social constructivism (fortnite). I personally like constructivism games, since they keep the player engaged and you have to take initiative.

  • is gamification bullshit, what is ian bogost’s argument and do you agree? where have you encountered it outside of class and what was your experience?

He argues that gamification reduces the complexities of human motivation. I think there’s truth to Bogost’s critique, especially when gamification is used in a way that feels artificial. I have personally seen it in health apps.

  • What is a serious game and why aren’t they chocolate covered broccoli?

A serious game is a game designed for a purpose beyond entertainment, such as education, training, or social change. The reason they aren’t choccy broccy is because serious games are designed to engage and entertain while still serving a meaningful purpose.

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Intergroup Monopoly

If you love Monopoly you will probably dislike this game, but the point of the game isn’t to be good, but rather to be an example.

In the game, there are 4 different classes (White Male, Females, Minorities, and 1%). Each class has different rules they must follow. The game is basically rigged towards the 1% to win, but that’s the point since it’s how the US functions.

I enjoyed playing this game just because it’s another Monopoly game but isn’t like the rest because there are rules specific towards players. You will get mad playing the game, but you’ll also have plenty of laughs and that’s what the game is about. Definitely plan on playing this one again with my friends.

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7Up Game

This game is an example of a game that is simply not good. I found it very hard to defeat the enemies due to the elevation change in the map and only being able to shoot side to side or down. If you are on a hill, it is very hard to kill an enemy without jumping above it and shooting down, but if you miss you die since you are falling right on top of it. 4/10 would play again if someone had it plugged in, but wouldn’t go out of my way.

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Game Review M&M Kart Racing

In this game, it is basically a knock off of Mario Kart but with M&Ms. The graphics are overall pretty bad, but not terrible considering the time period. The physics are also super unrealistic. But overall, the game is awesome just because it is that bad of a game. Sometimes there isn’t a good reason to play a game other than it being a bad game, but that’s what makes it so fun.

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5 new game ideas that explore changing players minds about … (climate change, energy, politics, etc.)

Pollution Simulator

In this game, your goal is to either pollute the earth or to fight pollution. On the Pollution side of the game, you get to see which products cause the most pollution. On the fighting pollution side of the game, you get to fight it in ways that you think might help but do just as much damage (cough cough electric cars).

Presidential Race

In this game, you basically have to build a plot to beat the other political party. You do this by researching weak / strong points in the others argument. But in the process of doing this, you may end up realizing that you don’t support certain aspects of a political party and could end up fighting on the other side by the end of it.

Electric Racing

In this game, it’s a simple racing game that would be similar to Forza, NFS, etc. But in this game, all the cars are electric rather than a traditional combustion engine. There is barely any sound in the game due to no engines, the cars understeer like crazy due to the weight of the battery, and the wrecks are boring because no gasoline is exploding. This changes the players mind about electric vs. gas cars since they realize how boring they are.

Deepfake

Players work as detectives by analyzing news, social media, and videos to find out what news is fake. As players uncover tactics that are used to fake media, they gain tools they can use to recognize fake news. This can help encourage skepticism of misinformation so people are not as gullible as they are now.

ICE Simulator

In this game, you play as an ICE officer and do what they do best. But during this, you have to determine which immigrants should and should not be deported. This may seem like a controversial game, but the catch is that the people you are trying to find can either be really good or really bad people. So you may either have a civilized conversation and come to an agreement, or you might be in a gun fight. The aim of this game is to spread awareness on what is going on and to simply make the player change their attitude for good or worse.

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Week 2 Question Set

  • what advergames have you played? did they influence a purchase?
  • Skate 3 may be a far reach, but for those who don’t know it is one of the largest and most popular skate games ever made. It can be considered and advergame though due to the large amount of brands incorporated into the game. You can wear Vans, Converse, Nike, etc. This did influence me into buying a specific skateboard I had in the game.
  • why do the advergames tooth protector and escape work? What makes chase the chuckwagon and shark bait fail?
  • Tooth protector works since it makes learning about dental hygiene fun. Escape is fun because it gives a sense of adventure and urgency, keeping you playing. Chase and Shark Bait fail due to possible lack of engagement, if the product placement or gimmicks of the game are too obvious is can shy players away.
  • what does volvo’s drive for life accomplish? 
  • They incorporated their safety features into the gameplay narrative, and by doing so it positions itself as a leader in safety for their cars. It also implants into your head that you like Volvos due to the game which can cause you to lean towards one in your next car purchase without even realizing.
  • what company used in-advergame advertising 
  • In the case of Skate 3 which is the game I played, there was plenty of advertising for Dr. Pepper as well as Miracle Whip. In the game, you can even play as a Dr. Pepper can as part of a promotion closer to the games release.
  • what was one if the first home-console advergames and what beverage was it for? 
  • Kool-Aid Man on the Atari was very early, with Pepsi Man later coming to the Playstation.
  • what makes the toilet training game sophisticated and do you agree?
  •  Ian Boogost argues that the toilet training game is sophisticated because of its ability to portray drunkenness by having to relieve yourself. The game directly relates to the product by incorporating the “solution” as the product.
  • what do advergames and anti-advergames have in common, and what principles do they share?
  • They are both trying to convince you of something. But, advergames are meant to be in favor of one thing and anti-advergames are the opposite. But at the end of the day, they are both promoting a product, and there is no such thing as bad publicity.
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Week 1 Question Set

  1. Ian Bogost shows that social games such as Cow Clicker, are usually boring and overall repetitive. In this game, you click a cow every few hours which just relies on the players addictive tendencies.
  2. Games like Farm Ville use friends as resources, which can make friendships sort of more like a transaction / sale rather than a real connection or bond.
  3. Social games force players to check in once in a while or watch advertisements in order to skip timers. By doing this, you feeled tied up in the game since you are waiting for a timer to run out.

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Skater Skirmish: Version 1

Attached above is the first version of our game skater skirmish. In this iteration, the skatepark was much larger and less refined than the final version.

In this version, the deck of cards was also much smaller and included a smaller amount of tricks. I believe this version was important since it gave us a stepping stone to do much better, from a design that already took us long enough.

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Shark Game Review

The game really didn’t have many rules, and was written in a poem format that made it difficult. I’d like to see more action and competition overall. I do not remember the full extent of the game, but I wouldn’t change much other than just adding more to it.

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Dominion

The game was fun, but the turns felt repetitive since we didn’t use any curse cards, which led to more buying than playing action cards. Player interactions were minimal because there wasn’t any attacking, and most of us didn’t use action cards since they weren’t necessary. It took about 15 minutes to grasp the basic rules and around almost an hour to play smoothly. I’d maybe like to play again, especially with all the cards and rules fully in play, as there were many parts we didn’t use.

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Game Review

Was it fun?

Simply yes

What were the players’ interactions?

Being able to place a tile and eliminate another player.

Would you play it again?

Yes, but it is sort of repetitive.

How long did it take to learn?

3-5 Minutes

Analyze the game using the 3-act structure.

In the beginning, it starts simple by following your own path, in the middle it gets hard because the lines are getting confusing, and in the end everyone is basically analyzing the board to see if there is a way they cannot be eliminated.

What is the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?

Being able to force them off the board.

What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout?

I like that the game was simple to understand, and doesn’t have much of a learning curve and that makes a lot of room for developing a strategy.