1. Using Kobold’s guide as inspiration, every game should have an identity. James Ernest’s segment on the distinction between rules, mechanics, and the key to “good” games explains that games are not the sum of their parts. Each game has an identity that justifies its mechanics. If a game’s mechanics are not in tune with the game’s identity, then players may not find it interesting. To support this, James claims that mechanics are identifiable, yet are not entirely transferable. All games have mechanics, but great mechanics work in tandem with the game’s identity. You cannot create a great game from analyzing the exact mechanics of another. I like my favorite games because every aspect of the game is made with identity in mind, mechanics are thoughtfully implemented to create a specific experience.
   
2. Here is a small list of games from my steam library
   Furi – Onnamusha
   Ready Or Not
   Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game
   Dungeons of Hinterberg
   PC Building Simulator
   Balatro
   Resident Evil 4
   Valheim
   Noita
   ULTRAKILL
   GRIS
   RESIDENT EVIL 3
   RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE:2 Standard Edition
   Resident Evil 0 / biohazard 0 HD Remaster (ROW Launch)
   OneShot
   Furi
   Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition
   Resident Evil / biohazard HD REMASTER
   Resident Evil 6 Complete
   Kerbal Space Program
   Star Birds Demo
   3DMark Demo
   9 Kings Demo
   The Last Stand: Aftermath
   Nitro Express
   Risk of Rain 2
   R.E.P.O.
   Haste
   Demon Tides Demo
   Solarpunk Demo
   Am I Nima Demo
   Warfare Legacy Collection Demo
   Machine Mind Demo Demo
   Icaria Demo
   Mech Havoc Demo
   Heroes of Hammerwatch II Demo
   Sky: Children of the Light
   Awaria
   Stacklands
   Inscryption
   Slay the Spire
   Hades
   Rebel Inc: Escalation
   Darkest Dungeon
   Risk of Rain
   Factorio: Space Age
   Mullet Mad Jack Demo
   Retrowave
   Realm of the Mad God
   Frostrain
   Lethal Company
   Hearts of Iron IV
   Bitburner
   SIGNALIS
   Farlanders
   Against the Storm
   Unsighted
   Into the Breach
   Frostpunk
   OpenTTD
   Quasimorph: End of Dream
   Steam Engine Simulator
   Sonic Generations Collection
   Factorio
   Stoneshard: Prologue
   Hyper Light Drifter
   Enter the Gungeon
   The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
   The Complex: Found Footage
   Tomb Raider
   Space Engineers
   Destiny 2
   Destiny 2: Legendary Edition
   STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™
   Apex Legends
   Splitgate
   Arid
   Muck
   Dead by Daylight
   Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege – Deluxe Edition
   Oxygen Not Included – Spaced Out!
   tModLoader
   Craftopia
   Among Us
   Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Free Edition
   Uno
   The Forest
   The Colonists
   Absolver
   Scrap Mechanic
   Fallout Shelter
   Rust
   The Long Dark
   Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (NA)
   Sheltered
   Warframe
   ASTRONEER
   Oxygen Not Included
   Don’t Starve Together
   Plague Inc: Evolved
   Garry’s Mod
   Geometry Dash
   Terraria
   Unturned
   
3. While my favorite games often blur the distinction between “acts” or definite moments in the player’s story or progression, my favorite games do one of two things. They either leave the story solely in the players’ hands, or they craft enough of a structure to entice the player to play the game and experience the story. A game like Minecraft has no definite strory, it encourages players to make their own. Progression in the form of better tools, weapons and armor encourages the player to seek better materials all while they shape the world as they see fit, creating a story of surviving and thriving. A more story-driven game like Pokemon entices the players with interesting premises and innovative gamplay to encourage the player to stick around.
   
4. Both approaches are effective ways to create a game, as long as they service each other. I personally like to create ideas starting from it’s purpose. The metaphor can help guide the subsequent mechanics, story, and theme. With this approach you can ask whether an implementation sucessfully highlights the metahpor you are trying to show. But, the opposite approach is valid. Large games evolve from simple mechanics all of the time.
   
5. I think it’d be interesting to collaborate with other classes or campus organization to create official art or garner support for the games we make.

1. An interesting campus-wide game can be an assassin-type game. All players are given a mark, whether that be a specific target or a general description of a target. They are tasked with eliminating that player and taking a possession of theirs to prove the deed was done. After a certain number of rounds, or after a large percentage of the players are eliminated, the stakes can be raised. Bounties can be placed on the players with the highest eliminations, challenges to eliminations (you have to eliminate your target in a specific building) can be imposed, and the remaining assassins can fight their way to victory. 

2. An idea for the entirety of campus could be a series of games similar to Mr Beast’s “Beast Games”. In one game in particular, groups of people are tasked with nominating a leader, who will then be tempted to betray their team for their own benefit. If the leader betrays the team, then they can receive a reward and stay in the game, while their subordinates are eliminated. This concept adds layers to the game being played and adds to the cooperation and “conflict” aspects of the game. 

3. I personally believe that the floors in the dorm hall need more decoration. So I decided to make a game out of it. All floors are tasked with deciding on a theme for their floor, and are given a budget to make it happen. After a set amount of time, faculty, and a designated student from each floor votes on the winner. 

4. An outbreak game would be an interesting way of getting students to collaborate, think critically, and explore ways to solve problems. A zombie outbreak infects one student, who has to infect as many other students as possible. Rules would be in place that prevent students from disrupting class, running in buildings, or disturbing others. For example, infections can only take place outside, and zombies must wear a red cloth. As the game continues, events could take place to enhance the experience. 

4. A game that turns campus into a RTS (real time strategy game) could unite clubs, fraternities, and even the uncommitted together. Students are categorized into groups, with control over a building like Madison hall, or the rec center. The goal of each group is to maintain and expand their territory, eliminating the competition that they face in the process. At the end of the event, the groups with the most territory win.

1. Every successful game must keep players engaged throughout. If a game struggles to hold the player’s attention, it fails its primary purpose. Engagement means more than just hooking someone for a single play—it ensures they want to return repeatedly. For example, on page 5, part 1 in “The Kobold Guide to Game Design,” the difference between engaging and merely hooking is discussed. My favorite game, BLINK, exemplifies lasting engagement. It’s quick, replayable, and exciting, requiring few materials. I enjoyed playing BLINK at my golf course job while waiting for carts—its fast pace fit naturally into idle moments, and its replay value made it memorable.

When coming up with ideas, where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic? – I find myself on the mechanical side when coming up with ideas. I normally get inspired by something random I see and try to twist it into my own game or be the main attraction of the game. Once this idea or object is stuck in my head, I have to think about how to make a game around it. After I have figured out what I want from the idea, that’s when the skeleton of the game comes into play. 

The Kobold Guide to Game Design describes the three-act structure as beginning, middle, and end. The beginning of BLINK involves splitting the deck and explaining the rules: get rid of cards by matching colors and shapes. Conflict slowly rises as players become more competitive. The middle focuses on the struggle for victory when you try to keep up as the play speeds up. At the end, there’s a final push to victory as you race to place your last card, with the loser realizing the outcome. Pacing is quick once you understand the rules. The start is slower to find your rhythm, the middle becomes fast-paced, and the end requires precise actions as the game tightens. 

List the games you’ve played and currently play. – I have played Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Blink, UNO, War, Spoons, BS, Fluxx, The voting game, Life, Connect 4, Sorry, Rider, FIFA, Madden, Boggle, Hop Scotch, Tag, Shark and Minnows, Pig/Horse Basketball, Cross Bar Soccer, Tic Tac Toe, Cornhole, CanJam, BattleShip, Roblox, Among Us, Slither.io, Paper.io, Over the River soccer, Flying Changes Soccer, Go Fish, Kings in the Corner, Blitz, Would You Rather, Put a Finger Down, Minecraft, Blank Slates, and telestration.

Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why? – I would like to collaborate with Meredith because I think we would be able to come up with unique game ideas since we have different ways we go about finding an idea. But, when combined I think we could have an amazing game ideas and work well with each other.

1. In your opinion, what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
   • Every game should have an aspect of surprise. Something the users don’t expect right away, with some build-up to it. My favorite game is Cards Against Humanity, which allows the user to shock other players with vulgar or weird answers. The element of surprise in the player’s control gives a game its wow and alluring factor.
2. List the games you’ve played and currently play.
   • Cards against Humanity
   • Fluxx
   • Apples to Apples
   • Minecraft
   • Exploding Kittens
   • Monopoly
   • Life
   • Fortnite
   • Roblox
   • Chess
   • Scrabble
   • Clue
   • Uno
   • Black Jack
   • Crapps
   • War 
   • Yattzee
   • Shoots and Ladders
   • Candy Land
   • Mario Cart
   • Super Mario
   • Chess
   • Rummi
   • Rock Paper Scissors
   • Tetris
   • Candyland
   • Temple Run
   • Just Dance
   • Go Fish
3. Can you apply the three-act structure to your favorite game? What is it’s pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?
   • I would like to first say that, reading this part in the textbook, I couldn’t help but think of the game Clue. Now I am willing to give this game another shot with the right convincing, but I absolutely can’t stand that game. However, I seem to gravitate towards that game when doing the reading. I found the 3-act structure first in the establishing of the game and how everyone gets their own character, and you start asking the basic questions of who might have what object where when trying to establish the murder. Then, the second act in the middle is the struggle to remember who said what and trying not to repeat objects in rooms with the same person. Studying other players’ faces is another part of the struggle to tell if they’re lying or not. The final act, when all other possibilities are narrowed down and there are only so many turns left before someone is bound to guess it. The suspense comes from the right room and object, but they are struggling to figure out the person. Every person is frantic to get a turn in. Overall, the middle/second tends to be the longest, especially when playing with newbies to the game. I find myself in these acts for around 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes even 20, mainly because the first act doesn’t take all that long. 
4. When coming up with ideas, where do you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
   • When coming up with ideas, I think it can start either way. You can either have a story you want to tell, then come up with the mechanics, or vice versa. However, I will say coming up with the mechanics of a game vaguely might be the right start. Then, if you’re not sure how to proceed, move to the metaphor, and now that you have 2 vague aspects of the game, you can slowly fill in the rest. The metaphor and mechanic work together simultaneously, so if one doesn’t fit, the other needs to be tweaked.
5. Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
   • Over the course of this semester, I would like to collaborate with anyone in the class, really. I do think it would be interesting to work with other classmates with whom we have the least in common to create a game, and one with classmates I have the most in common with and who know each other really well. I would like to see this simply because of what other people bring to the table, as well as how we can make ideas flow within different situations, which would be parallel to what we’d work on in our own professional jobs.

1. The most frustrating moment or aspect of playing was taking the time to understand the game before starting. Rather than simply jumping, we felt the need to understand what each set of cards did, slightly hampering the experience.
2. My favorite moment was winning a round after successfully chaining a sequence of card plays together.
3. At times, everything could be taken from you if somebody just happens upon a specific action card. Progress can be lost easily. I often wanted to get an action card that let me retain the strategy I had in mind.
4. Certain actions felt overcomplicated or underexplained. I would like to clarify the cards with a good intent and remove the rest.
5. Yes. Although the ramp-up is slow, understanding what cards you need to play and in which way you need to play them can create an interesting and worthwhile experience/payoff.

1. Blind, Deaf, and Mute scavenger hunts around campus.
   • Requires a disability of some sort for teams to work together to find and do all the tasks before the clock runs out.
2. Just Dance, but all the dances are previous Greek Week Airband Dances.
   • Taking Just Dance to the next level, except we are taking RMU Greek Week Airband Dances and making the user dance without music, and matching that dance to the song used.
3. Haunted Bouncy House obstacle course on Nicholson Lawn.
   • Think Temple Run, but within the Bobbymania verse and their bounce houses to connect them all. This takes place around dusk, being chased by Romo, and you have to escape his obstacle course.
4. Fortune Teller Bingo.
   • Make a Fortune Teller out of paper with a custom bingo of your own creation, and match the cards to something on the fortune teller.
5. Fortune Teller code cypher to decode messages based on what numbers come out of your fortune to diffuse a bomb or escape.
   • Create a paper Fortune Teller around clues and riddles with a cypher code the user has to solve in order to diffuse a bomb or escape a room.

1. Blind, Deaf, and Mute scavenger hunts around campus.
   • Requires a disability of some sort for a team to work together to find and do all the tasks before the clock runs out.
2. Just Dance, but all the dances are previous Greek Week Airband Dances.
   • Taking Just Dance to the next level, except we are taking RMU Greek Week Airband Dances and making the user dance without music, and matching that dance to the song used.
3. Haunted Romo Bouncy House obstacle course on Nicholson Lawn.
   • Think Temple Run, but within the Bobbymania verse and their bounce houses to connect them all. This takes place around dusk, being chased by Romo, and you have to escape his obstacle course.
4. Fortune Teller Bingo.
   • Make a Fortune Teller out of paper with a custom bingo of your own creation, and match the cards to something on the fortune teller.
5. Fortune Teller code cypher to decode messages based on what numbers come out of your fortune to diffuse a bomb or escape.
   • Create a paper Fortune Teller around clues and riddles with a cypher code the user has to solve in order to diffuse a bomb or escape a room.

Madison Hurst

1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?- The most frustrating part was the rules and layers of the game.
2. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?- My favorite moment of the game was having the ability to change a rule. For example, we were able to change the number of cards you pulled from 1 to 5 then to 4.
3. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? – I really wanted to take another players card or swap easier with them. They had a card I could’ve used to win.
4. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? – I would remove some of the rules so they didn’t overlap and slow down the game. I would change the game by players/opponents having immediate impacts on other players rather than limiting their card choice or number.
5. Is this a game you would play again? – No because I was felt that the directions and rules took way too long to understand. It made the game feel long, and by the time I partially learned it I was mentally disconnected from the game.

1. It takes too long to understand in my opinion and not having a general idea of what your getting into kind of annoys me.
2. When the Rules stack up it gets interesting (even though slightly mind boggling)
3. There didn’t seem to be a way to easily win honestly, and I wanted to win so I couldn’t do that.
4. It wasn’t super captivating somehow so I would want it a little more intriguing somehow – it might have been the design or theme of the game that didn’t really keep me engaged. Also there are too many words on the cards which makes it complicated and a bit boggling to comprehend.
5. It would not be my first choice, no. (We didn’t finish so that’s no fun)

1. Starting the game and getting set up first was the most frustrating refiguring out how to play.
2. My favorite moment was putting down 2 cards in hand rule but you also had to pick up 5 and play 3 which kept it interesting. 
3. I wanted to be able to switch up a rule because I picked up a better rule but I had already played so I couldn’t change the rule. 
4. I would change the theme of the game to something more intriguing to my generation. Possibly would like to see an RMU version or maybe an Minecraft version or Halloween version. This would capture the user in a more relatable and enjoyable way. 
5. I would play this game again if it was a different more engaging theme.