- A game inspired by the movie – A Quiet Place. There are 1 or 2 people selected to be the hunters. They are blindfolded and given a nerf gun with a limited number of shots. It is best played in the dark with boundaries.
- A art competition where at least 2 people compete to create a painting of a desired object with water squirters filled with watered down paint.
- The game of life but college themed – choices of real colleges, types of residences, majors with a comedic twist
- Campus-wide game of Mario Kart using scooters. A course could be set up using cones and other boundaries in parking lots or the paths if blocked off. You could compete as individuals or as a team. Teams could be made up of clubs, sports teams, other departments to inspire some friendly campus rivalry.
- Interior Designer game in Virtual Reality. You could upload your own home and furniture to experiment with layouts and styles. This would be more of a freeplay game.
Sara Estus – Game Ideas
- Continuation of “Stick with the Flock” I would like to revise the rules better and create a more effective game in terms of what I want the metaphor to be and how the game looks!
- “Art Noted” a scavenger game Students are given a small photo of a close-up image taken of an art piece on campus, they are given one hint on its location in the style of a riddle and then they must try to find the piece based on knowledge of the area and the riddle. Students can work in teams for time’s sake. If they find the piece, they win a point. The first to get 5 points wins! **This is meant to drive students to become more aware of campus art**
- “These FRICKEN DUCKS” a tag-like scavenger hunt One student will be given 20 ducks of the same color and size to hide around campus in one building of their choice. Another group of students is tasked with finding and collecting the ducks before anyone else! (Cause man, we hate ducks!)
- “Impersonation Game” How well do you know your friends?” Students must pick another student in the room to impersonate, you can’t be rude of course, so you must use body language, actions, and props to impersonate someone. We must find the good qualities about each other to find out who it is!
- “I promise we are artists” is a Pictionary game, but we suck at drawing! One student is given a card with an object, animal, or thing and is tasked with drawing it on a piece of paper without lifting the pencil, and they can’t look when they are drawing it. They have 30 seconds to complete their new portfolio-worthy masterpiece, and the other players must guess what the thing is without hints.
Sara Estus – Fluxx Review
1.) Was it Fun? Yes and no, I feel like Fluxx is one of those games where you enjoy it because everyone is in the same boat as you, panicking because you don’t know how to play, if you are doing anything right, etc. I feel like if I fully understood the game, I’d enjoy it and feel the actual challenge of it. But all in all, I think it’s a good game for the purpose it serves – to explain the value behind rules.
2.) What was the interaction? It’s always confusing at first. Like most games, you sit and read the rules for about 5 minutes and then play the game, but Fluxx feels like you have to keep going back to the rules to understand anything of what you’re supposed to do. After you THINK you have it right, it’s still confusion, with a hint of anxiety.
3.) How long did it take you to play? In this session we did not come to a winner, so we never really got to judge what it felt like to play a round. In my experience, however, I found it could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 50 minutes of play.
4.) Would you play it again? Only if Ames asked me to. No, just kidding, I think I would, but I’d want to play it again where I could sit and understand the rules. I think I just enjoy games that are quick to learn and not confusing, But I see why Fluxx is a popular game.
Week 1: Question Set 1
Amber Holt
In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
Every game should be visually appealing. A game that is unpleasant to look at, especially video games, really decreases how I feel about the game as a whole. Unfortunately, when there are cute or beautiful graphics, I sometimes overlook the quality of the gameplay, because I’m primarily focused on the visual aspects. One of the reasons why I like my favorite game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is because of the cute, high-quality graphics. It allows me to get even more immersed in the game, specifically trying to collect all of the cute designed furniture and clothing items. Aside from the graphics, the cozy and comforting feel of the game constantly brings me back.
List the games you’ve played and currently play.
- Video games: Paper Mario Color Splash, Paper Mario Sticker Star, Paper Mario Origami King, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario U, Overcooked (all), Nintendo Switch Sports, Inside, Jackbox, Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, Tomodachi Life, MiiTopia, Super Smash Bros, Super Mario Bros, Mario and Sonic: Winter Olympic Games, Sonic, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Minecraft, NYT Games (like Wordle), Among Us, Zelda: Link’s Awakening, My Sims Kingdom, Roblox, Pinball Hall of Fame, Just Dance (a bunch of versions), Wii Play, Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Fall Guys, What the Dub, etc.
- Board/physical games: Game of Life (multiple editions), Monopoly, Animal Crossing Monopoly, Catopoly, Your Worst Nightmare, Bob Ross Art of Chill, Catan, UNO, Scrabble, Scategories, Dan and Phil’s Truth Bombs, Trouble, Sorry, Operation, Phase 10, Go for Broke, Unstable Unicorns, Hues and Clues, so many more
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?
One of my favorite games at the moment is Overcooked, and I think the three act structure can apply to it. At the very beginning of the game, you are immediately thrown into a cooking battle, against a very hungry meatball, the onion king explains that you have to work together to quench his hunger, thus setting the stage and being the first act. The second act is essentially the whole of the game, going from level to level cooking in various places, trying to get better at cooking cooperatively and cooking increasingly challenging dishes. The third act—the push for victory—is ultimately the last battle, approximately 16 minutes long, where players go against the hungry meatball once and for all. The second act is definitely the longest of all the three acts, where you spend the majority of your gameplay. The first act would be the shortest and includes the tutorial and beginner levels that are just introducing you to how to play the game, make simple meals, and do the dishes. The third act in itself isn’t very long in comparison to the second act, since a lot of time is spent trying to master the kitchens you come across vs. one end battle.
When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
I generally come up with the metaphor first when I generate ideas. I like to think about things that could give the project a purposeful meaning, and then I later hone in the mechanics to work with my metaphor. However, there have definitely been times where I came up with both.
Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
- One of the people I would like to collaborate with this semester is Sara. Sara and I have worked together before, on a design project for the literary magazine, Rune. I think our ideas fed off of each other well, and we both have high expectations of our work. Since then, there have been numerous times where we have come to each other sharing random ideas for campus projects. I love how we both think of meaningful and interesting ideas.
- I also wouldn’t mind trying to collaborate with just about anyone in the class. Since I am one of the few, if not the only, graphic design major in the class, I would be interested to see how my graphic design skills could uniquely contribute to that of a UX/UI major.
Fluxx Game Review
Amber Holt
- Was it fun? It was fun, but definitely not my favorite first game experience. I think I would have to play the game a little bit longer to fully develop an opinion on it.
- What was the interaction with the other players? This game had a lot of interaction with the other players. Some action and rule cards made you directly interact with the other players, for instance, taking one of everyone’s card from their hand, swapping hands with another player, stealing or trading a player’s keeper card, etc. A lot of the interaction came on the part that every player’s turn would ultimately influence the actions of the rest of the players since players can constantly play a new rule or goal card on their turn. This would alter the next person’s actions who would have to adhere to a new goal or rule card.
- How long did it take to learn? Initially, the game didn’t take very long to learn because it employs simple game mechanics that a lot of other card games use such as drawing and playing cards each turn. However, it became increasingly difficult to understand what was going on because the rules would constantly change.
- Would you play again? I would. I feel like I need to play it again to really decide how I feel about it. I also would like to maybe play with a group of people who aren’t already coming into the game hating it.
Week 1 Game Ideas – On Campus
Amber Holt
- Giant board game? – you get like a “game map” and you must travel to different locations, or buildings, like Wheatley, and answer trivia questions to collect an item. Every location has a unique item up for grabs and the first team of students to collect all of the items and return to “home base” wins.
- Sort of murder mystery like Clue – Inspired by a game a club that I was in hosted in high school, you travel to different areas across campus, collecting clues that give you details about who the “murderer” is, in this case a staff member” that eventually lead you to that person. For instance some of the clues could involve what building they work in, what major, what extracurricular activities they help out in, their hobbies, etc. When students reach the “murderer” they receive free RMU swag or other goodies
- Scavenger duck (thanks to Sara) – students are encouraged to collect 1 duck of every color across campus. Students bring the ducks to a centralized hub where they get a punch card of sorts that marks that they collected that color of duck. Ducks are collected so that cheating is eliminated. For completing this, the participants could get a stuffed animal duck (to give incentive to play and not just keep the cute ducks).
- Battle of the departments – A canned food drive that is a competition between the different departments at RMU. The food would be donated to a local food bank (or taken to our very own one on campus) at the end of the competition. The winning department gets donuts or lunch.
- Game to conserve the most energy on campus – Chatham University did a game like this a few years back, promoting sustainability and energy conservation. It was a competition between floors in a dorm building to see who could conserve the most energy per floor. Because of the way the buildings were set up, they could go in and see per floor how much energy was being consumed. There was also some incentive like a prize for the floor to win. I also believe they had social media accounts or an online tracker set up so that the floors could see their progress and communicate with other floors. One issue with this was that some students, especially those who didn’t like their CA, would try to sabotage the results of other floors, constantly turning on lights. One benefit of this was that the school was able to recognize that students weren’t using their ovens (I believe) enough and they were removed from the dorms. This also helps eliminate unnecessary energy consumption and makes students realize the difference turning off and unplugging certain things can make.
- For RMU to employ this, I think that it would need to be a competition between the different residence buildings and not particular floors. I think that would help to eliminate people sabotaging other floors in the same building. This would also have to have a time limit; for instance, 1 week (A good week would maybe be the week of Earth Day??). Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about how to measure energy consumption to say for certain how the results would be tracked, especially in RMU’s system. There would, however, need to be a really good prize to encourage students to actually participate.
Game Ideas
- Table Top Gaming Marathon on Nicholson Lawn. (Ping Pong, Pool, Football, Air Hockey, etc)
- Glow and the Dark scavenger hunt
- Name the professor based on the clues
- Obstacle course that goes throughout campus
- Minute to win it – Carnival games addition
FLUXX Game Questions
Was It Fun?
At first I didn’t think Fluxx was fun an that was mainly because I had no idea what I was doing. However, as the game went on and I started to catch onto the rules an get a feel for how the game works (you need to play dirty), I started to enjoy it.
What was the interaction?
This game involves a ton of interaction. The game forces you to interactwith your opponents a lot whether you are stealing cards, battling your keepers, or sabbatoging your opponents winning abaility.
How long did it take to learn?
This game is not supper hard to learn unless you are just reading the instructions. When I first started out reading the instructions it made me even more confused then when my peers were explaining it to me. After observing what my peers were doing for a few rounds, I was able to catch on very quickly.
Would you play again?
Yes, I would most certainly play this game again.
Game Design Week 1 Questions
In Your Opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
In my opinion every game needs to have some sort of challenge or end goal. I get highly competitive during games and if I dont have anyone to compete against or something to compete for than I find the game rather boring. My favorite game is monopoly because it is a great family game and the leader board can change rather quickly.
List the games you have played or currently Play.
Well let’s see although I don’t play video games that much anymore, I used to play a lot of games when I was younger. Here are some: Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Call of Duty, Zelda, Resident and Evil, Wipe Out, Just Dance, Mario Kart, Sper Mario Bros, Minecraft, Donkey Kong, PacMan, 8 Ball Pool, Crossy Roads, NBA Mobile, Color Switch, Slitherio, Snake, Word Escapes, Papa’s Freezeria, 2k, and honestly I am probably missing some. In terms of board games some of which I probably play now are: Apples to Apples, Monopoly, Life, trouble, uno, and cards against humanity.
Can you apply the three-act structure to your favorite game? What is its pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?
I am not really sure that Monopoly can be broken down into the three-act structure because it’s not a game that has a narrative. Monopoly is a more-open-end came and the possibilities are up to the players in the game.
When coming up with ideas where do you find your start, with the metaphor or the mechanics?
I would say I start with mechanics and then work on the metaphor. I would rather start with what I would like each character to do rather than jump into the whole overview.
Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaberate with and why?
There are nobody inparticular I would like to collab with. Everyone in this class is uniquely creative and has different strengths and weakness. It’s always enjoyable to me to see what ideas everyone else comes up with.
Sara Estus – Question Set 1
In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
I think every game should have an appealing appearance; I say this from the perspective of someone who is supposed to design things that not only look good but feel good. Though I think that there is a subjective part to art in games, both tabletop and video; I believe that being able to immerse yourself into the space of the game is a solid quality. Understanding this, my favorite game that I started in class, Stray has a very immersive experience through the art. I mean, you play as a cat, in a utopian city, with robots that have TVs on their heads! The world of stray feels deep, unknown, and very very large, making the player feel like they are just as small as their feline counterpart.
List the games you’ve played and currently play.
Until Then (omg its soo good!)
Legend of Zelda Links Awakening (2019)
Minecraft
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Stardew Valley
To name a few 😀
Can you apply the three-act structure to your favorite game? What is its pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?
Stray is undoubtedly broken down into chapters, as you finish sections of the story, and move to the next parts, a title rises up stating the name of the next chapter. Though Stray feels long in pacing, it is more up to the challenge level of the play and if they are a completionist.
When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
When coming up with ideas, I tend to curve towards the metaphor rather than the mechanic. I always try to put a narrative behind the reason why I make what I make, and I feel like it can often do more harm than good in my creative process. I think coming up with the working parts to make the final piece may be a better option for the ease of making a game.
Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
I do have particular people I enjoy collaborating with, but I also love to collaborate with new people so I can build connections in strengths and weaknesses from myself and others. I think it is important to be open to new things, but also be able to know what works best if trying new things is not an option.
Flux Questions
Was it fun? Yes. More fun this time around than any. I think as I understand the game more I start to slightly enjoy it more. What were the interactions between players? Friendly and all seemed to have a similar view on the game. How long did it take to learn? Many classes lol. And would you play it again? Yeah sure why not.
Game Questions
- In my opinion, every game should include a satisfying or unsatisfying outcome. The reason why I enjoy the gams that I do, is because there is typically a sense of winning or loosing involved with it.
- BO2, Fancy Pants, Minecraft, Skyrim, Tetris, Paper Mario
- Skyrim does a good job at the three act structure by setting up the world very well in the intro, throwing in a conflict that will have to be faced later on in the story, and then the resolution is to go up from the bottom where you start.
- I typically first think of an idea that could be described as metaphor, as I think of things I can create that aren’t the physical aspects of the game. Then I move on to mechanics; how the idea is used, how the idea can be interpreted or experienced by the viewer, etc.
- I would like to collab with Guidian because he’s cool, or Dylan because I’ve known him longest.
Some Game Ideas
One game idea I have is a type of battleship idea, with multiple players, one board, and with chance cards. If when you roll dice you get a certain number that is on top of the card, you have to do what is on the card, for example maybe sabotage another player, or even pull a card that could hurt your progress in the game.
Another game idea I have is a horror game, with a storyline that is based off of a short story I made. I would like it to be a card game where the group of people don’t know who the killer is except for the killer. The group needs to gather evidence (go fishing for clues ((there is a lot of backstory behind that quote))) to find the killer and finsh the game. Which ever “shipmate”gathers the most evidence against the killer before they eliminate everyone, wins!
I love me a good sabotage game, Id like to create a game that encourages a lot of players with random mini games they can play, where comedy and sabatoge gains you more points
Brady Erdos/5 questions
- In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
every game should give the player the ability to have choice and make decisions in the game based on things that they learn throughout the game. I like my favorite game because I have the ability to take any set of 8 cards and build the most unstoppable deck.
- List the games you’ve played and currently play.
Clash Royale (mobile game)
Blockdoku (mobile Game)
Black ops 3 zombies
2K 22 Golf
Fortnite
- 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 think it can be applied. In clash Royale the games are 3 minutes long. The first minute is a normal pace of placing cards to try and destroy the opponents towers. The second minute your elixir speeds up by 1.5 causing the game to speed up and then if no winner is claimed by the end of the second minute then in the 3rd and final minute the elixir doubles and the game pace is sped up rapidly causing chaos.
- When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
I defiantly start at the mechanics because i would want to know what kind of things my players have the ability to do.
- Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
SuperCell because they created Clash Royale.
Week 1 Questions
- In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
In my opinion, I believe every game should have a little sabotage, it adds a lot of fun and quick thinking. My current favorite game has a lot of beautiful graphics and great fighting mechanics
List the games you’ve played and currently play.
I have grown up playing the Sims, Minecraft, Elder Scrolls games, FNAF, Fallout, Dark Souls and currently I play the Elder Scrolls, Wukong, and Elden ring
- 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?
Yes, there is a fight that you’re immediately put into that shows an amazing game play and storyline. Then you play through more story conflicts and gameplay to advance your leveling, and I currently haven’t finished it
- When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
I always start with a metaphor for my ideas
- Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
There are so many people in my class that I’d be so happy to work with, I would like to work with someone who is stronger in art style and design than me. I feel more proficient in creating the concept of projects.