Category: Game Design Studio 1

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Week 1 Game Design: Connor Locke

Question Set 1:

  1. In your opinion, what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
    • I think that every game should have some sort of reward factor that increases the amount of dopamine one would endure. Dopamine is a highly addicting chemical, so if every game were to include a reward for doing something good, then people would want to keep striving for more rewards. The more rewards, the more dopamine, the more people will want to play. This is mainly why I like my favorite game Smash Brothers Ultimate. The game has a ranking system, so every time I beat someone, I rank higher on the leaderboard. There are also many different characters that allow for different approaches to the gameplay.
  2. List the games you’ve played and currently play.
    • Smash Brothers Ultimate, Team Fortress 2, Sea of Thieves, Minecraft, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, CSGO
  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?
    • Since it is a fighting game, it is difficult to apply the three-act structure to my favorite game. However, it does have a small campaign mode with no true significance, so the pacing is short, and the acts are simply just different fights.
  4. When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
    • I always find myself starting with the mechanics rather than the metaphor. I always see the mechanics as the founding structure, so once the mechanics are established, I focus on everything else.
  5. Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
    • It’s hard for me to point out someone specifically, since I don’t know too many people personally. However, I’d like to collaborate with someone that is creative and quick thinking. In this case, I can help the person project their ideas onto paper for us to start crafting.

5 Campus Game ideas

  1. Campus racing to a specific location
  2. Campus flower finding race
  3. Manhunt
  4. Nerf Gun/Airsoft battles
  5. Custom-built sled racing (winter)

Fluxx Questions

  1. Was it fun?
    • Not entirely, the game is very long and ends up getting a bit too complicated.
  2. What was the interaction?
    • Some cards had direct interactions with other players, such as stealing cards and trading. Overall, every player ends up contributing to the rules, which is practically a group interaction.
  3. How long did it take to learn?
    • The concept of the game isn’t too difficult to learn, so it didn’t take me too long to know how to play. It was only probably 10 minutes it took for me to be fully comfortable with the mechanics.
  4. Would you play again?
    • Unfortunately, I would not. The game is too stressful, and the rules can be too confusing to keep up with.

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Carson Bauer: Question Set One

In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?

I think that every game should have something that keeps you coming back. If a game does not have something that keeps you coming back, then it will not succeed and have a following. The reason I like my favorite game (Skate 3) is because it does just that. It is re-playable over and over and it never gets boring. Games also have to have something unique about them if it is the first version of the game, or else no one will play it for long because it isn’t unique. The only exceptions to this are games such as Call of Duty, in which they are a series so they can get away with the same game for years.

List the games you’ve played and currently play.

Skate 3, Roblox, Minecraft (PC, IOS, and Xbox), Overwatch, Overwatch 2, Valorant, Fortnite, Fallout 76, Fallout 4, Fallout New Vegas, Pixel Strike 3D, Motocross Madness, Star Wars Battlefront series, Spongebob games, GTA IV + V, NHL Series, MX vs. ATV series, Forza Series, Descenders, Minesweeper, Stardew Valley, Call of Duty Series, Halo series, MultiVersus, Rocket League, Jackbox Series, Brawhalla, Just Cause series, Art of Rally, Steep, Slime Rancher, R6, Apex Legends, Trackmania Turbo, Monster Energy Supercross, PUBG, Trials series, Battlefield series, Happy Wars, overcooked, Darwin Project, Splitgate, Plants vs. Zombies, Payday 2, Destiny series, Terraria, Sims series, Goat Simulator, Doritos Crash Course, True Skate, Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, and countless other mobile games that I am not diving into.

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 can apply the three act structure to Skate 3. The beginning of the game starts with a cutscene and you basically start your own skate company. The middle of the game is basically the entire game in which your goal is to real 1,000,000 board sales, and the end of the game is basically just free play after you unlock everything. Some may also say that the end game is “Killing” every challenge instead of just finishing every challenge. The pacing is super quick for the beginning, the middle lasts for very long, and the end takes even longer to “Kill” every challenge. (Killing a challenge is much harder than just beating the challenges). But that also just depends on what you consider completing the game and when you reach the “end”. This is one of the reasons I like this game is for that exact reason, there is no specific way to do things, just as long as you get it done.

When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?

Usually, I find it easier to come up with the mechanic rather than the metaphor. I tend to have ideas that base more on the mechanics, such as Owen and I’s BattleCups game from 4D studio last year. My first thoughts were to make a game that was like Pong, but different in a complex way.

Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?

Over the course of the semester, I’d like to collaborate with Brayden because we live in the same room, and will be much easier to collaborate on projects when we don’t have to make specific plans in order to do so.

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Game Ideas -Colin Kenny

  1. Based on the website https://www.whatbeatsrock.com, What Beats Rock: The Home Game. Players take turns naming an item that could “beat” the previous item (or a rock if you’re first) and the other players act as judges to decide if their item would “beat” the previous item.
  2. Dice Stack. A deck of cards tells the players a required dice roll and a required formation to stack the dice once they are rolled. Player who does it first gets a point.
  3. SHOE-ffleboard, A large twister-like mat/board is set up and players take turns throwing either their own shoes or smaller shoe item onto it for points.
  4. Players take turns placing cards from a standard deck in a pile while naming the card placed before them. If they mess up, they take the pile. First to run out of cards wins.
  5. For a while I’ve wondered if I can host a game of Survivor on campus for a club or a Rmu TV project. People would get broken into teams, each round a team would win Immunity and the losing team would have to vote someone out. Then everyone gets split up individually, voting continues, etc. until s jury votes for the winner.
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Fluxx -Colin Kenny

  1. Every time I played Fluxx last semester and this time, it has been a good mix of fun and chaotic.
  2. It was kind of awkward playing with people who didn’t know the rules. I liked playing more with Evan and Gideon who can enhance the game with their competitive spirit and chaotic energy.
  3. I think it only took me like ten minutes max to learn the base game when I played back in the spring.
  4. I definitely would always take up the opportunity to play again.
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game ideas kelsey

  1. Flashlight tag
  2. Bobby cart, using the Bobby model and other carts to race around the campus.
  3. hide and seek
  4. scavenger hunt
  5. shuttle dodge
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Evan Schmetzer Flux/ Questions

The general overview of this time playing flux as opposed to last time was more frustrating due to the amount of rule changes this time as oppose to that last.

  1. This time playing even tho it was frustrating is was very fun
  2. It took about 30 minutes to re learn
  3. I would play it again but would like to have an extended period of time to do so.
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flux kelsey

  1. It was very fun but also frustrating because of the people I played with.
  2. the interactions were aggravating when people were slow. Over all everyone interacted well though.
  3. it was a lot easier to progress through, it was nice to not have to look over the rules and ask multiple questions. The game also when faster( if people would make decisions quicker)
  4. I would play again, rather it not be the zombies one because it’s fun to learn for game mechanics and rules.
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Dillon DeSantis Game Design Studio 1

Game: Fluxx

  1. What it fun?
    It was okay. It has potential to be a really fun game if I played with my friends or family or if every player knew how to play without confusion.
  2. What was the interaction?
    A lot of confusion; Fluxx is clearly a gimmick and mechanic-based game, and when those gimmicks and mechanics are confusing, it makes it difficult to play.
  3. How long did it take to play?
    About 30 minutes/the rest of class.
  4. Would you play again?
    I would try it again under different circumstances; I would learn the rules in-depth and focus on playing the game with my full attention.

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FLUXX Review

How long did it take to learn? When everyone playing is new to the game, it might get a a couple practice rounds to figure out. However, when at least one person playing has experience, it’s much easier.

Interactive? Very interactive – especially when rules keep changing.

Replayable? Very. There are so many different cards each game could be different. I feel like people might be too frustrated to play again haha

Was it fun? Yes!

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Flux Questions

Was it fun? Kind of! It was hard to catch on to all of the new rules, made it a slow play

Interactive? Yes! There was a lot of interaction from trading cards to playing actions just for yourself.

Was it easy to learn? No, I think the concept was easy to learn but the new rules took a minute to catch on to.

Re-Playability? Yes! Easy to replay

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Brayden Bauer-Game Design 1

  1. In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game? In my opinion every game needs an end goal. The reason I love halo is because of the storyline and the way the story ends. Do it well enough and the designer is set to make a sequel to that story.
  2. List the games you’ve played and currently play. Halo ,call of duty, Mario kart, titanfall, Overwatch,battlefield,sims, animal crossing, legend of Zelda, Destiny, NHL, FIFA, nba, GTA, LEGO games, smash brothers, red dead redemption, Star Wars battlefront, rainbow six siege, csgo, valorant, and many more that I don’t want to write down
  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 say yes if you count the whole series. The pacing is slow until you meet the antagonist
  4. When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic? I say the mechanics because without the mechanics you can’t make the game in general.
  5. Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why? Carson because I want to be the house in gambling our points
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Thoughts on Observance

I thought Observance was a cool game with easy-to understand mechanics. It actually heavily inspired me with my poaching game and gave me a good foundation to work with when I started writing up my rules.

Despite enjoying the game, there were a couple things that stood out as thing’s I didn’t like. I first of all wasn’t very impressed with the paper presentation of the game. I know that it probably exists somewhere in a finalized form and that it was free to print-at-home, but good quality materials makes games feel a bit more real. I also have never really been a fan of the battle-ship style announce and reply when it comes to trying to find where your opponent has things placed. I would have preferred a system that allowed me to see where the border patrol agents were, and subsequently would have allowed me to move around them. I suppose it makes sense that mexican migrants should be hidden to avoid detection, but it just pulled some of the immersion from my gameplay.

Things I liked:

I really enjoyed that the game wasn’t exactly balanced. It paints a picture for how difficult it actually is to cross the border from a migrant’s perspective. I wish for the sake of playability that I was able to have at least 1 or 2 more openings in the walls to increase my chances at winning, but that would take away from the story.

I liked the different search patterns, that the border patrol could do, it allowed me to stay in the game so long as Clay chose the wrong search pattern for where I was. I do wish I also knew where the green card was, if nothing else, because it would give me a slight advantage and a goal to work towards, instead of mindlessly throwing migrants at random spots and telling the border patrol where that person is.

Overall, I would def. play the game again and it did a good job at conveying a story of Mexican migrants essentially battling with the border patrol on the American-Mexican border.

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Thoughts on Sample Games from My Observation (during Play, Analyze, and Ideate Month)

Fluxx

The game is filled with elements of uncertainty each player needs to find them and switch the card path as needed to accomplish the mission; the game is about discovering each others’ advantages and taking over them to fulfill each other’s pursuits.

Bang

The game is about war and surviving with different partners and how partners can protect each other to prevent irrevocable damage that causes one of the partners severe gun injury or death.

Love Letter

The game is about each character’s strategies to transmit messages to the princess and plan strategically to deal with opponents.

Hanabi

The game is collaborative objects sequence game in which each player needs to see the upcoming cards to determine wether the current owned cards match the value of the card pile for successfully launching the firework.

Carcassonne

The game is a random puzzle piece that players will face to determine the dream place for each player. This is a structural game that one player who gets the most quality and lengths built objects — rivers, farms, and cities get further steps wins.

Dominion

The game is about a ruler who wants to occupy land without other occupants taking advantage of it; to successfully achieve the landowner position, he needs to collect more decks for getting enough price amounts to unlock the lands.

Splendor

The game is about purchasing treasures from gems that can develop final products.