Week 2 Question Sets (Carson Bauer)

Question Set 1
1. What Mechanics would you like to use for a game with a theme that revolves around being the size of a nanometer?
If I had to design a game that revolves around being the size of one nanometer (roughly), I would make a game about being a piece of bacteria. In the game, you would have to basically infect and try to multiply and spread bacteria to everywhere you can before you are stopped in some way. It would basically be a big role playing game. Your movement mechanics would be just as you are a piece of bacteria, moving ever so slowly.
1. Who are you making games for?
  - I would like to make games for people like me who hate reading instructions. I want to be able to design games that are so simple that you do not even need instructions (even though they would still be provided).
2. Who will be your play testers outside of class?
  - My play testers will be my fraternity brothers that live inside my 10 person suite.
  - Question Set 2
3. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?
  - The only game I have ever been able to play without reading the rules was Uno. Obviously I didn’t understand the game fully at first, but I figured it out very fast just by watching other people play the game.
4. How do you define what a game is?
  - My definition of a game is some sort of exercise that influences your brain in the way that you want. For example, if you want to challenge your brain you will play a puzzle game. If you want to get your creativity going, you will play a game with a creative aspect. Another example is a game that makes you mad on purpose, so you play Overwatch.
5. That features can make your games more intuitive?
  - Simple rules, Simple features, wide player-base, open to all ages, little amount of pieces.
6. Question Set 3
  - What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?
  - My go to gateway game is Minecraft, who doesn’t love it? For shooter games, I’ll point people to Call of Duty black ops 2, and for action sport games I’ll point people to Skate 3.
  - What features do gateway games share?
  - I believe that all gateway games have to be simple, but also a very good game in their category. For creative players, Minecraft has kept us entertained for over a decade and the player-base is still getting bigger. Even Call of Duty Bo2 still has online servers going all the time. These gateway games have to be truly legendary games to keep players hooked.
  - How does luck and strategy factor in to game play?
  - Luck and strategy have a huge factor in gameplay in certain games. I’m personally going to use Minecraft as an example. In Minecraft, you have to get lucky in order to find biomes and resources you need, but strategy comes into play for Villager trading, attacking, etc.

2 Replies to “Week 2 Question Sets (Carson Bauer)”

I think that’s a really good goal to make games for people who hate reading instructions. One of your first impressions of a game is going to be the instructions and I absolutely hate when they go on forever.

Simple instructions are definitely a good idea. I hate to sit there and read before, I’d rather just start the game.

Comments are closed.