Painstation:
It was fun to watch people play this game since I didn’t have to participate in it, but I don’t think it’s a game I would actually want to play myself.
It seems like a pretty easy game to learn and grasp.
The most frustrating aspect seems like it would be getting shocked or burned.
I feel like I would need a strap to hold my hand down on the machine otherwise I would just continuously pick my hand up.
No I don’t think i would play this game.
The game setup is to stand on opposing sides and place your hands on a marked area. You then play a game of Pong against your opponent and any time you miss the ball there is pain administered.
The competitive aspects are to play pong and win against your opponent and hopefully not receive the most amount of pain. Or maybe for some people the competitive aspect is to survive the most amount of pain before bowing out.
The game’s metaphor seems to be to experience the physical pain of losing combined with like a style of pain reinforcement for repeated losing. The clear standout mechanic is the fact that it is putting its players in physical pain while playing.
I thought it was Pong.
But it’s actually pain.
Ouch. Ouch. That’s hurting.
Townscaper:
Yes it was fun, I could play it for hours.
You could interact with colors, the water, and other buildings once you have them.
It doesn’t take that long to learn, the only real mechanic is clicking.
The most frustrating aspect was figuring out how to undo something.
My favorite aspect of the game were the colors and sounds.
I kind of wish that people and more animals would pop up once you build up enough of the city and they would just wander around and make other calming noises.
I would add the people and animals if I had a magic wand.
Yes I would definitely play it again,
I don’t really feel like there is a 3 act structure for this game since there is not real conflict or resolutions for it. And There aren’t any collaborative or competitive aspects for it either. It’s just a calm, chill, time-passing game.
As a metaphor it feels very much like a zen garden or like a limited virtual LEGO set but there is no real deeper metaphor or something that it’s trying to bring awareness too, that I’ve found.
There is nothing here
Oh look! I’ve built a small town.
It’s no good. Start Over.
Calvinball
Calvinball was fun, but very low energy for what I feel like Calvinball is meant to be.
Player interactions included throwing a ball around and making new rules for the game.
It’s easy to learn but since new rules are always being added and the game is always changing, it is a continuous learning process and can be a lot to juggle while trying to keep the rules in mind.
The most frustrating aspect was trying to come up with new rules on the fly when you got the ball. My favorite aspect was hearing other people’s rules.
The nice thing about Calvinball is that if there is something you want to do you can just implement it as a rule or just do it because the only rule of Calvinball is that it can’t be played the same way twice.
Yeah I would play Calvinball again
The setup is to create yourself some rules for the start of Calvinball, the confrontation is the constant reinvention or competing rules and gameplay, and the resolution would be when the game ends through some ridiculous rule, point system, or players lose interest.
I think the collaborative and competitive aspects are essentially the rule making because you have to make rules up as a whole in order to establish the game but you can make a competitive rule that gives you an advantage over other players. If you have more than 2 players you could have collaborative aspects where multiple people team up with the rules they create to form an alliance to win.
I think the game as a metaphor wants to be a commentary on creative freedom and a rejection of traditional, arbitrary, rigid rules for how people want you to live your life.
Differs every time.
How can I make myself win?
Is that a tiger?