Ames' syllabi

My play test for this game was very brief but the concept is really fun that you get to build your own ship and battle against each other. It was really fun as well as complex which was a nice touch to the game and gave it a nice competitive aspect to a very fun game.

• Question Set 1
• what is the difference between a game designer and a game developer?
• Game designers are responsible for the conceptual side of creating a game, including the mechanics, the story, Avatar concept, level or round concepts, and overall player experience. Whereas the developers are the artists and creators who actually create the physical game to be a real thing.
• what commonly occurs during the game development process?
• Conceptualizing, brainstorming, prototyping, art style planning, arranging core mechanics, building parts
• what are the challenges of balancing a game?
• making everything make sense and have a clear reasonable end purpose in the game
• what should every player of your game believe? why?
• They should believe that this will be not only fun, but also witty, because there are many aspects of this game that you can literally do by yourself, or with 6 people. A lot of versatility.
• how can you avoid stealing players fun?
• By making the mechanics not too complicating, nor simplistic either. Balancing it out.
• what 10 maxims should you follow when writing rules?
• 1. Use real words rather than made up jargon
• 2. Make no more work than necessary when it comes to laying out the steps
• 3. Make it understandable so that anyone can comprehend your writing
• 4. Be concise, Keep rules as short as possible without sacrificing essential details
• 5. Organize rules in a logical order. Go from start to finish as though you are playing.
• 6. Use examples, don’t just name a card, describe whats on it as well
• 7. Use visual aids, include diagrams or pictures that correspond with what you’re talking about
• 8. Anticipate questions so that you know what to explain for a new player in the final rules
• 9. Separate setup and gameplay rules so that it’s not confusing
• 10. Make the rules engaging and approachable.

• Question Set 2
  • how has play testing changed your game?
  • Play testing allowed me to discover that anyone can play this game solo, and that multiplayer is only necessary when one wants to compete more. It also gave me other outlooks in terms of how much I can add to the game, to not only make it more engaging, but more competitive as well.
  • who from class would you like to play test your next game or version 2 of your first game?
  • Dylan. I also wanna play his game too. Maybe Evan again as well.
  • who is the audience for your game?
  • My target audience is a group of people, such as a group of artists, classmates, family, or friends. I don’t want my game to be too niche to the point where its too exclusive to be enjoyed by anyone. I’d rather share this game with as many people as possible.
  • who should play test your game outside of class?
  • Johnny, Kiora, Robert, maybe family too

Question Set 1

1. What is the difference between a game designer and a game developer?
   • A game designer’s skill revolves around the game’s aesthetics. This includes concepts, plots, settings and textures for a game. A game developer writes the code and oversees the technicality of a game. Additionally, they implement the game designer’s concepts into the game.
2. What commonly occurs during the game development process?
   • In the development phase, the game rules and mechanics are established. All of the final touches are made, and the rough edges are smoothed. When all is complete, the final game submission is ready to market by the developer.
3. What are the challenges of balancing a game?
   • The primary challenge is one of numbers. Larger numbers of components create exponentially large numbers of possible interactions, with the potential to have an unbalanced interaction. The second challenge is the idea of “costing,” and how to deal with its complexity. Making a move, or using components always has a cost.
4. What should every player of your game believe? Why?
   • A player must believe they have some reasonable chance to win until the game ends. This makes the game fun, as players have a goal to work towards.
5. How can you avoid stealing players fun?
   • Don’t kick a player out before the game is over, never create a king chooser, don’t reward the leader, include inherent deceleration, and a player’s ability to influence other players should fall between “none” and “lots.” Finally, don’t force a reverse.
6. What 10 maxims should you follow when writing rules?
   • Use no intermediary terminology
   • Use real words
   • Make no more work than necessary
   • Add flavor
   • Make your text no smarter than your reader
   • Discard rules that can’t be written
   • Take a breath
   • Go easy on the rules
   • Get your final version play tested
   • Fix it in the FAQ

Question set 2

1. How has play testing changed your game?
   • Witnessing other people play my game helps me understand what I need to adjust. Whether it be the rules, or the design, criticism is always appreciated. In the end, I get to make my game something for everyone to enjoy.
2. Who from class would you like to play test your next game or version 2 of your first game?
   • If I would have to choose, I think Evelyn should play test my game. She is really good at analyzing a problem, or quick to pick out something that doesn’t make sense. She has critiqued my board games which has helped me further develop them.
3. Who is the audience for your game?
   • For most of my games, I’d say my target audience is my age group. I make my games complicated enough for older audiences to understand, not something a child would find easy. Additionally, I enjoy playing games with my friends, so my games typically pertain to my generation.
4. Who should play test your game outside of class?
   • My friends, because I can trust them to be blunt with me. My friends aren’t afraid to tell me if something is wrong, so they will straight up tell me anything I need to know. Even yet, they can help brainstorm different concepts they’d like to see in my game.

Gallery Grippers Game Review

1. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • There is a lot of information to consider. Everything can be a bit confusing at first, which is why the rules need additional clarification.
2. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
   • I liked the challenge of trying to make it to the exit. When I have a ton of paintings, I get nervous I will get caught when trying to make it back to the exit. This adds some suspense to the game.
3. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
   • I wanted to use my cards more often or put them to better use. The only time you use the cards is when you set off an alarm or if you get caught by security. Maybe there could be a way to get cards with different powerups?
4. If you had a magic want to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
   • Add a way to mess with other players. Maybe a way that we can either help each other out or use cards to take paintings from other players.
5. What should be improved with the next version?
   • There should be more established rules, with more clarification on cards and tiles. I think that the math system should be more clarified, because it was tricky for me to understand it at first.
6. Describe the game in 3 words.
   • Challenging, interactive, intriguing

The way play testing affected me at least is the different ways people view the rules and game itself. For instance, I had Owen play test for me outside of class and he found a way to exploit every rule I made. Pretty much the game I made is for game players like Owen. It sucks that he was able to exploit all of the rules I made but without play testing none of us would be able to figure this situation out. If we were to release games like this without play testing, all of our games would fail because we need people like that to exploit the games in order to fix it and make it better. Other than that, all the other games I have played could not be exploited like that which is good.