Tag: Game Design 1 Question set

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Week 2 Question Sets

  • 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?

I would use the mechanics of parkour to jump on different molecules to offer different obstacles and challenges.

  1. Who are you making games for?

I’m making games for myself and people that will play them and maybe discover a new favorite.

  1. Who will be your play testers outside of class?

Outside of class, my roommates will be my play-testers.

  • Question Set 2
  1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?

I was able to play UNO without referring to the rules.

  1. How do you define what a game is?

I define a game as having a beginning, middle, and end. It has an objective that needs to be met in order for the game to end, whether that be by competing or collaborating.

  1. What features can make your games more intuitive?

Incorporating rules from well-known games can make my games more intuitive.

  • Question Set 3
  1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?

My gateway game was Minecraft. It didn’t only pull me in, it also introduced me to the world of gaming. I would play Wii Sports to introduce others to gaming.

  1. What features do gateway games share?

Gateway games are approachable, having more basic mechanics to avoid a huge learning curve. They also have an appealing theme. Games that are easy to pick up and hard to master are good gateway games.

  1. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?

The ten beautiful game mechanics are Kingmaker’s noblesse oblige, BattleTech’s heat, Set’s set-making, Magic’s card tapping, Battle Cattle’s cow tipping rule, xXxenophile’s popping, Bohnanza’s hand order rule, Mississippi Queen’s paddlewheels, Time’s Up!’s communication breakdown, and Dominion’s constant shuffling. For my game mechanics, I should aim for them to have a balance of uniqueness and understandability.

  1. How does luck and strategy factor in to game play?

Luck and strategy can be intertwined. For example, in UNO, if you get more than 1 wild card (regular and/or +4), you might want to save it as your last card so that, unless an action occurs to you, you can place it down. It is considered lucky to get multiple of those cards, but saving one for the end is a strategy you can use.

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(9/4/2025 Meredith_B) Reading/Homework Questions

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?
    • I think having a jumping or shrinking system would be cool. Jumping in context of jumping over/around household objects, or shrinking to open the opportunities to have a tall and tiny version of the game (Like Antman)
  2. Who are you making games for?
    • I want to make fun for ages 12+ as that is a good range to have some somewhat complex mechanics, but also to keep the game easy to understand, allowing for my game to reach wider audiences and be a generally family friendly game.
  3. Who will be your play testers outside of class?
    • Mostly friends/peers, since I am too far away from home to test board games on younger family

Question Set 2

  1. Can you think of a game you were able to play without referring to the rules?
    • Uno,Life,Cards Against Humanity, Blackjack
  2. How do you define what a game is?
    • A game is something that has a set of rules to push players into a state of mind for some kind of goal to be completed in some way.
  3. What features can make your games more intuitive?
    • Keep point values/ important information is placed on cards or game pieces so they are always visible and can be easily referenced.

Question Set 3

  1. What was your gateway game? What do you play to introduce others to gaming?
    • It depends on if its for tabletop or video games. For tabletop games my gateway game was Candyland, and Minecraft was for videogames. To introduce people to games, I would offer them UNO and MInecraft or Roblox, since they are easy to understand and can be adjusted and there are multiple versions and ways to branch out, and starts a good foundation for other games.
  2. What features do gateway games share?
    • Easy to pick up, simple concept and rules, and can be understood by 99% of the population.
  3. What are the 10 beautiful mechanics and what should you aim for with your own?
    • Kingmaker’s Noblesse Oblige,  BattleTech’s Heat, Set’s Set-making, Magic Card Tapping, Battle Cattle Cow tipping rule, xXxenophile’s Popping, Bohnanaza’s hand order rule, Mississippi Queen Paddlewheels, Times Up Communication breakdown, Dominions constant shuffling. As a gamemaker, you should aim to understand and use these guidelines as a bar to go above in order to make your game successful.
  4. How does luck and strategy factor in to game play?
    • It adds a factor that the game can always keep changing until the final moment and keeps the player engaged. It’s no fun when one person is always winning, so luck can help anyone win, and strategy can be used to push the factors of luck more to help someone win.

Homework: 

  1. Game similar to uno, but its collecting cards instead of getting rid of them
  2. Card game version of battleship?
  3. Dress up based card game, score points based on outfits
  4. Zombie apocalypse card game, have to pick teams
  5. Interior decorator card game, based on locations of decor gives points

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(8/28/25_Meredith B) Game Test: Fluxx

Play: Fluxx

  1. Was it fun? Kinda? Some parts were annoying to learn, and the game overall wasn’t too bad, mostly just a big thing of confusion.
  2. What were the player interactions? Yes, but lots of it was just explaining rules/cards and the confusion behind it
  3. How long did it take to learn? About 5 minutes to fully understand. However since the rules kept changing due to the gameplay mechanic, the game is always changed, hence constant learning.
  4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? The constant changing of rules made the game mostly confusing due to the exceptions and changes being made all of the time. Almost every turn changes the rules, making the game change constantly, which I personally don’t find fun.
  5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Nothing in particular honestly, due to the nature of the game it personally felt very mundane the whole time.
  6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Honestly I would want to keep the rules the same, the changing of goals is cool, but the rules changes are confusing.
  7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Remove the rules cards, as much as they impact the game, I would make it so you pick the rules, but it can’t constantly change. It would still allow for the weird rules as an option, but would make it a little more understandable.
  8. Is this a game you would play again? Not really, it’s not engaging and a little too confusing for me, especially for the constant rule changing for me to find enjoyable.
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Question Set 1

  1. In my opinion every game should have a good set of rules that are easy to follow(but can be exploited if needed) as long as a good story line to keep the player(s) engaged throughout the whole game. One reason that I like my favorite game(being The Binding of Isaac) is that there is a very high returnability factor for this game. For it being a Rogue like game that has 547 different items that you can use and combine to beat the various enemies.
  2. Some of the games that I have played include the entirety of the pokemon franchise, The binding of isaac games, Minecraft, Ping pong, Pong, pool, billiards, 9 ball, golf, basketball, baseball, softball.
  3. There is not a direct pacing for my favorite game due to it being skill based and some time based mechanics in the game but no set pacing.
  4. I try to start with the metaphor just to get all of the ideas then I start to get the mechanics after that.
  5. I feel like the student aspect would be Gideon to pick his brain on how he would do things. But also any faculty member to get there own spin to get them involved.

5 ideas for games around campus

  1. Group hide and seek (battle of the schools style)
  2. Capture the flag( battle of the schools)