Author: Sara_Estus

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Sara Estus- “Bang!”

“Bang!” Review and Three-Act Structure:

Was it Fun?

 I believe Bang was a fun game once we got into it, though I was a little sad once we started to kill players off as they did not have a way to continue into the fun. I enjoyed the process of the game and how it was played. I can’t say in my experience I’ve played a game common to it.

What was the interaction?

It was a very “Who is the imposter kinda game, but we knew who the main sheriff was, but were dealing with the mechanics of the game within a smaller group. We would go up against each other blindly and that was an enjoyable feature.

How long did it take to learn?

Though we had Professor Ames carry us through the first round, we picked it up pretty fast. The rule book was super descriptive, and having a key helped everything make sense.

Would you play again?

Absolutely, I think playing all games again after their initial play makes the game even more fun, so I would 100% play again!

Act 1-

Our roles were laid out from the start, and learning how to use the other cards was our biggest task at this point. We had a lot of questions but we began to make moves with our cards that progressed the game.

Act 2-

Once we got comfortable and knew what to do, we started to strategically attack each other and decide who was good and bad. This is where things started to get into the cooler cards and we made choices on losing lives and saving lives.

Act 3-

This part was carried by Amber and Reese after I was killed off, when they decided to go back and forth with shooting each other, Amber won!

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Sara Estus – Week 2 Game Ideas

5 Ideas for games that can be played using cards:

  • “Greater Purpose”

Each player has a card that has an item on it that has a common purpose. When each player (3-5) receives their card, they will not see it themselves, but all the other players will. One at a time, each player will try to explain to other players what their card is in front of them, without simplifying its purpose. An example: a butterfly, can be simply described as a flying creature, or you can say, it’s summer’s pollinator (See we can mistake it for a bee, but that’s the butterfly’s greater purpose)

  • “Absolutely Not!”

(I don’t know how gambling games work, so leave me alone!) In this game, each player wants to attempt to get the amount of 21 in their hands, but the catch is that other players can go and either steal or give the other player a card. If the player they want to steal from doesn’t want to risk going too high or too low, they say, “Absolutely not” and then the player sitting next to them is now the one getting stolen from or they will receive a card.

  • “Cards Against Humanity, but we let people who aren’t in the game play!”

Nothing is more fun, and possibly embarrassing than being caught with a raunchy card while playing cards against humanity by the unsuspecting person, so why not play the game, then when it’s your turn, you must run out into the hall and ask the first person you see to pick your card. *Bonus points if they think it’s funny or look at you like you’re an awful person.

  • “Dixit, but it’s reskinned with our art”

We would either try to be so nice to each other, and go “oooh” or “ah” when seeing each other’s art, like seeing the cool stuff Reese comes with, or snicker and snide like the comments between Evan and Gideon when they argue about each other’s talents and who sucks more (you’re both great shut up) and we’d forget how to play the game, but in the end, it would be so fun to single handily describe each other’s art with single words

  • “Bang!” but it is media arts-themed and it’s called “Collab!”

The characters are the professors from the media arts department, each having their taught skills, such as, Professor Ames’ talent is in game design, so when you play as his character, you can receive a bonus when you pick up a “collaboration card”, allowing you to collaborate with more than 1 player. (The collab card replaced the “Bang!” card because we don’t want our professors committing in mass murder of their colleagues) The goal of the game is to take out the player who is playing as “Finals week” because nothing hurts the artsy creators collaborative spark more than grading final exams!

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Sara Estus – Game Ideas

  1. Continuation of “Stick with the Flock” I would like to revise the rules better and create a more effective game in terms of what I want the metaphor to be and how the game looks!
  • “Art Noted” a scavenger game Students are given a small photo of a close-up image taken of an art piece on campus, they are given one hint on its location in the style of a riddle and then they must try to find the piece based on knowledge of the area and the riddle.  Students can work in teams for time’s sake. If they find the piece, they win a point. The first to get 5 points wins! **This is meant to drive students to become more aware of campus art**
  • “These FRICKEN DUCKS” a tag-like scavenger hunt One student will be given 20 ducks of the same color and size to hide around campus in one building of their choice. Another group of students is tasked with finding and collecting the ducks before anyone else! (Cause man, we hate ducks!)
  • “Impersonation Game” How well do you know your friends?” Students must pick another student in the room to impersonate, you can’t be rude of course, so you must use body language, actions, and props to impersonate someone. We must find the good qualities about each other to find out who it is!

  • “I promise we are artists” is a Pictionary game, but we suck at drawing! One student is given a card with an object, animal, or thing and is tasked with drawing it on a piece of paper without lifting the pencil, and they can’t look when they are drawing it. They have 30 seconds to complete their new portfolio-worthy masterpiece, and the other players must guess what the thing is without hints.

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Sara Estus – Fluxx Review

1.) Was it Fun? Yes and no, I feel like Fluxx is one of those games where you enjoy it because everyone is in the same boat as you, panicking because you don’t know how to play, if you are doing anything right, etc. I feel like if I fully understood the game, I’d enjoy it and feel the actual challenge of it. But all in all, I think it’s a good game for the purpose it serves – to explain the value behind rules.

2.) What was the interaction? It’s always confusing at first. Like most games, you sit and read the rules for about 5 minutes and then play the game, but Fluxx feels like you have to keep going back to the rules to understand anything of what you’re supposed to do. After you THINK you have it right, it’s still confusion, with a hint of anxiety.

3.) How long did it take you to play? In this session we did not come to a winner, so we never really got to judge what it felt like to play a round. In my experience, however, I found it could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 50 minutes of play.

4.) Would you play it again? Only if Ames asked me to. No, just kidding, I think I would, but I’d want to play it again where I could sit and understand the rules. I think I just enjoy games that are quick to learn and not confusing, But I see why Fluxx is a popular game.

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Sara Estus – Question Set 1

In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
I think every game should have an appealing appearance; I say this from the perspective of someone who is supposed to design things that not only look good but feel good. Though I think that there is a subjective part to art in games, both tabletop and video; I believe that being able to immerse yourself into the space of the game is a solid quality. Understanding this, my favorite game that I started in class, Stray has a very immersive experience through the art. I mean, you play as a cat, in a utopian city, with robots that have TVs on their heads! The world of stray feels deep, unknown, and very very large, making the player feel like they are just as small as their feline counterpart.


List the games you’ve played and currently play.
Until Then (omg its soo good!)
Legend of Zelda Links Awakening (2019)
Minecraft
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Stardew Valley

To name a few 😀


Can you apply the three-act structure to your favorite game? What is its pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?
Stray is undoubtedly broken down into chapters, as you finish sections of the story, and move to the next parts, a title rises up stating the name of the next chapter. Though Stray feels long in pacing, it is more up to the challenge level of the play and if they are a completionist.


When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic? 
When coming up with ideas, I tend to curve towards the metaphor rather than the mechanic. I always try to put a narrative behind the reason why I make what I make, and I feel like it can often do more harm than good in my creative process. I think coming up with the working parts to make the final piece may be a better option for the ease of making a game.


Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?
I do have particular people I enjoy collaborating with, but I also love to collaborate with new people so I can build connections in strengths and weaknesses from myself and others. I think it is important to be open to new things, but also be able to know what works best if trying new things is not an option.