Week 1: Question Set 1

Amber Holt

In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?

Every game should be visually appealing. A game that is unpleasant to look at, especially video games, really decreases how I feel about the game as a whole. Unfortunately, when there are cute or beautiful graphics, I sometimes overlook the quality of the gameplay, because I’m primarily focused on the visual aspects. One of the reasons why I like my favorite game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is because of the cute, high-quality graphics. It allows me to get even more immersed in the game, specifically trying to collect all of the cute designed furniture and clothing items. Aside from the graphics, the cozy and comforting feel of the game constantly brings me back.

List the games you’ve played and currently play.

1. Video games: Paper Mario Color Splash, Paper Mario Sticker Star, Paper Mario Origami King, Animal Crossing New Leaf, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario U, Overcooked (all), Nintendo Switch Sports, Inside, Jackbox, Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, Tomodachi Life, MiiTopia, Super Smash Bros, Super Mario Bros, Mario and Sonic: Winter Olympic Games, Sonic, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Call of Duty, Fortnite, Minecraft, NYT Games (like Wordle), Among Us, Zelda: Link’s Awakening, My Sims Kingdom, Roblox, Pinball Hall of Fame, Just Dance (a bunch of versions), Wii Play, Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Fall Guys, What the Dub, etc. 
2. Board/physical games: Game of Life (multiple editions), Monopoly, Animal Crossing Monopoly, Catopoly, Your Worst Nightmare, Bob Ross Art of Chill, Catan, UNO, Scrabble, Scategories, Dan and Phil’s Truth Bombs, Trouble, Sorry, Operation, Phase 10, Go for Broke, Unstable Unicorns, Hues and Clues, so many more

Can you apply the three act structure to your favorite game? What is it’s pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?

One of my favorite games at the moment is Overcooked, and I think the three act structure can apply to it. At the very beginning of the game, you are immediately thrown into a cooking battle, against a very hungry meatball, the onion king explains that you have to work together to quench his hunger, thus setting the stage and being the first act. The second act is essentially the whole of the game, going from level to level cooking in various places, trying to get better at cooking cooperatively and cooking increasingly challenging dishes. The third act—the push for victory—is ultimately the last battle, approximately 16 minutes long, where players go against the hungry meatball once and for all. The second act is definitely the longest of all the three acts, where you spend the majority of your gameplay. The first act would be the shortest and includes the tutorial and beginner levels that are just introducing you to how to play the game, make simple meals, and do the dishes. The third act in itself isn’t very long in comparison to the second act, since a lot of time is spent trying to master the kitchens you come across vs. one end battle. 

When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?

I generally come up with the metaphor first when I generate ideas. I like to think about things that could give the project a purposeful meaning, and then I later hone in the mechanics to work with my metaphor. However, there have definitely been times where I came up with both.

Over the course of this semester, who would you like to collaborate with and why?

1. One of the people I would like to collaborate with this semester is Sara. Sara and I have worked together before, on a design project for the literary magazine, Rune. I think our ideas fed off of each other well, and we both have high expectations of our work. Since then, there have been numerous times where we have come to each other sharing random ideas for campus projects. I love how we both think of meaningful and interesting ideas. 
2. I also wouldn’t mind trying to collaborate with just about anyone in the class. Since I am one of the few, if not the only, graphic design major in the class, I would be interested to see how my graphic design skills could uniquely contribute to that of a UX/UI major.