This week was very interesting as we read about and discussed different components of games and we participated in gameplay, of multiple games, in class. On Tuesday we discussed procedural rhetoric. This is how the rules and mechanics of games can hold meaning and sometimes teach the player a lesson. We broke up into groups to play and then discuss different games. Most of the other groups played games that had some kind of strategy, though many of them had some form f randomness. I played Chutes and Ladders where the procedural rhetoric of the game was pure randomness, sometimes things just happen. While I did not enjoy the pure randomness of Chutes and Ladders, I did enjoy the game mechanic of the chutes and the ladders and how they could dramatically change a player’s position in the game. I took inspiration from this mechanic when we brainstormed on Thursday and I developed the basic concept of my game idea during class.

The basic concept of my game follows a lot of the base rules of Chutes and Ladders though I added interaction between the players to add strategy and competitive components to the game. Players will have the opportunity to sabotage other players through the use of action cards. I look forward to developing my game more and being able to playtest it.

Class Discussion and Assigned Reading (Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019)