In this blog post, I will be talking about chapter 11 from the textbook Game Design Workshop, by Tracy Fullerton. The chapter topic is about fun and accessibility in video games. As a gamer having fun playing a game is the most important thing about playing games. Personally, I would not play a game that I would not like playing or considered boring. As a game designer perspective making a game has many challenges. They need to look at how challenging a game is, how to reach and exceed goals as well how the player can use different skills. Without any of these attributes, these games would be too easy or less appealing for players. In my opinion, making a game that is challenging enough for a player to the point that it is not too hard but also not too easy is something I look for in games. An example of a game that I play that has the right set of challenges is Apex Legends. The first person battle royal game provides challenges such as hitting your shots when in combat, using your abilities in an effective way against your opponents, and good communicating with your teammates.

The desire to achieve a goal is a fundamental part of being human. That being said, video games should have goals for players so they can be invested in the game. Goals do not have to be huge and can start off small. For instance, small accomplishments such as completing a mission or winning a first-person game are goals that players can do without them even acknowledging that they completed a goal. Smaller goals will interest players to play more and to achieve longer goals. An example of this would be the game Skyrim. Skyrim is a role-playing game, which has hundreds of side quests and main quests that you can do. When I played Skyrim, I started out doing side quests because the tasks were a lot easier. Once I finished a huge chunk of the side quests, I then started the main storyline. The main storyline was more in-depth and it took way longer, and because of that, I had more fun completing it.

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

In this blog post, I will be talking about Chapter 10 from the textbook Game Design Workshop, by Tracy Fullerton. In this chapter, it talks about functionality, completeness, and balance in video games. Functionality means “that the system is established to the point where some who knows nothing about the game can sit down and play it” (Fullerton p. 313). For instance, if I play a game that is new to me is means it is a functional game. Something to consider is that functionality in a game does not mean that the game is complete. Completeness in games has many different sources of things it needs to fix to make a game complete. For instance, in shooter multiplayer games it is a huge concern with spawn camping. The developers need to think about how they can balance the spawn point. There are many different kinds of respawn points, such as a player choosing where to respawn. An example of this would be battle royal games. A battle royal game such as Apex Legends will let you drop anywhere you want on the map. Sometimes you will get lucky and have not enemies near you or sometimes you land where there are multiple enemies by you. In Call of Duty multiplayer, the game chooses where you spawn. In theory, the game tries to spawn you away from the enemies, but sometimes it is not possible due to enemy players being scattered around the map. Balance in games is very important and if a game is unbalanced, then fewer players would be interested in playing the game. For instance, I used to play Call of Duty Black Ops 4 when it first came out. I used to love that game because to me their gun line-up and characters were well balanced. When the game introduced new guns in loot boxes, it made the game extremely unfair. The guns that were in these loot boxes were way overpowered compared to the guns you got at the beginning of the game. This made me dislike the game so much that I chose to not play this game for multiple months.

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

For this response I will be talking about chapter nines: Playtesting from the textbook Game Design Workshop, by Tracy Fullerton. Playtesting is a very crucial part of making a finished game. Playtesting games help provide important feedback to the developers so they know what will work and what does not work. There are many kinds of playtesting, such as self-testing, playtesting with confidants, playtesting who you do not know, and playtesting your target audience. Self-testing is when you playtest the game yourself and see if it works. While this is the easiest kind of playtesting, it may not be the most effective because you already know what game it is about and how it works. Playtesting with confidants has to do with people you know playtesting your games. This option should give you better feedback on how the game plays. One suggestion about having people you know playtest your own game is that their opinions may be biased due to them knowing you. Playtesting people who you do not know is exactly what it sounds like. In my opinion, this is one of the best kinds of playtesting, because the people who are playing the games will be more honest about what they play due to not connections with the creator of the game. Playtesting your target audience is also a good option if you want the best feedback for your game. The only problem is that it will be hard to target other audiences to play that certain game. For instance, a company that is targeting first-person shooter players to play this game will have a hard time convincing people who love third-person shooters to play their first-person shooter game.

I believe playtesting games is one of the most important things that a game developer needs to utilize the most. Playtesting is when you or other people get to physically play the game and see if it works or not. Playtesting should be used right until the deadline hits or until the game developer/s are satisfied with the game. I remember asking my parents to playtest my Pokémon board game from the beginning stage right until the final due date of the project. This helped me better tweak my game throughout the making of my game.

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

In this blog I will be talking about digital prototyping from chapter 8 in the book Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, by Tracy Fullerton. I found this chapter one of the most interesting chapters to read. First, prototyping in game design “are made with minimal art or sound” (Fullerton p. 241). Prototyping will help developers understand what will work and what will not work in their games. It is also important to note that doing too many things to a prototyped game is not recommended. Prototypes should be built off one another little by little. Revisions to a prototyped game should be made so that all the components are functioning as planned.

While physical prototyping is a great place to start, digital prototyping can help further the development process even more. For instance, you can use 2D/3D software to make a digital setting, such as a location in the game. You can use the software to make a certain art style of your choice. If you want to have a dark scary game, you can utilize the tools to make it look that way. There is software that will help users with perspectives, such as character, scene, and lighting perspective. While there are a lot more things that go into digital game making, these are some important things a game designer needs to consider when making a game.

What I like about prototyping is that you get to see your work with your own eyes. In our first project, I made a Pokémon board game, which had a physical prototype. I first drew out what I wanted the board to look like. I then drew out how many tiles I should put in each area to make sure everything was well balanced. Once I finalized my setup, I went on photoshop and pieced together the final map would be. Without my prototype, I would have made a lot of mistakes along the way of editing my game in Photoshop. What I learned in this chapter is when you are working on a prototype, make sure you do not complicate things. Making things as simple as possible and working your way up in small steps will make the process of game development a lot easier.

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

In this blog I will be talking about chapter 5: Working with System Dynamics. In this chapter, it talks about objects, properties, behaviors, and relationships of the basic elements of systems in games. In the textbook objects “are the basic building blocks of a system. Systems can be thought of as a group of inflated pieces” (Fullerton p. 130). An example of this would be individual chess pieces such as the kings and queens. “Properties are qualities of attributes that define physical or conceptual aspects of objects. Generally, these are a set of values that describe an object” (Fullerton p. 130). In the book, it talks about checkers and how it has only three properties: location, color, and type. Checkers have a set color, they can change locations and depend on where your piece is, it can turn from a normal piece to a king. The behavior has to do with the potential actions that a piece could make. For instance, in chess, a bishop can only move diagonally, and a rook can only move up, down, left, and right. The final one he talks about is relationships amongst objects in games. Ms. Fullerton said that “relationships can be expressed in a number of ways” (Fullerton p. 131). For instance, the progressive spaces from the board game Monopoly. This game has a fixed linear relationship that restricts your possibilities while the game Sims has a loose relationship where your character can freely interact with objects that they want to interact with.

In my opinion, the most interesting element is relationships. Recently I have been playing the Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch and it reminds me of a loose relationship. In Animal Crossing you are able to interact with pretty much anything you want. In the game, you can talk to anyone on your island. You can fish, catch bugs, pick up items, and even dig up items! You can customize your clothing and your home to whatever you want it to look like. The game has an endless number of possibilities that a single player can do. It is exciting every time I get to see other friends islands because the map layouts are different and the way they play the game is different.

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

In chapter 12: Team Structures of the textbook, Games Design Workshop, by Tracy Fullerton, it talks about the importance of publishers and developers. First, it is important that both parties have a good standing with one another as they will be collaborating to make a game. Game developers are the ones who make and design the games that we play. These developers can be coders, digital artists, scriptwriters, etc… For instance, a game developer could be making the characters and the map of the game while another team works on the music and sound effects. The game publisher markets and distributes the games for consumers. An example of this would be the newest Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The ones who marketed and published the game was the company known as Activision.

Problems may occur when game publishers get greedy and they force developers to manipulate game content for more profit. A great example would be the publishers, Electronic Arts (EA) adding gambling to their games. The game FIFA 20 is a great example of how bad some companies try to take their costumers’ money. In the game mode Ultimate Team, you are able to open what is known as FIFA packs. In these FIFA packs, you unlock players for your soccer team so you can use them to play against other people. In these packs it is unlikely that you will get a good player, so you would have to open a lot of packs to get someone good. EA has it that you can spend real money on FIFA points so you can spend it on FIFA packs.

I agree that a good relationship between the game developers and the publishers is very crucial. The gameplay and overall experience of the game can potentially be affected due to the lack of cooperation. A great example of this would be the relationship between the developers Bungie and the publishers Activision. Activision wanted to add microtransactions to the game known as Destiny, so they could maximize profits while Bungie hated the idea. In the end, Bungie parted ways with Activision and also took the rights of the game. Because Bungie left Activision, they improved the game making it a more enjoyable game for players.

Sources:

Fullerton, Tracy, and Tracy Fullerton. “Working with Dramatic Elements.” Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, CRC Press, 201

In chapter 4: Working with Dramatic Elements, in the textbook, Game Design Workshop, by Tracy Fullerton, it talks about how dramatic elements can create an engaging experience for players. The chapter first talks about challenge in games. Most people will think challenge in games as of dealing with hard tasks or objectives. While that may be true, challenge in games can also mean how satisfied you feel when you complete certain tasks. A great example of this would be Call of Duty multiplayer challenges. Recently I have been playing Call of Duty Black Ops 4 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare. In these games, you can complete challenges to gain extra XP for your online rank. Every day there are different challenges that you can accomplish. Some challenges include getting 5 headshots in one game, get 10 kills without dying, defend an objective in an objective-based game mode. and many more. These challenges are not hard to complete but you still have to put some effort towards these goals. You do not want to make games too challenging that it would make players frustrated. An example of a frustrating game would be the Dark Souls games. While Dark Souls is a good game, it is extremely difficult for players. It is easy for players to die to the enemy, especially the bosses in these games. I tried to play Dark Souls, and I a frustrating experience.

What also caught my attention in the textbook, was the A Challenging Activity That Requires Skill section. It says that “flow occurs most often within activities that are ‘goal-directed and bounded by rules… that could not be done without the proper skills’… For a person who has skills but is not completely assured of the outcome”, means a task is challenging (Fullerton p. 99). An example of this is the game Fifa 20. In Fifa 20 I play the game mode, Pro Clubs, which is when you play with only one character. As a casual player I know how to do skill moves to get passed the enemy players, I know how to do short and long passes to my teammates, and I know when to shoot the ball. That being said, it took me a long time to get consistently good at the game. I remembered when I played Fifa 16 and I would make inconsistent passes that cost my teammates and me the game. Skill and consistency also play a factor in these kinds of games. Even though I have the skills to play Fifa 20, other players can be more skilled than me. Sometimes luck plays a factor in these kinds of games as well. Whether or not I win or lose I try my best to have fun.

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 4th Edition. 2019.

After reading chapter 3: Working with Formal Elements from the textbook Game Design Workshop a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, by Tracy Fullerton I did not think about how important a player counts could be for a game. Currently, I am making a board game for about three players. After reading the section Number of Players in chapter 3 I believe adding a couple more players to the game could make it more interesting and more unpredictable. Another section that caught my attention was the Player Interaction Patterns section. There are many kinds of player interactions such as single-player vs game, multiple individual players vs game, player vs player, unilateral competition, multilateral competition, cooperative play, and team competition. Even though all player interactions are great, I personally lean towards single player vs game and team competition. In a single-player vs game, you are playing against a computer and not an actual person. An example of a single-player vs game would be Pac Man and Solitaire. In team competitive games it is based on two or more groups who are competing against one another. An “example include[s] soccer, basketball, charades, Defense of Ancients, and Team Fortress 2” (Fullerton p. 64). Both of these player interactions are the opposite of one another and because of that, it makes them so great. Sometimes I get frustrated playing competitive games such as Call of Duty, Apex Legends, and Fifa 20, that I will play single-player games such as Pokémon, Zelda, or Animal Crossing to calm my mind. The same idea when I get bored of player single-player games, I would switch to a more competitive team-based game.

What makes video games unique is that there is a genre and player interaction for everyone. Currently, my friends want me to get into the Borderlands games, which can be a single-player and cooperative play. They always ask if I want to play cooperative with them and I usually say no. The reasoning why I do not usually play cooperative modes is because I believe if I am going to play online with friends, I simply want it to be against other human players. I believe the game would be more challenging and fun if you are facing real people rather than CPUs. I still think cooperative games are a great idea for players who want to play with friends and not having to worry about a competitive atmosphere.

Works Cited:

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 4th Edition. 2019.

Prototyping is very important in the gaming industry. By making different prototypes one by one, designers can work on a different aspect of the game to help improve upon it. Apparently, there are different methods of prototyping in which game designers may use to test out their games. Those methods are physical prototypes, visual prototypes, video prototypes, software prototypes, and much more. In the Game Design Workshop 4th Edition Textbook, by Trace Fullerton, it mostly talks about physical prototyping, such as using cardboard, pencil, paper, etc. The benefits of physical prototyping are that “it allows you to focus on gameplay rather than technology” (Fullerton p. 203). I agree with what Ms. Fullerton is saying. By prototyping a game to its bare minimum can provide a more understanding of the game mechanics and its flaws. Once the game mechanics are set and stone then designing how the game looks come next. I may be old fashioned, but I really enjoy sketching things out on pencil and paper before I finalize on my projects. During the earlier stages of my artistic projects, it is easier for me to scrap a piece a paper than to worry about deleting everything on an editing application.

I believe one of the most useful tips in this chapter is the use of visual core gameplay. Ms. Fullerton talks about how “the core gameplay mechanism. Or ‘core mechanic,’ can be defined as the actions that a player repeats most often while striving to achieve the game’s overall goal” (Fullerton p. 216). On the same page, it shows a visual analysis comparison between the games Spider-man 2 and True Crime 2. In the comparisons, you can see players have interactions with certain things thus giving them rewards. For instance, in Spider-man 2 if the player completes a challenge, they will get points. In True Crime 2, if the character completes a mission, they will get money and ranking. It is important to take one step at a time when making a game. If you rush a certain aspect of making a game, it will have a negative effect on the end product. Prototyping is very crucial and is one of the most important processes of making a well-finished game.

Works Cited

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: a Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. CRC Press, 2019.

Chapter 2, The Structure of Games, from the Game Design Workshop textbook, by Tracy Fullerton, is an interesting read. The chapter first starts out by talking about how the games, Go Fish and Quake have similarities and differences. At first, I thought they would have more differences, but while reading through the chapter I noticed that it was not the case. Both games actually have a lot in common. The most generic similarity is that both games are designed for players. Go Fish and Quake both have objectives, which you are aiming to achieve. Go Fish’s objective is to have the most “books” (4 of a kind) than everyone else. Quake’s objective is “to stay alive and complete the level of the complex you are in” (Fullerton p. 34). Whether you are playing Go Fish or Quake, there are rules that the players have to follow. In Go Fish, if someone asks for a card and you have it, you can’t just say “Go Fish” (it means I do not have the card). You need to play by the rules and give the person the card they asked for. In Quake you have to use certain ammunition for certain guns. Even if you wanted to use ammunition from a different type of gun, the game’s code will prevent you from doing so. Boundaries are formed in both games, so players do not move outside specific boundaries. In “Go Fish, the boundaries are more conceptual than physical.” (Fullerton p. 37). Players are agreeing that they are going playing the game and will not leave the game once they start it. In Quake, some walls prevent you from going out of bounce.

After reading chapter 2, it amazes me how games can seem completely different but yet have a lot of similarities to them. This chapter made me realize that to be a good game designer, it is extremely important in having great organization and communication skills. Without these skills, parts of a game may suffer because of it. Two great examples of horrible game design are Anthem, by BioWare and Fallout 76, by Bethesda. The structure of both of these games is unbalanced and unfinished to be considered a playable and polished game for a consumer.

Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games Fourth Edition. Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.