1. I loved this.
2. This was hard. 3. I think I'm going to love this more as I go on. And it will be hard. I'm not sure what I was expecting at the start of this course. I had been reading about gamification and serious games for a few years - even presenting at a conference or two on the topic; however, I had never actually designed a game. It turns out that the whole idea of "theory into practice" is exponentially more difficult than I anticipated. At the start of the semester, I wrote "I think of [Serious Games] as a way to help people want to engage with big, sometimes challenging ideas or learn helpful behaviors through some kind of a designed "fun" process." I still agree with this idea, but I don't think it's quite as simple as I make it sound. This class was "fun," (games!) it was challenging (game design!) and it made me want to learn new skills (also game design!). Throughout the semester, the process of learning became more real to me as I encountered a NEW process of learning. I typically synthesize abstract ideas fairly easily, but it's clear that I have a lot of work to do on the iterative design process. I understand it and I understand its efficacy - but I find it actually quite difficult to practice. I don't have it yet as a habit of mind. Still, I think that this might be my biggest takeaway - that iteration, collaboration and critique have value beyond a professor's "approval" at the end of an assignment. Indeed, these things can be, essentially, fun themselves. I'm definitely taking away a more mature understanding of gamification even though the process of actually designing games was very, VERY challenging for me. When I think about the trajectory of learning from start to finish this semester, I'm reminded of Flow. While I didn't walk into the course with an entirely blank slate, I definitely had (and still have) a fairly large learning curve ahead of me - there was no straight diagonal line moving "up and to the right." I experienced the ebb and flow/pleasure and pain of the learning process - especially when real world commitments interfered with my desire to "play" the course. This was clear to me early on when I truly enjoyed the critique of Predynastic Egypt, but struggled with designing a board game based on Ludwig. It became extra clear to me when I embraced the process of thinking through my final digital game, but balked at the development of the game proper. There are layers to logic and I'm clearly embracing the "thinking" layer, but haven't yet arrived at the "practical" layer. I want to work on that practical layer. I fully intend to pursue a next level of game design experience. I am planning to sit down with Construct 3 at a more leisurely pace in the next several weeks and figure. it. out! I am hopeful to take further courses in game design to benefit from learning from experienced design thinkers and game makers. I'm especially looking forward to becoming that person, one day, for my own students.
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I've changed up the main mechanic of this game. While the platformer made perfect sense up to a point, the maze makes even MORE sense when I consider how long I've spent getting lost in museums! (minor claim to fame: I've been in every public room in the Louvre at least once!)
Scenario: An art student arrives at a museum. Their goal is to write a paper describing three famous works of art (one from painting, one from architecture, one from sculpture). They walk into a main room that has three works (for this storyboard: The Starry Night by Van Gogh) with exhibition labels that include three vocabulary terms each. In order to progress through the first gallery, the student must click on each vocabulary term (total of 9), which includes a pop-up definition of the term. This will move them to the next room. An unsuspecting student will be surprised – they likely think that the walkthrough is the game. But before they can leave the room, a Master Thief *poof* steals all of the vocabulary terms and hides them through the maze-like museum! The art student has a new task. They must traverse the maze, find the vocabulary terms and return them to the original room where they apply them to the appropriate artwork. The main mechanic is a maze + key + door. The “keys” will be three vocabulary terms hidden in the maze. The student must encounter all three keys in a room before moving on to the next maze. There will be a total of three mazes, each with three keys necessary before the door quiz will activate. At each door, before continuing to the next gallery, the player must apply the correct vocabulary terms in a “password”-type riddle. At the completion of the third room, the student will confront the Master Thief with the vocabulary terms and will apply the terms to the correct work of art, thereby defeating the Master Thief, who will be turned over to Interpol and the student will be named a Chief Curator. The playable prototype will focus on the maze + key + door mechanic of a single room. I will “hide” the keys in a maze and the player will be able to open the door having acquired the keys. I do not yet know if I’ll be able to incorporate the door riddle into the prototype. |
Maureen the Gamer
Professor. Administrator. Gamer. Cat Lady. Not necessarily in that order. Blogging the game design process since 2020. Archives
January 2024
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