The World of Gaming

I first struggled a lot with the reading and writing tasks due to my difficultly with dyslexia but I will say the element of blog work and controlling my own blog was and is quite enjoyable, So I think if it wasn’t for the fact that I got the chance to become and experience being a blogger I would have struggled a lot during this semester in relation to these continuous tasks every week. When I first began doing the readings solo it took me hours to read through the articles/blogs but after doing the tasks for a few weeks I slowly began to get into a routine, a way in which I could quickly pump out these tasks while still maintaining a great amount of information from articles themselves and composing an informative blog post which reflects both my understanding of my readings and the knowledge I’ve gathered from them. I still struggled with the tasks but at least now I would not fall behind on work/tasks within my module, Soon though that would all change when we decided to switch ove...

Games can be described by the 3 components Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) or otherwise stated as rules – system – “fun” . The three reading selections this week and the synopsis below all address the term “fun” in relation to game design. There are eight types of Fun outlined by the MDA. These eight are both a source of reference and player experience that blend together in many ways, and essentially what makes a game engaging and enjoyable. Figure 1: Eight kinds of Fun Both Oxford and Merrian dictionaries define Fun as an enjoyment, delight but within the context of a game it refers to a form of pleasurable entertainment. MDA papers define the '8 kinds of fun' sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression, and submission, remain a source of reference and possibly the most popular list of player interactions combining in various forms to attract each player to a particular game. Nicole Lazzaro presents four types of fun that are involve...

“In order for the player to be optimally engaged, challenges should be presented at a level equivalent or slightly higher than their current skill. Not too easy, not too hard”( Gigity McD ) The word 'flow state' was coined by Csikszentmihalyi (1975) also known as being “in the zone” This is when the player is fully engaged in the game experience. Csikszentmihalyi put a lot of work into observing and analysing various groups of people. This theory is focused on the idea of how people should balance their skills and the demands of particular tasks. An example of Flow would be a challenge in a game that interests the player such as a puzzle or a boss battle meant to keep the player interested and not get bored. Csikszentmihalyi also states that flow is related to an ideal psychological condition when a person engages in a challenge-skill activity, often resulting in concentration and a focused emphasis on a task. A practical technique for improving Flow is to look at what players...

What is the GDD for? A Game Design Document (GDD) is a blueprint for the design and development of a game. The GDD is a way of being creative and documenting the approach to the development of the game. Gonzale (2016) states that “ the important thing is to have something that describes your game project (or any other project for that matter) before jumping into production . ( Gamasutra ) It should help to plan out your game. Though it is recommended that the GDD should be short it needs to be detailed enough so as game developers and artists can coordinate the development of the game independently whilst still keeping to the design. The GDD is a blueprint for how the game is going to be designed and built, similar to a mind map. In conclusion, the game design document is vital to making a game and it is important to have in order to describe your game project. How do we make one? There are a variety of tools that could be used to create a GDD. These include word processing tools, vi...

  The first article I read was called “What are the Qualities of Games” which is kind of like the previous articles I’ve read in the past week. The article touches on aspects of a game such as how players interact with the game or what the goal is for the players in the game. The most intriguing part of the article for me personally was Critical analysis part, it focuses on finding the core of the game elements, finding out why the dev decides to do certain things within the game and for what reasons. More info on this article can be found here . The second article called “Game Design Research” talks about the difference in views when discussing game design and how it can differ depending on the game designer. It mentions how getting feedback from players and other dev can be vital for how well the game will turn out and how beta’s have been used over the past few years to help games gain a perspective on how their game runs/how interested players are in their concept. Sadly, thoug...

What is a Game, Anyway? I've personally always wondered what actually makes the fundamentals of a game or the basic features to which something can be called "A Game", and not until I read an article called "What is a game any way?" did I truly understand. The article itself is quite interesting and while it did take me a while to finish, it did teach me quite a few things such as the fact that everyone has a different point of view on what a game really is, what classifies as a game, some people think of video games or board games first but the list is endless really.  While reading this article you can begin to understand that a lot of games have similar ideas that contrast each other or relate in either one or two ways. The most eye-opening point made in this article to myself was one made by Schreiber who talks about the relationship between "Play" and "Games" where technology is not even needed to help enjoy a game of fetch or "play...