Vu 4 [HB comments] (1)
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Dec 6, 2023
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"Game of life" is a notion that games are designed within the moral and strategic simulation
tradition. This essay will describe our game design in Game Lab 1 and apply the concepts of "life
is a game" to the practical experience of our board game design process.
In Game Lab 1, our group design's name is "Marble Clash." It is a 1v1 board game with
the primary goal of letting the marble roll to the finish line. The winner is the one who has the
highest score. To begin with, our first idea of this game came from a classic type of game:
the
Plinko. However, we want our design to be different and renovated. Therefore, we came up with
the idea of a board game box containing customized obstacles and a unique board with holes in
every grid to pin the obstacle pieces. Each box will have two boards and two sets of obstacle
pieces. Each player will be able to set up the board for the others to challenge, with a limited
time of one minute. They can either make it easy or difficult for the other, but the main goal is to
have the best strategy for themselves. The board also has two walls on two sides to stop the
marbles from falling out of the play zone, and there is a gutter catcher on the bottom side, also
known as the finish line. The novelty of our design is the fact that the opponent players must be
the ones to set up all of the obstacles, and they are the factors that mainly of your winning, since
if they try to make the obstacle difficult and set it up more complicated, you will have lower
chances of winning the game. The disadvantage of our design is that it may limit the target
customers. Since it is dangerous for young children below the age of
six
6
to play this game with
a tiny marble, it is tedious for teenagers above twelve years old to play this game due to its
simplicity and small range of obstacle types.
One of the other designs that impressed me is the "Horror Street." This game is also a
simple board game with the general vision of rolling the dice to pass the "horror" path with many
challenges. The rule is straightforward to understand and absorb and suitable for a group of
players. They have their theme for Halloween. However, the most exciting part is their card
design. They have the "challenging" card with many exciting dares and questions. For example,
"Text your ex or dumb your head in the water for five minutes". They have succeeded in selling
this design since they set their target demographic to teenagers - who will enjoy these
"challenging" cards. In the next iteration of your game, I will make my design to have a
particular theme or add a story to it. Therefore, it may attract kids from 6 -15 years old. For
instance, any popular game themes or famous movies that may attract kids. The marble will have
a specific appearance, and the board will be decorated to align with the themes. I will assign
more interesting and funny factors to my design. The point system must be changed, and the
players are more encouraged to play. The law should be more restricted in order to not have the
opponent players make it impossible for the other player to get the marble to the finish line.
There will be more complex types of obstacle pieces and a bigger board so that this board game
can attract children above twelve since they will have more room for creativity and imagination.
Considering my design within the tradition of moral and strategic simulation and the
concept of the "game of life," I think that our game consists of four factors that may emphasize
the concept of the "game of life". First of all, our game
modelizes
models
the fact that people
have to suffer many problems, which is unpredictable. One of our game's most important rules
and significant development is that players
can not
cannot
customize the obstacles by themselves.
If they can, the game could be so easy and will have no fun. Instead, players have to face
challenges set up by their opponents. Therefore, they will have more curiosity and cannot earn
full of the players' experience that we want customers to be involved in. The act of letting others
set up all the challenges for ourselves can be related relatively to the concept of the "game of
life". This is the preparation for our lives. In our real world, we have to face many difficulties
and challenges. Everyone has to suffer problems that they can not expect. They are unable to
control what will happen in their lives. This is similar to the idea of the obstacles being
customized by other players in our design.
Secondly, our design is a combination of a construction game and a battle game since we can
build the obstacles freely, and we have to compete with the other players to earn the highest
points. Our design helps players to enhance their imagination and creativity, as David Gauntlett
mentioned in his writings of LEGO, "invited people to build in metaphors everything in
metaphors" (Gauntlett, 193). Our design is one of the best ways to improve problem-solving
skills and enhance critical thinking as players have to find the most efficient strategy for
themselves. It is a place for the spatialization and visualization of
imagination and creativity.
Moreover, our game allows players to have many options and choices. Players can have their
own strategies and any paths that allow them to get the highest points, which is similar to the
concept "life is a game" that Jill Lepore wrote: "The journey of life is governed by a combination
of chance and judgment," (Lepore, 39). Specifically, having a suitable strategy plays an
important part in winning the game since you must have the best choice in which paths you may
take to have the marble rolling to the furthest destination. Milton Bradly also mentioned this idea
in the process of creating the "The Checkered Game of Life" board
game to be the "game of
destiny checked by strategy" (Bradley, 39).
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Finally, take "The Checkered Game of Life" as a comparison. Instead of the design of
each square containing moral or spiritual teaching, our design refers more to the players'
emotions, which may lead to many consequences in winning or losing the game. More
specifically, if a player gets angry and not patient, they will lose the game. High frustration levels
can lead to impaired performance, as players may make inefficient decisions and lose focus.
It is
the same situation when players get too excited and will be less cautious and uncontrollable
when rolling the marble. This state of emotion that may occur in our game is a reflection of the
reality of our lives. People have to be in a balance between both positive and negative emotions.
Otherwise, they will get into trouble and face difficulties.
In conclusion, our design - "Marble Clash,"
embodies the "Game of Life" concept, illustrating
life's unpredictability and the necessity of strategy, adaptability, and emotional balance. This
board game, while providing entertainment, also serves as a metaphorical tool, mirroring the
complexities and challenges happens in life and highlighting the importance of problem - solving
skills and the balanced state of emotions as preparation for life.
Works Cited
1.
Guantlett, David.
The LEGO system as a tool for thinking.
New York: Routledge. 2014.
2.
Lepore,
David
Jill
.
The meaning of Life.
New York:
The New
Y
y
orker
. Print.
Annie,
Thanks for your good work on this fourth paper, which is the first one that corresponds to our game labs.
As I explained in class, the fundamental purpose of the assignment is to reflect on the relation between theory and
practice in ludology. More specifically, the paper posed two questions. First, what did you learn from the process of
conceiving and pitching your game design, and from your peers’ designs? Second, how can you place your own
design within the context of games that simulate war or morality?
In order to answer this second question, you had to show some understanding of our readings and class
discussions, where we traced the evolution of games and simulations from ancient forms like Chess and Snakes and
Ladders, to tabletop war games like
Das Kriegsspeil
,
to contemporary video games like
America’s Army
and
Spore
,
to construction games like
Minecraft.
As we navigated this varied history, we also considered, in a larger sense, the
ways that games convey values and emulate life. For example, Lepore’s essay suggests that “life is a game,” or
rather that there’s a whole tradition of games, including
The Checkered Game of Life
, the more recent
The Game of
Life
, and
The Sims
, that simulate life choices and, to some degree, aspire to offer players guidance on the larger
game board of real life.
Because I already sent your team a detailed assessment of
Marble Clash
last week, I’ll focus my comments
here not on your design but rather on what you learned from it. In general, I encourage you to treat this paper and
subsequent ones as continuations of the design process we started in the game lab. If we had more time to follow the
design process through all the necessary steps that Schell describes in
The Art of Game Design
, your brief pitch
would be the starting point for improved versions of the game. In this sense, your critique here is constructive, as it
looks ahead to further iterations and a playable prototype.
To this end, you propose several possible improvements to
Marble Clash
, including enlarging the game
board, adding more types of obstacle pieces and marbles, and maybe making the graphics less abstract. As my
earlier assessment suggests, I agree that these changes could improve on your game’s core mechanics and make it
more fun for more players. You also take some good inspiration from your peers’ design, as you note in your
discussion in
Horror Street.
In the second part of your paper, you apply our readings and discussions to
Marble Clash
by drawing some
productive connections to Lepore’s essay on moral simulations and Gauntlett’s essay on LEGO construction play. As
my comments suggest, I think you show particular insight in imagining a marble rolling through an obstacle course
as an allegory for moving through a life full of challenges. Here you show me new meaning in your proposed design
that I didn’t see in your initial pitch.
Although I’ve noted a few questions and corrections in my marginal notes, I’m impressed not only by the
design you managed to conceive and pitch in only two days, but also by your ability, demonstrated in this paper, to
realize some of key ideas from our seminar in an original creative work. I look forward to our second lab this week,
when you’ll have three new team members, including two of your peers and an AI. I remind you, finally, to
communicate efficiently with your peers during the process. Generous collaboration is essential to successful game
design, as you witnessed in your own process in the first round. Keep up the great work!