Design idea: Art driven design

My idea is a game of hunting,one that is done during the prehistoric era (around 10,000 b.c. probably). The art style will be using the ones from that era as well, which is the drawings found on the cavern, that people believed came from that era as well.

The game is pretty simple, we will be taking the role of a young hunter that wants to go hunting for his village. He will be given 3 sets of weapon, an arrow, throwing spear, and also axes.

That said, it’s a simple action game where we need to kill big animals, something like a mammoth or a sabretooth, where the player could switch around between the 3 weapons in real-time.

I think that this game would work really well if we use the art I mentioned.

Journal Wk12: Serious games

After playing all of the said games, I found that those kinds are unique, innovative, and also successfully delivers  the message that the creator initially wanted to convey.

Even though some games uses the same mechanics, probably with a few more tune up, as other more generic games, the experience it gives is richer.

The idea of translating a real social situation or historical events into a game, will give the player a different feeling when playing it, given that it probably gives a sense of parody to the players about the said situation or events.

Journal Wk10: Improv

1. Be fun to play with.

All games are arguably fun, If a game is not fun, then we need to reconsider the fact whether the said game is a game or not.

It is a given the the factor of fun is necessary in every game, so we need to consider about the mechanics during the design process.

2.Serve the narrative.

A self-expression game does need a good flow of narrative indeed. This needs to be considered when designing the game, especially story-based game.  The game has to have a mechanics that follows the narration well at a suitable pace.

3.Make your partner look good.

To me, this is the most interesting part. I think if we want to make a good self-expression game, with this aspect, we need to make it so that the player gets a reward when they are pleasing their partner, most probably in a social aspect.

It would be really strange if we make a game without making it fun and rewarding to the player, hence if we want to consider this aspect, we need to make it rewarding.

In a self-expression game, those 3 aspect are very important, each needs to be fulfilled to make a good game.

Design Idea Wk10: Art game

My idea for an art game is a Musical Composing game. It is a game where the player has to complete a music with their own imagination.

During the game,  player will listen to a certain music piece. The player then could insert notes by in the middle of the play, as creatively as they wanted.

The finished song then could be posted online and people would be able to listen to them, and like them. There will be a hall of fame, where it will display the top 10 best arrangement for each music.

It’s quite simple, but probably suitable for a PC. For variation, people could download new songs to be played.

Design Idea Wk 9 — Fairytale

My idea of a fairytale game is based on the story of the story if little red riding hood.

We basically assume the role of the wolf, where we have to infiltrate the house of the grandmother, without being caught. There will be disguises and sneaking around heavily involved, probably a metal gear solid look alike.

There are various ways of infiltration, which probably include entering from the fireplace,grabbing the grandmother from behind, etc.

Next stage would be trying to fool little red riding hood by using a proper disguise, etc.

Lastly by trying to run and hide from the hunter who try to kill us.

It’s a simple game, probably it is suitable for a flash game.

Journal Wk 9 — Interactive Fiction

Having played quite a few interactive fiction myself, I found that those kind of games does work. I honestly think that these kind of games are good and interesting.

Those kinds of game are quite fun in my opinion since it usually has good stories. It’s just like reading a novel, but with lots of interaction inside, making the player feel much more involved, creating a new experience.

These kinds of game may not work for everyone, as it is not a mainstream genre kind of game. It does not have a slick mechanic, but games like these requires good design skill for the game to actually work, as there are plenty of things and plenty of branches to be considered.

Even though these kind of game may not work for mainstream gamer, I also found that non-gamer people might like these kinds of game, as it is similar to watching a TV drama, a movie, or reading a novel probably.

Lastly, the idea of multiple ending decrease the boredom and increases curiosity to the player, and also adding the replay value.

Journal Wk8: Mafia

Mafia works great because it is fun for people to interact with one another, while trying to figure out who is the mafia. The limited amount of information also contributes to the game’s fun aspect, as it is fun to try to make out clues, and deduct something out of it.

The most exciting part of the game, I think, is the deduction part. When someone guesses, and they get it right, they will feel satisfied, I think it makes someone feel smarter, and makes them want to play the game again.

When someone guesses it wrong, however, he/she will feel curious and will want to keep playing the game again.

There is no particular strategy in the game really, but I found that when we are a mafia, playing with different style will help in confusing the other players. It takes some time though to left an impression about how we play. Playing in different style means changing from silent type, to normal, to very talkative, or something of the sort.

When the people already have an impression already on us, and they guess wrongly, it would put a slight confusion in their minds. Making them think twice before judging us again.

For making an online game out of this, I think it will be a lot harder, since we can’t see the expression on people’s face. This could be changed by creating this game using a video messenger. The game will make a room with limited people online, they then started assigned roles randomly. They will be given some time to start persuading each other just like the game. During the night part, the mafia will need to click on the person he/she wanted to kill. The killed person will then will have his/her voice muted, until the round restart again.

It should work better then a text based mafia where you need to type to talk.

Design Idea Wk8: A social game

An interesting social game would be a trading card game, probably similar to Magic the Gathering. The system would be like texas holdem poker, where a room is created and has limits of how many people that could join. The game would be a royal rumble if the total number of people is more than 2, each player trying to kill one another.

The game will have ranks, and will provide the top 5 winning player with money. The money could be used to buy more cards, or  a pack of random cards, that has either good or bad cards depending on our luck. We could also trade with other players, either trading by cards, or by selling them to other players.

I think this game would work great on facebook.

Reflection Wk 6: Player-centred design

Player centered design, in my opinion is a good strategy if we want to make games that’s going to sell very well. It is not, however, a key to make a good game in my opinion.

It’s true that the players holds a very critical aspect in defining whether our game is fun or not. Designers need to think about the player’s feeling, but I think the player doesn’t really have to be the centre of our design.

I like unique games, and unique games that are good are usually made by the designer to express themselves, not player centered.

Another thing to think about is that the players are people, and people have different taste. They could end up giving mixed feedback and opinions. That is why, a player is not always right.

Design Idea week 6: Hardware Driven Game

My idea for the game is  a music conducting game. We use the gloves to follow the hand motion flow shown on the screen, doing it right will make the orchestra to produce a beautiful sound, doing the motion too fast will make the  orchestra to play in a faster tempo, doing it slow will make the orchestra plays the music slower. Wrong hand motion will confuse the orchestra, making them plays a bad sound.

A pretty simple interactive music game, probably suitable to be in a package such as wiiPlay or something of the sort.