Introduction

As my second academic year begins, I am looking forward to developing myself and gaining better knowledge of my discipline. I am hoping to largely step-up with my practice this year and become a great designer, that can not only conceptualise and design games, but help to bring them to life through effective communication and team work.

Lecture and brief

The lecture going over fundamentals was a great way to ease back into my development as a game designer. While I was familiar with many of the concepts discussed, it helped to reconsider them and refresh my knowledge. In particular, it was beneficial to consider games in terms of Flow Theory, and the MDA Framework; as a designer it is important to break games down and see the individual components working within the holistic whole. I also found the section on circumventing designer’s block helpful, and I am sure that I will refer to it throughout the year as I encounter difficult hurdles in game development.

The main assignment for this module is to make a game design document (GDD) for a hypothetical game. This is an exciting task and the creative possibilities are almost overwhelming. Due to the fact that these games will not be developed (not yet, at least), we can afford to push our scope beyond the bounds of a student project if we wish. I will spend some time brainstorming ideas soon to hopefully land on one that I am confident with developing further.

Individual challenge

This week’s individual design challenge tasked us with discussing a game that we deemed ‘dead on arrival’. By critically analysing what made a game leave a bad impression on us, we can better understand how to avoid the same thing happening to players when we design our own experiences. Here is my submission:

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Wolfenstein: Youngblood (2019) completely upends everything that made the previous two reboot games so fantastic. Where The New Order and The New Colossus were fantastic modern shooters which strode forward into new territory while still having a firm respect for the series’ roots, Youngblood tries to cram in games-as-service practices and artificially lengthens the game with level barriers.

A list of issues:

• When playing single-player, the AI buddy is more of a hindrance than a help.
• Protagonists and dialogue that make you cringe.
• Uninteresting story that fails to be integrated with the gameplay.
• Level barred missions for the sake of stretching out the game.
• Confusing, snaking level design that I got lost in many times.
• Very poor and unforgiving checkpoint system.
• Bland and unintuitive UI.

I think a co-op Wolfenstein game is a great idea, but unfortunately the execution of this was not ideal. I would’ve much preferred to see a linear game designed for two players to experience, rather than a half-baked semi-open world with generic mission structure and unnecessary grinding. If you’ve never played a Wolfenstein game, please don’t start with this one!

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Further reading

I read a section of Study Skills for Art, Design and Media Students (Mann 2010), which had some interesting points on efficient note-taking within lectures, as well as tips for working in team development projects. I also went to the campus and took out a copy of Game Design Workshop (Fullerton 2004). In particular, I liked the emphasis on improving our design knowledge by endeavouring “to learn to play with the same conscious sensitivity to your own experience and critical analysis of the underlying system” (Fullerton 2004: p. 9). In other words, by becoming a more thoughtful and analytical player, we become a better designer. As the book suggested, I decided to write a ‘game journal’ entry regarding Sable (2021), a game I am currently playing.

Thoughts on Sable:

• Freedom is a core pillar of the experience.
  • You are free to go anywhere and tackle the game in any order.
  • Once you have obtained a few items you are even free to end the game whenever you want.
• Empty space and lengthy travel emphasises reflective exploration.
  • Supported by the narrative – you play a lone wanderer in search of purpose.
  • ‘Artificial loneliness’ – feels intimate as it is often just you and the player character.
• Choices in customisation.
  • You can customise your hoverbike as well as Sable’s clothing.
  • Makes your experience feel more personal and adds to the feeling of agency.

 

References

FULLERTON, Tracy. 2004. Game Design Workshop. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

MANN, Stewart. 2010. Study Skills for Art, Design and Media Students. 

Sable. 2021. Shedworks, Raw Fury.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood. 2019. Machine Games, Bethesda Softworks.

 

List of figures

Figure 1: Raw Fury, 2021. Sable in-game screenshot. Raw Fury [online]. Available at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qemoej1eg4pmaj3/AAD8KwPYYEJVwj_UmaUDRG1ga/RAW%20FURY%20Released%20games/Sable/Screenshots?dl=0&subfolder_nav_tracking=1 [accessed 26 October 2021].