Week 09

Reading and Writing

Looking Back

Looking back at the reading tasks we've done over this semester it is safe to say I learned a lot more about the structure of games than I thought, I thought I knew loads about them already until this course. When I play a game nowadays I apply criteria I've learned to analyze the game I'm playing and what makes it work, Im even watching videos on youtube videos about this and the theory behind games.

One of the readings that fascinated me was the "games MDA" topic, the thing that made this interesting to me is the fact that it's in every game ever made, and it's the core topic that the designers have to think about when making their game. This analysis technique really helps break down the game and you can learn more from it even more so than if you didn't apply it. By using this technique you can learn more from video games than you ever thought you would.

There was this other article where I learned about the flow state in a game, and how a player would achieve this state, and how it would affect their thoughts and opinions on the game. The image above is a perfect example of how the flow state works. This was really interesting and can be the reason why a game is successful or not. Flow is a psychological theory that we can adapt to our game to create challenges that are both engaging and match the player's skill level in order to keep the interest alive for the player. I learned so much about these articles and they have each taught me exclusive information about games, They are also really enjoyable.

Looking Forward

I think something that could in an interesting reading topic would be "Game language" and how a player with experience would approach a game as to a person who doesn't play games at all and doesn't understand game language as easily. Other than that I'm open to other topics and am enjoying learning more about games.