Games Studies

Ding Jiaqi/0379388

Games Studies 2/ Bachelor of interactive spatial design

Week 1

Course Tasks Overview

Individual Tasks:

 Complete two exercises:

  1. Describe a favorite game and its fun elements.

  2. Explore the evolution and improvement of games.

These aim to build personal skills and support group design efforts.

Organize and evaluate project updates.

Write a personal reflection at the end of the semester.

Compile everything into a digital portfolio.

Group Tasks:

Create a tabletop game prototype in phases, progressing with weekly tasks.

Peer evaluation of team member contributions at the end of the semester.

 

Course Timeline

Preparation Phase (Weeks 1–4):

Course introduction

Learning about fun and educational elements

Game experience and dynamic system design

Start individual exercises

Finalize game concept and begin developing the alpha version

Prototype Development and Testing (Weeks 5–12):

Present initial proposal and framework

Conduct multiple testing rounds and improvements

Create the final framework model online

Carry out beta testing and presentation

Final Iteration and Presentation (Weeks 13–14):

Analyze and refine the project

Prepare and deliver the final presentation

Notes during lecture：       

The game design aims to enable players to generate, utilize, and store as much energy as possible in the ATP bank by the end of the game while avoiding energy loss during the generation process. There are various ways to determine victory or defeat. The game mechanics can draw inspiration from simple games like Snakes and Ladders, where the first to reach the end wins, or Monopoly, where the player with the most money (while trying to bankrupt others) emerges victorious. The design should be accessible to players without a scientific background, and overemphasis on educational elements should be avoided to maintain the game's fun factor. Secondary mechanics such as resource management and trading, like exchanging glucose for energy, can be incorporated. You can choose between a ludology approach that focuses solely on gameplay without a story or a narrative-driven approach where storytelling is central to the player experience. Additionally, existing games can serve as a foundation, with the primary mechanics retained and the theme modified to fit your concept. 

Week 2

Inspired by games like Uno, Qluedo, and Sahibba, we designed a simple competitive board game.

We showed it to Ms'Noranis, and they pointed out a few problems.

Feedback：

• The primary objective is simple: the player with the most ATP at the end wins the game.

• In the center of the game board, include three card stacks representing different metabolic pathways: Glycolysis, Glycogenesis, and the Pentose Phosphate Pathway.

• After rolling the die and landing on a specific bodily condition, players must draw a Pathway Card from one of the three stacks. Each stack contains both beneficial and detrimental outcomes, adding risk and strategic decision-making to each turn.

• Incorporate a wider variety of bodily conditions across the game board to enrich gameplay diversity.

• To encourage player interaction and strategic depth, introduce a Sabotage Mechanic. Players who land on special "?" tiles will trigger random events that can affect opponents—for example, stealing ATP or forcing another player to lose ATP. This feature adds surprise elements and unpredictability to the game.

Week3

After school on Friday, we met up at a board game café to play together. We chose a game called Happy Little Dinosaurs because its board design was similar to ours, and the mechanics shared similarities, such as point scoring and penalty systems. 
 

However, the rules were quite complex, so we spent some time figuring them out. The win conditions were: be the last surviving dinosaur or have the highest score when the game ends. Before starting, each of us picked a dinosaur character—I chose the green one💚, Xiangyi picked yellow🌼, Huier chose purple🦄, and Lina went with red🎈.  

The game included four types of cards: Disaster Cards, Point Cards, Interrupt Cards, and Player Cards (used for scoring or defending against disasters). The setup was as follows:  

- Each player started at 0 points, selected a dinosaur, and placed their character board;  

- Everyone drew 7 cards as their starting hand;  

- Each round, a Disaster Card (Natural, Emotional, or Predator type) was revealed;  

- Players secretly chose one card from their hand and revealed them simultaneously;  

- The highest-point card won the round, awarding the player a Score Card;  

- The lowest-scoring player might suffer the disaster’s effect, covering their board with the Disaster Card.  

Warning! If a player collected three different types of Disaster Cards, they were eliminated. The game continued until only one player remained or someone reached 50 points first.  

During the game, Lina and I took the lead with close scores. However, due to a misjudgment on my part, I failed to use my high-value cards at the right moment. In the end, Xiangyi won the game.

I created a table showing how our game design and style can take inspiration from Happy Little Dinosaurs.

Week 4

In the fourth week of our project, we had the opportunity to welcome a professional game producer into our classroom. She attentively reviewed each group’s work and provided detailed, insightful, and highly relevant suggestions tailored to each team’s design. In order to help her better understand the concept and mechanics of our game, Xiangyi and huier took the initiative to create a set of visual aids — specifically, character cards and prop cards — while she was reviewing the other groups. These cards clearly illustrated the roles, abilities, and functions of key elements in our game, serving as a concise visual summary of our gameplay system and design logic.

By presenting our game in this more tangible and structured way, we not only made it easier for the producer to quickly grasp our ideas, but also encouraged her to give us more precise and constructive feedback. Her suggestions covered both conceptual aspects and practical adjustments, which were extremely valuable to us. This professional exchange broadened our perspective, helped us identify previously overlooked details, and inspired several new directions for improving and polishing our game. The experience deepened our understanding of how to effectively communicate design ideas and highlighted the importance of presentation when seeking external feedback.

Feedback：

Having too many item types can overcomplicate the game, so it's recommended to use only one type of token: the ATP (sugar) token.

Fundamentally, all of the body's metabolic processes ultimately lead to the production, usage, or storage of ATP. These pathways are interconnected, so using a single ATP token better reflects this concept.

Simplify and clearly define which body conditions and physiological events you want to present on the game board.

Try playing a solo round first to observe whether ATP is being generated or consumed too quickly. This will help you evaluate the game’s pacing and determine an appropriate duration.

Week 5

I was unfortunately unable to attend this class due to a serious illness. I had a high fever accompanied by a severe cough, which made it impossible for me to participate in person. I deeply regret not being able to join my teammates in presenting our project. However, my friends kindly filled me in afterward and shared with me what happened during the class.

Our group had prepared a well-organized PowerPoint presentation in advance, which covered the key aspects of our game, including an introduction to the concept, core gameplay mechanics, win-and-loss rules, and several reference games that inspired our design. These points were presented clearly by my teammates during the session.

At the end of the presentation, Iman demonstrated the full gameplay process, offering a live walkthrough of how the game is played. According to my teammates, the teacher gave very positive feedback on our project, praising both our creativity and the clarity of our presentation, while also offering a few constructive suggestions for further improvement.

Although I couldn’t be there in person, I still felt proud of our team’s performance and contribution. Through my teammates’ updates, I was able to stay connected with the group’s efforts and experience a sense of participation in the classroom atmosphere.

Week 6

Today was our first real experience playing the game. Previously, we had been entirely focused on the design phase. However, this live playtest made us realize that actually playing it was much more complex than we had imagined.

We began by organizing all the materials we had prepared, laying them out neatly on the table. Following the instructions from the digital file, we placed the different types of cards in their designated spots. Once everything was ready, we started playing while also recording the session. My role was to film the video. Lina was the first to roll the dice—players could only move forward if they rolled an even number. Next came Xiangyi, followed by Huier.

Overall, the game progressed smoothly. Each time a player advanced, they would encounter a prompt on the path, leading them to choose a direction: glycolysis, glycogenesis, or the PPP (Pentose Phosphate Pathway). Based on their choice, the corresponding card would determine whether they gained or lost ATP tokens. Huier and Xiangyi kept rolling odd numbers, which meant they couldn't move forward. But later on, the three of them were neck and neck.

Before we knew it, 45 minutes had passed—far longer than the expected time for one round. Even so, we still hadn’t determined a clear winner. In the end, Xiangyi won with 35 ATP tokens, followed by Lina with 28, and Huier with 25.

After the game, we filled out the questionnaire handed out by our teacher and completed the task sheet together as a team, marking the successful end of our playtest. For me, the game is still quite challenging, as there are dozens of different card variations with their own point systems. It takes a lot of time to remember them all.

Week 7 

Last week, we tried out the game designed by our own group. This week, the teacher arranged for us to experience games from other groups for mutual feedback. Our group exchanged games with Group G6 and tried out their game. At first, we found the rules a bit hard to understand and somewhat confusing. But as we played more, we became deeply engaged—the more we played, the more fun it became. 

Group G6 designed a strategy-based card game focused on “resource collection.” In the game, players need to draw cards and use action points to gather resources, while also interfering with other players' moves. They created different types of action cards such as “Steal,” “Block Path,” and “Extra Turn,” each with its own unique effect. These elements added unpredictability and strategic depth to the game.

In the first round, I almost won but was countered and eliminated at the last moment. Since the game mechanics were so interesting, my teammates and I quickly started a second round. In the end, I won the second round and felt very satisfied. We were so immersed in the gameplay that time flew by, and we didn’t realize class was over until the teacher reminded us. This game exchange experience was truly valuable—it not only allowed us to explore the creativity of other teams but also gave us inspiration for balancing mechanics and fun in game design. Overall, it was a very rewarding learning experience.

Week 12

This week, we conducted an offline test of our game. Our game cards, board, and components have all been made more refined and complete. In the first round, I participated in the test with Xianyi, Huier, and Lina. The rule was that players would start moving only when the dice rolled above a 6. Overall, I was quite lucky in this round, drawing “GOOD” cards almost every time, with only a few instances of losing points. In the end, I successfully won the game. In the second round, Ms. Noranis joined our game. She is a very interesting teacher. After the game, she gave us some valuable suggestions: we could add more challenges to the game and adjust the probability of drawing different types of cards to make the chances of drawing each type more balanced.