Course Reflection

Throughout the semester I learned many ideas that I had had not known before. Some ideas are one I would have not thought about if they were not introduced in the class. The MDA framework was the most influential as it was much shorter and straight to the point. It contained a many important points that apply to game design. The rest of the material was relevant to the subject and added a little extra to my knowledge of play, games, and design.

The prototyping really helped me understand how useful iterative design can be. For some reason I have a habit of fleshing ideas out in my head before I get them on paper. I realized that just putting ideas out there and testing them immediately is the best way to find out if they work or if they are fun.

Reading about games was helpful to understand the ideas behind the design. Playing games, however, became an extremely useful tool in understanding game design. I have started playing all the games I play with the mind of a designer. It really helps to understand what makes a game good or bad and what elements worked and didn't work.

The final project pushed me to make something beautiful and work out all the details, while testing everything in the process. I am still in the process of working on the game, but I hope it is something I can be proud to say was design by me.

Final Game

At the beginning of the semester I was approached to help Design and Program a game out of a village created by a 3D modelling class taught by Tom Austin of the Animation/Illustration department at SJSU.

My final project is about taking all the assets that they create and making it into an environment with a story and sound. Having a whole village created and polished is a huge honor to be part of and I have been motivated all semester to do the best I can with it.

While the full story and dialogue is not completely fleshed out, the basic premise is about following a man in his journey to discover past events in which he has forgotten. He must scour the village for any clues that may refresh his memory and found out why the village is left empty.

The player will control this man through a first person perspective. Picking up notes and finding special items of significance will reveal more of the story. There may be some supplemental items that are not vital to the main story line that players may not find if they are not observant enough on their first play through. Floating text (Hopefully voiceovers in the future) will display important bits of information to the player to help them unravel the story further.

The point of this game is to put players in another world and become the character that they control. They can explore their surroundings at their own pace and take as much time as they need to do so. The game ends when they reach the end of the main storyline.

Here are some images of the assets.