Game Elements

(Source of image)

This reading discussed a lot of different aspects in games that need to be considered when creating a game and when critiquing it.This reading really helped me understand better the things I'll need to think about when I will be creating my own game. Implementing the things mentioned in the reading will definitely make the game a lot more enjoyable when played.

One of the main things I realised I will have to focus on to make the game enjoyable is the rules and objectives of the game. The player needs to understand what they are doing or what they need to do to fully enjoy their experience. If they are aimlessly wandering around trying to figure everything out by themselves, they'll lose interest in the game pretty quickly,which is something I want to avoid. I'm obviously going to consider the other elements that make up a game too but those 2 are the main things I'd like to concentrate on.

Another thing that stood out to me in the reading was games as systems, which basically says that changing one element of the game can actually have a much bigger effect on other elements as they are all connected to one another. I didn't really think making a few minor adjustments could make such a difference so now I know when I'm making a change(s) in my game, I'll really have to think about the possible effects it might have on the other aspects and carefully think through what things I want to correct.

In the article by Doug Church, he states that people lack in design vocabulary which affects how we critique people's games. People usually just state whether a game is "fun" or "not fun" and leave it at that, but that's not very helpful. Game designers would want a more in-depth analysis of their games so they can understand better what they did well and what they need to improve on. However, they can't really get that type of critique if no one knows "the language of game design" so finding a way to word feedback is something people would need to work on.