Week 02 - *First Crack at Folk Games*

After reading the first chapter of Games, Design and Play: A Detailed Approach to Iterative Game Design by Macklin and Sharp, I learned some basic tips and concepts for making games, was given premium examples that articulated those tips/concepts, and even found some insight for the game we were constructing in class. During class, the game we were trying to create was similar to charades, but instead of a player knowing a word and trying to act it out, the player does not know the word and must act out their guess.  We ran into some issues while designing the game such as what clue does the team with the word give? How do we know who wins? How do we get everyone in the game involved? In response to those questions, we added restrictions, timers, and turn-based rounds, but were still missing something. 

Something that I related to while reading the chapter was when the book explained the relationship between game designers and players by stating, "game developers create the game, but the player is the one who decides how, when, and why to play it."  This quote made me realize that the game we made needed to be simple enough to where the players could decide most rules of the game. I enjoyed the feedback we got in class, but it still needs to have a simple set of rules that the players could even change if they wanted to.

I think the rules of the game we made are a little flimsy, as one team must 'give a clue about the word.' I think this sparks creativity but also allows the team with the word to be too broad with their hint. As the book states, "the restrictions rules place upon players are also what make games fun." So if we narrow the hint down to a category or certain statement, it will give the other team a chance to guess the word (by acting of course). 

Out of the six elements of play mentioned in the book, I think our game is most lacking in pieces and playspace. Regarding playspace, the book mentions that it "should be designed to encourage and support the kind of play experience you want your players to have." The experience I want players to have with this game is a fun time with friends or at events, and I believe the environment that would best provide that experience is just a relatively open space like a living room, stage, game room, even at the kitchen table!

Overall this week was interesting and I'm excited to see what we continue to work on in this class!