Game Studies

- May 24, 2024

26.04.2024 - 24.05.2024 / Week 1 - Week 5

GU QIANKUAN / 0369385

Design Principles / BA of Design (HONS) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Task 1 / Proposal

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INSTRUCTIONS

In this task students are required to begin synthesizing their own gameplay system which will be based on their investigations on digital and analogue games. They are to apply a concept based on their research about games and other existing studies. Students are also to suggest narratives and visual genres that would contribute to the unique selling proposition.

Students are to:

• Propose a board game/tabletop game system/framework with a visual theme which may be related to a narrative or genre.
• Identify research problems and questions
• Hypothesize possible gameplay solutions/ideas during playtime discussions on progress outcomes and development will be done during tutorial session.

Progress

Fig 1.1, Discord Discussion, (24.05.2024)

During Week 3 Jeevan and I discussed on what the theme and what type of games should we be working on since most of the ideations from week 2 like the RPG game and the Card fight game are rejected. After having a short discussion, we sent both our ideas in discord chat.

Fig 1.2, Small Wolrd Board Game, (24.05.2024)

So after having some thoughts I've went and searched up this board game call Small World the 2013 Gra Roku Game of the Year Winner and thought of creating a board game using some of the elements from this game like the characters with some perks, armies, resources and also conquering regions and spots to survive in the game.

I've also gone through a short video of the game small world to recall on the rules and playstyle of the game so that I have an idea on how I would want "Astral Empires" to work and run.

Here's the link to the Small World Tutorial Video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibzqvd3b1Yg

Fig 1.3, Google Slides Ideation, (24.05.2024)

After the short discussion in Discord and some references on the game Small World I took both our ideas and touched up some of the parts of my ideas and inserted it into the google slides. After completing the ideation slides I sent it into the group for the team to decide on which one is more suitable and as we all misunderstood on what we are suppose to do on week 3 and 4 so we thought that we will need to create a prototype of the game by that week.

                                                                 

                                                  Fig 1.4, Whatsapp Group Chat, (24.05.2024)

So after we are done with the ideation proposal Zi long Showed it to Dr. Charles during the Friday consultation hours and we've gotten our feedback on the both the ideas the word game is simple but maybe too simple and similar to the game that we came up with during week 2 and the second idea "Monarch mayhem" is a good idea but we might need to change it to a board game rather then a card game and we may add in some elements like LEGO bricks for the buildings. The name of the game should also be reconsidered to something like "My Empire". We are also told that, we are suppose to record a presentation video for the second idea.

Fig 1.5, Whatsapp Group Chat, (24.05.2024)

But on Saturday we received an update by Will saying that she'll leave the group, so we needed to rethink and reschedule how we distribute our tasks.

Fig 1.6, Canva Proposal Slides, (24.05.2024)

So after confirming on which idea we will be using I proceeded with the proposal of the slides and added in all the details.

Fig 1.7, Canva Proposal Slides, (24.05.2024)

These are the contents that I've inserted into the slides before showing the proposal to Dr. Charles. After completing the slides I sent the link to Zi long and he presented the proposal to Dr. Charles, but the slides emphasized too much on the details and there's no mentioning on who is the target audiences so I proceeded and redid the whole slides on 24th May during the consultation hours with Dr. Charles after having a small consultation with sir and confirmed on what I should focus on.

Fig 1.8, Canva Proposal Slides (final), (24.05.2024)

So I made a new proposal with a background story of 4 alien characters to conquer not just the empires but the reality itself so we named it Astral Empires so it's more relatable. In the slides we've included Background, Playable Characters, Components, Game Setup, Gameplay, Target Audience and Summary.

To have a better experience on the slides please do visit this Canva link below-

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGGGlXMzr8/1DPRjJWH5k2VrLWk_IIBIg/edit?utm_content=DAGGGlXMzr8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Fig 1.9, Canva Proposal Slides (final), (25.05.2024)

Fig 2.0, Canva Proposal Slides (final), (25.05.2024)

After the discussion during the consultation on 24th May, Jee Van went home and redesigned a few pages of the slides. The images above are some of the slides that are updated by Jee Van We decided to have Jee Van and Zi Long record the presentation video and have Jee van edit the videos together and prepare them for submission.

Final Proposal & Presentation

Here is the presentation video by Jee Van and Zi Long-

Fig 2.1, Presentation Video, (26.05.2024)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10sJ2OQUPpuxdRCzb5GhYu-iqqHc5YkYo/view?usp=sharing

To have a better experience on the slides please visit this Canva link below-

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGGGlXMzr8/1DPRjJWH5k2VrLWk_IIBIg/edit?utm_content=DAGGGlXMzr8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

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FEEDBACK

Week 2

- The RPG game might not work if the plot is not good enough

- Characters, maps, and surroundings should all be original

- Try thinking out of the box

Week 3

- The game is too cliche

- Try to create something more original

- Make something funnier and consist of a longer lifespan

 

Week 4

- Slide emphasizes too much on the details

- Can't see what the game is about

- What is the purpose of creating "Empire Builder"

- Too many slides on components and rules

- Cut short and summarize

- Who are the target audiences

Week 5

- "Empire Builder has potential, but it lacks "meat"

- Make the game interesting

- Present with passion

- Make it simple and lasts for around 1 hour with 4 to 6 players

- Can make the game fiction so that there won't be that many limitations