2.C.2.B: Contemporary Game Assignment

1. Form a team of four people
   • Select a game to play
   • Write your names on the front white board and the game you are playing
2. Prepare your Trusted System or Game Modification Task Sheet to take notes
   • Have a section for each area of MDA
     • Mechanics
     • Dynamics
     • Aesthetics
3. Select one of the games found at: Friv.com or Google Experiments – Games
   • Play on your own, if the mechanics allow it.
   • Play on your own, if the mechanics allow it.
     • If the game only supports multi- player modes, play with one or more of your peers.
   • Play as a designer, paying attention to the mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics as described in the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) framework.
4. Reflect on your play experience.
   • What were the game’s apparent design goals?
     • Did it succeed at those goals?
     • Why or why not?
   • What were the mechanics?
     • What was the play experience?
     • What is the relationship between the two?
     • Did you find any strategies that were exploitable?
     • Did the game seem well-balanced?
   • What kinds of interesting decisions (and uninteresting ones) were you making throughout the game?
     • What do you feel was the competitive differential of the game?
5. Write your analysis of the game within a new Game Modification Task Sheet.
   • Include the following information:
     • Name of the game and its publisher (this will help get you in the habit of giving credit where due. It will also ensure everyone references the same game).
     • Describe the core mechanics of the game. You do not have to reproduce the rules, but you should describe the basic play of the game and the main decisions players are making. Assume your audience has never played the game before!
     • Include the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) of the game, showing how they emerge from the mechanics (if you are not sure, provide a guess).
     • State the game’s design goals. Indicate what the designer was trying to do! Then, indicate whether you feel the game met those goals, explaining why or why not.
     • Note anything else you can about the game (such as a particular issue with game balance or a unique use of game components).
     • Lastly, if you were the designer, what would you change about the game (if anything)?
       • Make specific recommendations for your suggested changes.
       • For example, do not just say “I would make the game more interactive between players” or “I would fix the problem that I identified earlier” — say how you would fix things.
       • What rules would change and what would they change to?
       • Would you change any game objects or values?
     • Remember, your audience is made up of other game designers.
       • Write your analysis so that other designers can learn from the mistakes and successes of the game you chose.
       • Your goal is to educate and inform them about the game you selected.
       • Another goal is to discover new lessons about what makes games work or not work. These goals are more important than a review score!
6. Discuss in Class
   • 3rd Period Games
     • Dino Hunt
       • Dylan, Casey, Mark, Dylan
     • The Arrow Of Time
       • Jerod, Michael, Roman
     • Fireboy & Watergirl
       • Jared, John, Sophia, Sutton
     • Raft Wars
       • Ethan, Ari, Kenneth, Bowen, Arman
     • Onslaught
       • Leo, PerGames
   • 5th Period Games
     • Dinosaur Game
       • Jack, Zach, Sam
     • Super Mario 63
       • Alex, Luke, Kris
     • Oregon Trail
       • Caden, Danico, Bryson, William
     • Agar.io
       • Billy, Gavin, Eli, Jared
     • Slither.io
       • Ben, Max, Alec, Jacob

• Create a blog post titled, 2.C.2.B: Contemporary Game Assignment
  • Review Critical Thinking material – let’s have a meta-moment!
  • Copy and paste questions from the detailed steps below
    • What were the game’s apparent design goals?
    • What were the mechanics?
    • What kinds of interesting decisions (and uninteresting ones) were you making throughout the game?
    • Copy the questions from the Game Modification Task Sheet
  • Answer questions
  • Refer to the Critical Thinking Assignment Rubric (PDF) for guidance

Student Examples

• Katerina’s post
• Daniel’s post
• David’s post
• Judy’s post
• Bo’s post
• Alex’s post
• Ben’s post
• Arale’s post

2.C.2.C: Critical Thinking Assignment

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Explain your response.

“Not only do we tend to think about the world according to what we want to see and what we need to see, we tend to think in terms of what we expect to see.”

• Create a blog post titled, Critical Thinking Assignment
  • Review criticalthinking.org
  • Copy the “not only do we …” statement above into you blog post
  • Explain your response
  • Refer to the  Critical Thinking Assignment Rubric (PDF)

• Nghia’s post
• Hunter’s post
• Josh’s post

Unit Resources