GAME STUDIES - FINAL COMPILATION
Week 1-Week 14 (23/09/2025-04/11/2025)
Jennifer Michelle Hiendrawan/0374682
Game studies/Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Exercises
TABLE OF CONTENT
1.Lectures
2.Instructions
3.Task
4.Feedback
5.Final Outcome
5.Reflection
LECTURES
Week 1 (21/09/2025)
PRINCIPLES OF GAME DESIGN
What is game design?
-The art and science of creating interactive experiences for the purpose of
fun and playfulness
-Needs creativity, technical skills, and psychology
-Good game requires engaging mechanics, compelling narrative, and balanced
challenge
Core principles of game design
-Player Experience:
1.Focus on emotion: players should feel immersed
2.User-centered design: consider the target audience and playstyle
preferences
3.Flow state: balance between skill and challenge
-Gameplay mechanic:
Primary mechanics:
1.Core actions
2.Example: dice rolling, draw/ play cards to start the game
Secondary mechanic:
1.Additional enriching gameplay feature
2.Example: managing resources in game such as wood, stone, etc
-Feedback loops:
Positive feedback: Having a reward when complete a mission
Negative feedback: Having a punishment when lose the game/cannot complete a
mission
Dynamic feedback loops: The loops are adaptive and adjust based on player
performance, game context, etc
-Storytelling in games:
1.Player agency: allowing player to influence the story
2.Environmental storytelling: Through world, design, visuals, and setting
3.Narrative arcs: Structuring the story around climax, conflict, and
resolution
-Balance and challenge:
1.Difficulty curve: Difficult but keep players engaged without
frustration
2.Skill vs luck: Requires player skills but also luck sometimes
3.Player progression: Rewarding progress while maintaining growth
Enhance and refine
-Feedback an iteration
1.Playtesting: Identify area of games that need to be improve or
adjust
2.Feedback loops: identify where difficulties maybe too high or low
3.Fine-tuning experience: iterating the feedback
-Immersion and word building
1.Immersion: Helps player connected to the world and invest a story
2.Context for actions: deepen the emotional impact of the game
Challenges in game design
1.Over complication: simplicity is preferable
2.Failing to adapt: ignoring player feedback
3.Monetization vs player experience: Balancing profit motives with players
enjoyment
Week 2 (30/09/2025)
BALANCING FUN AND EDUCATIONAL ELEMENTS
What is fun and engaging?
Fun: Games offer engaging mechanics, rewarding challenges, and an experience
that feels emotionally satisfying
Education: involve teaching concepts, improving skills, or enhancing
understanding
Why balance fun and education?
Serious game requires a balance between engagement and learning
Strategies for fun & Edu and balance
Learning through play: Educational content from game mechanics
Layered learning: Unlock educational elements as player progress
Game mechanics as educational tools: Teach the concept directly
Storytelling with purpose: Use narrative to reinforce educational
goals
Learning through play: Games as simulations
Real world scenarios allow player through make a strategy
Layered learning: layering game experience
Example: player can discover aspect of cooperative strategy, storytelling,
and problem solving at the same time
Week 4 (10/14/2025)
PLAYTESTING AND ITERRATIVE TESTING
Empathize: interview, shadowing, seek to understand, non-judgemental
Define: personas, role objectives, decisions, challenges, pain points
Ideate: share ideas, all ideas worthy
Prototype: mockup, storyboard
Test: what works, roleplay, iterate quickly
Design (game mechanic) -> playtest (players'behaviour) -> Analyze (game motive)
Search for a board game which also already has an online version. Compare the two, identify their advantages and disadvantages, and find their similarities and differences for Exercise 2.
INSTRUCTIONS
TASK
Week 1
Group is formed, played boardgames during class
Week 2
We discussed about the table-top games by researching several games and learning how it is played:
1. Magic Maze: mage, dwarf, elf etc, teamwork
2. Bang!: boardgame about Sheriff, Deputies, Outlaws, and a Renegade, eliminate opponent
3. The crew: fun too, no need to make the board, only card needed, trick taking card game, puzzle solving
4. whodunnit: mystery solving, find the culprit, like cluedo or amongus
5. codenames: word guessing, teamwork, strategy
6. Race game: Players move forward on the chessboard by rolling dice or drawing cards, and the goal is to reach the finish line first.
7. Virus! Card Game: collecting and protecting organs, first player who complete their body by placing 4 diff virus-free healthy organs wins
8. Deception: just cards is also enough, guessing what weapon does the killer the victim from the clues given We decided to go for murder mystery game with several themes.
Based on our discussion today, it can be developed into several ways:
1. affair mystery
2. sekolah menengah mystery
3. ghost as the murderer
Game mechanism idea (draft): Role: Witness This role we knows who is the killer, but cuz they dont wanna be killed, they give a clue in a letter Killer must kill them so the "clue" won't be leaked by this person (Werewolf setting, for the witness to know who the killer is)
Week 3
This week we went to a board game cafe and played the game we chose as our reference. After that, we discussed the new game mechanism.
Fig 3.1 board game cafe
We tried several games at the board game cafe
Fig 3.2 trying several games
Week 4
We created our first draft for the game cards. After creating the design, we did the first playtest with our friends. From there, we observed what are the weaknesses from our game, so that we can improve it after this playtest
Fig 3.3 first playtest with first lo-fi draft
Fig 3.4 playtest with first lo-fi draft
After consulting with Ms. Anis, she gave us feeedback that the host can also be an unreliable narratives, the person have to push you guys to discuss something, each one of us must start with a question, the questions start randomly, the first person ask quetsion and the next person answer the question,
Therefore, we revised it based on Ms.Anis feedback.
Week 5
Creating presentation slide
Week 6
Presentation Day
Week 7
We created our second draft for the lo-fi prototype using more proper paper because this time we will use this for several playtests.
Fig 3.5 Lo-fi prototype
Before doing the playtest with other group, we did the playtest with our own group members, some issues were found in the game mechanics, so we discussed how to fix them and decided to add a new detective role that acts as the host while still being able to play the game instead of just observing.
.png)
Fig 3.6 playtest with group mates
We also did more playtest with other groups
.jpeg)
Fig 3.7 playtest with other group
Week 8
We did a second playtest with new players. The game lasted almost an hour (around 57 minutes). While the players seem to enjoy it, they initially had difficulty starting the discussion. They also mentioned that it was easy to blame each other because they already know one another. The discussion went on for too long because there’s no restriction about the time limit. To avoid this, we decided to implement a 3 minute time limit with consequences.
.png)
Fig 3.8 more playtest
Week 9
Since there was no class this week, we discussed a little about the game’s flaws, proceeded with the design, and then filled up the iterative playtest.
Week 10
This week, we decided to finish the card design, add instruction guides and then start printing the cards.
Fig 3.9 first print
.png)
Fig 3.10 more playtest with friends
Week 11
We did the third playtest with new players. The game went well overall, but there were still some parts that confused the players. The host did not take enough initiative, and the instructions were not clear enough. The discussion phase is still a challenging part of the game, and the witness role was identified too easily. As a result, we decided to make adjustments by removing the witness role and continuing to discuss ways to better guide players on how to start the discussion.
Fig 3.11 playtest 3
.png)
Fig 3.12 playtest 3
Week 12
We did an unofficial playtest with several people to get their opinions (unfortunately, it was not documented). Most of the feedback was constructive, such as pointing out awkward parts of the game, and they suggested adding a story or context so players would have more options when making accusations, and they also commented on how the end game works. Based on this feedback, we re-discuss the game and added new elements to the game, which is why we decided to introduce a new card set to solve these problems.
Week 13
We finalized the refined game ideas
link can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hn2xe3f3bsV36CSTqJ_oWT0KRIiJgcfcounMUpR0jow/edit?usp=sharing
We also began making adjustments to the card designs to match the updated concept. After that, we decided to print all the cards along with the instructions on how to play the game. While creating the instruction guide, we asked friends who were unfamiliar with the game for feedback to see whether the instructions were easy to understand. Based on their comments, we made some improvements and then proceeded with the final printing.
Fig 3.13 final card design
Week 14
We did a final playtest with the updated version of the game, and everything went well. After that, we recorded the final presentation, compiled all our progress, and submitted the final assignment.
.png)
Fog 3.14 final playtest
Final game card design : link
Fig 4.1 Final game card design
.jpeg)
Fig 4.2 final game card design
Final presentation slide: link
Fig 4.3 presentation slide
FEEDBACK
Week 3
Reword the power up card. "Witness may" into "Witness have the choice to or not to"
Week 4
The host can also be an unreliable narrative, the person have to push you guys to discuss something, each one of us must start with a question, the questions start randomly, the first person ask question and the next person answer the question
Week 5
Observe how long is the gameplay, make sure the game play is not too long
Try to observe why the murderer always win the game and try to fix that problem
REFLECTION
I gained a lot of new knowledge through this module, especially about how to design a game that is engaging and enjoyable for many people without causing confusion during gameplay. I also learned how to improve a game that initially had many flaws and gradually make it better. Creating a game is not easy and requires a long process, as well as extensive playtesting with different players. Through playtesting, we are able to observe the weaknesses of the game and use these insights to improve it in the future.
I learned that a lot of aspects need to be considered when creating a game, starting from how the game functions, whether the mechanics are confusing, and whether the game-ending conditions are fair, as well as other factors. Finding references by trying and playing existing games is also very important, because by playing games, we can understand what makes a game good and appealing to many players.
.png)
Comments
Post a Comment