In a game there are many different factors that make a game fun like the game play, the story line or even the mechanics of the game make a game fun for the player. Over the past week we have been reading and discussing about the mechanics that are in all games. there are eight key components to a game that both give a game difficulty and make a game original. To help explain each of the game mechanics i'm going to talk what they are in Hearthstone.
Player were the first mechanic we talked and what different types of game interactions there are for example: Single Player vs Game, Multilateral, and Cooperative game play. In hearthstone it is one player vs another player facing of in a classic styled trading card game which is as you would guess player vs player. Objectives is the second mechanic we saw, an objective is defined as what a player is trying to do to meet the winning conditions. There are different types of game objectives like: a Race game where you try to beat you opponent in complete the task first this includes more than "racing games" for an example Sorry, Exploration game is where to complete the task you have to explore to find you objective for example The Legend of Zelda series of games, and Outwit games which you use you knowledge against the other player(s) knowledge to win for example Trivial Pursuit. In Hearthstone it would be a race game because you are racing to kill your opponent before they kill you. Procedures is the next mechanic we talked about and procedures in a game are what define how to play the game. There are three different types of procedures Starting, Progressive, and Resolving actions. A starting action is how you set up the game a determine who goes first so in hearthstone the starting actions is the game decides who goes first then each player draw three cards and has the option to mulligan all three and the second player get the coin card added to there hand. A progressive action would be anything like playing minion or casting spells that don't kill your opponent. A Resolving action would be anytime you get killed or you kill your opponent. Rules was the next topic on our list. Rules are what defines a game and tell you what you can an can not do. there are three types: Defining Objectives and Concepts, Restricting actions, and Determining factors. a Defining rule tells you what you can on your turn, what your turn actions are, and the winning conditions for example in hearthstone the objective is to kill your opponent. Restricting rules tell you what your allowed not to do or make boundaries for the player for example in hearthstone you can only have 10 cards in your hand and only 8 minions out on the board. Determining are rules that go if this then this these type of rules are put into the game to add variation to the player experience an example of a determining rule is if I play the card Nozdormu then player only has 15 seconds to play his/her turn. Recourses was the next mechanic we learn a recourse is defined as an item that is important to the game and has scarcity for example heath, time or currency. In hearthstone there are four different recourses Heath, Time, Mana, and Cards. Conflict was the next topic we learned about and conflict is defined as a struggle against someone/thing that doesn’t want you to complete X tasic. The types of obstacles can be classified under one of three types opponents obstacles and dilemmas. In hearthstone the conflict is against opponent because the other player or AI who doesn't want you to win. Boundaries was the next topic we talked about in class. A boundaries are what separate the game from everything else and can be either physical like a mountain or mental like you don’t have the skill to throw a bomb. In hearthstone there are both types of boundaries. The Physical boundaries are you can only hold 10 cards in your hand and only eight minions can be on your side of the board. The mental boundaries are you can only spend 1-10 mana each turn and you don’t have access to all of the cards from the start so you have to buy packs to get more cards. Probability was the last mechanic we discussed in class. Probability is a branch of math that Game Designers add to their game to give it randomness so the game isn’t the same every time you play in or add replay value to the game. In hearthstone there are two different types of Probability in the game randomness in cards and random number generation. Randomness in cards is you will get a random card each turn from your deck. Random number generation is where the computer pick a random number between set parameters. The random number generator is used a lot in hearthstone because there are a lot of cards that have effects that use it for example arcane missiles do 1 damage to 3 random enemies, or Nat Pagle at the start of your turn you have a 50% to draw a card. Over all these game mechanics are the things that make games fun for the players and they want this type of thing so if a game designer is to truly be good and his/her job they need to understand all of these mechanics so they can keep on making games as fun as possible.
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After looking up what is needed of a productive employee in the game design industry I have learned a lot about not only myself but about how many varying jobs there are in game industry. First about what I have learned about myself. We took many different tests to find out what skills we have well developed and what skill could use so more work. For example I learned that i'm good at listening to instructions and doing as I'm told. I like to help others and if need to I could lead our team. I am good at asking for help when I need it and not afraid of having the best idea in the room. I also that I'm not the most creative person in the room for example I may be able to get the task at hand done but not the most interesting way. I can't handle large amount of stress in the workplace. I'm kind of awkward around new people but if i get to know them I okay with being around them.
I also learned about jobs in the game industry and that there was one that I found very interesting. Audio Engineering, what an Audio Engineer does is make all of the sounds for the game. Anything thing from a person talking to the wind in the branches. I have actually looked at a job similar to this before finding this job. It was basically the same thing but instead you made all of the sounds for a movie and I watched how these two guys made a huge array of sounds just for one scene in the movie. I thought that must have been the best job ever getting to spend all day having fun making noises for a living. The great thing about it also is that some of the things that people look for when they hire Audio Engineers is that they can read, play and compose music and I have 3 year of playing violin and can read base and treble clef. Some of the other things to become a good Audio Engineer is being able to come up with more creative ways to make the same sound so you doing get a large strand of games that have the same old sounds, which is something I could use some work on. Overall there are a lot more jobs in the gaming industry than I thought and there is always room for improvement with one self. |
AuthorIm a student at Durham School of the Arts Highschool in Durham North Carolina . I love playing video games and enjoy useing digital artwork as a platform to display information more efficiently, I also enjoy industrial photography and camping. Archives
May 2018
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