GD 201 Journal Response


The readings "The art of game design" and "Theory of fun for game design" taught me quite some important factors in making games that is extremely fundamental. The discussion of the Attribute mechanics and skill mechanics in the lenses book were interesting to me because the Attribute mechanic is something I experience sometimes when I play a game and it makes me realize how trying to do too much can ruin the fun of a game; For example Cyberpunk 2077 was a highly anticipated game that had lots of hype and promises riding on it, But as good as it is to bring new and amazing things to a game the pressure of hype and trying to put too much on their plate creating the game led to it being released early and being a unfinished mess with tons of potential. They tried to do too much on their first ever open world game which is great but they should have took steps like Rockstar took making  GTA  over the years. The Skill mechanic intrigued me also with the comparison of real life skills and virtual skills not being balanced enough, The game can have your in game elements improve as you keep playing but with that great feeling of power it can start to get boring which is why a balance of real skills can help make it a balancing fun experience. For example I would say a great use of this is like a simulator game that involves talking with feedback to responses that can probably help your social skills a bit or at least get a sense of how you would react in a situation. In the "Theory of fun" it explains the learning of patterns we experience from youth that translates to something called "chunked pattern" which is like a action your so used to that it is done without thought. Its interesting because this is used in games also as you keep playing which can lead to those moments when you go on a killing streak for example in call of duty and you are just flowing and not thinking, This is a great feeling and a example of patterned  game play from constant playing and dominating.