Game Elements

 Game Design & Game Elements 

So I spent some time reading the academic papers about the qualities of games and game design research and I must say I did learn a few things reading these papers. I also took some time to watch the video below about an introduction to game design and how they go about prototyping a game. 

Prototyping

The first thing that I did was watch the video below and I did learn some things about how the process of prototyping a game goes, the way how prototyping goes is that people can be quite innovative when it comes to the different types of ways to prototype a game or object. What I saw in the video is that people used markers and coloured paper and they imitated the game experience on how their game will be played out on paper. And the game they were trying to replicate was ping-pong. 

They not only prototyped on paper and markers but they also prototyped with table tennis as well, they hit the ball on the walls, slide the ball across the table, played with cups etc. And this sort of prototyping was new to me. I have never seen anyone getting inspiration from prototypes like this before. When I think of a prototype or prototyping this is not what I think of, I think of things like making designs on a computer, doing sketches or drawing. But not hitting balls on the wall. But I learned that different games and objects have different ways of being prototyped and it is a breath of fresh air to see some new strategies. But I did some research of my own and discovered there are more examples of prototypes than I thought. 

• Sketches and Diagrams 
• 3D Printing 
• A Physical Model of the product 
• Wireframe 
• Roleplay (Hitting a ball on the wall, Virtual Reality or Augmented etc)
• Video 
• Feasibility 

Qualities of Games 

So I had a read through the academic paper on the quality of games and there was some stuff inside there that I had already put inside of my previous blog about Game Design. In this paper, they go on about the different components and themes of a game. They wrote information about the different components that I added to my blogs such as Rules, Players and Goals. 

But they have even more components and atoms that I didn't know of such as :

• Resources and Resource Management 
• Game State 
• Information 
• Sequencing 
• Player Interaction 
• Theme 
• Games as systems 

With all these components, they go into full detail explaining each and every single one in its entirety. They explain its function and use for making a game what it is. And when I read all about it, I honestly felt I found the secret formula to how I can make a game. All these 10 components are all the things everyone should have to add to their game in order to make a fun, enjoyable and functional game. If I were to pick my favourite component out of all of them, I don't know which one I would pick because they are all so important aspects of a game.