Assignment 1 - Think of a Game

This assignment is due on Friday 4/6.

From Game Design Workshop pg. 26.

The exercise from the book is below. Submit your responses to the assignment on PolyLearn, link at the top of this page.

Exercise 2.1: Think of a Game

Think of a game, any game. Now write down a description of the game. Be detailed. Describe it as if to someone who has never played a game like it before.
Now think of another game - a completely different type of game. The more different this game is from the first one, the better. Describe it.
Compare your descriptions. Which elements were different and which were similar? Dig deep and really think about the underlying mechanics of each game.

There is no wrong answer to this exercise. The goal is simply to get you to begin thinking about the nature of games and to realize that games, no matter how dissimilar they might seem, do share some common elements. Those common elements are why we recognize certain experiences, and not others, as games, and throughout this book they will form the basis for our study of games and game design.

Can’t Think of a Game?

If you can’t think of a game or two to write about, don’t buy one. Just play one of these free online games:

You don’t need to beat the games or play them a lot - you just need to be able to describe the core mechanics of the game.