Game Studies | Exercise 1

 

Game Studies | 

22/09/2025 - 15/07/2025 | Week 01 - Week 

Jesslyn Octavia Tjong / 0374562 / Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media

Game Studies / Taylor's University

Table of Contents

I.  LECTURE

II. INSTRUCTION

III. REFLECTION

I. LECTURE

Lecture 01| Principles of Fame Design 

Game Design is the craft of creating interactive experiences that combine creativity, technical expertise, and an understanding of player psychology to deliver fun and playfulness.

A well designed game can be recohnized when it has these features : enagging mechanics, compelling narrative, and balanced challenge. 

Core Principles of Game design focuses on : 

1. Player Experience: The overall feel and emotional impact of the game on the player.

2. Gameplay Mechanics: The rules, systems, and interactions that shape how the game is played.

3. Storytelling: The narrative that unfolds and deepens through player interaction.

4. Balance and Challenge: Crafting difficulty in a way that keeps the game rewarding without becoming frustrating.

Six Principles of Game Design

Principle 1: Player Experience

• Focus on Emotion: Games should immerse players in emotional journeys.

• User-Centered Design: Design should match the target audience’s playstyle and preferences.

• Flow State: Balance challenge and skill to keep players engaged.

• Types of Playful Experiences (PLEX Framework):

• Adventure: Discovery, exploration.

• Excel Oneself: Challenge, completion.

• Social: Fellowship, competition.

• Excitement: Thrill, humor.

• Imagination: Fantasy, expression.

• Caretaking: Nurture, sympathy.

• Physical: Relaxation, sensation.

Principle 2: Gameplay Mechanics

• Gameplay Mechanics :

• Primary Mechanics (Core Actions):

  • Movement / Turn Actions: Moving pieces across the board, like in Monopoly (linear path) or Risk (network path).

  • Dice Rolling: Used to resolve outcomes in games like Dungeons & Dragons—combat, movement, or chance-based events.

  • Card Drawing/Playing: In Uno or Magic: The Gathering, drawing and playing cards drives interaction and strategy.

  Secondary Mechanics (Enhancing Gameplay):

  • Resource Management: Strategic use of resources, such as wood or grain in Catan.

  • Trading: Social exchanges of resources/items, as in Catan or Betrayal at House on the Hill.

  • Exploration: Uncovering new areas or challenges, like in Descent: Journeys in the Dark.

  Example – Risk (Quick Breakdown):

  • Primary Mechanic: Moving armies and resolving battles with dice rolls.

  • Secondary Mechanic: Negotiating alliances with other players.

  • Feedback Loop: Winning battles strengthens armies, giving higher chances of future success.

• Feedback Loops (rewards & penalties):

  • Positive: Encourages progress (e.g., Ticket to Ride rewards for completed goals).

  • Negative: Punishes mistakes (e.g., Monopoly rent penalties).

  • Dynamic: Adjusts difficulty over time (e.g., Pandemic increasing disease spread).

• Quick Example (Risk):

• Primary mechanic: Moving pieces and dice battles.

• Secondary mechanic: Negotiation and alliances.

• Feedback loop: Winning battles strengthens armies, boosting future chances.

Principle 3: Storytelling in Games

• Player Agency: Players’ choices and actions shape the narrative, creating a sense of ownership and co-creation.

• Environmental Storytelling: Worlds, visuals, and settings convey stories through maps, artwork, and lore — immersing players beyond dialogue or text.

• Narrative Arcs: Stories unfold through conflict, rising tension, climax, and resolution. These arcs can be continuous or episodic, and may emerge through cooperative or competitive play.

Principle 4: Balance and Challenge

• Difficulty Curve: A smooth escalation of difficulty keeps players engaged. Balance challenge with player skill so the game is neither too easy nor too frustrating.

• Skill vs. Luck: Combine player skill with elements of chance to create dynamic and engaging gameplay.

• Player Progression: Reward progress with growth, achievements, or new abilities to keep players motivated and invested.

• Feedback and Iteration: Continuously refine gameplay based on testing and feedback to maintain balance and improve player experience.

• Immersion and Worldbuilding: A believable, consistent world enhances engagement and makes challenges feel meaningful.

Principle 5: Feedback and Iteration

• Goal: Ensure the game is playable and enjoyable at all levels.

• Key Practices:

  • Playtesting: Spot areas needing improvement.

  • Feedback Loops: Detect issues with difficulty or story pacing.

  • Fine-tuning: Refine based on feedback to enhance the overall player experience.

Principle 6: Immersion and Worldbuilding

• Immersion: Draws players into the world, making them feel connected to the setting and invested in the story.

• Context for Actions: Worldbuilding gives meaning to player choices, adding depth and emotional significance to their actions.

• Emotional Engagement: Elevates the overall experience by adding depth and context, making gameplay feel more impactful.

Challenges in Game Design

• Over-Complication: Games that are too complex can overwhelm players — simplicity often leads to a more enjoyable experience.

• Failing to Adapt: Ignoring player feedback or market trends risks creating games that fail to engage or stay relevant.

• Monetization vs. Player Experience: Striking a balance between profit motives and maintaining a fun, player-centered experience is an ongoing challenge.

Lecture 02| Balancing Fun and Educational Elements in Game Design

Fun is driven by:

1. Engaging mechanics
2. Rewarding challenge
3. Emotional satisfaction
4. Player choice, competition, discovery, and achievement

Education involves:

• Teaching concepts
• Improving skills (e.g., math, language, science, history)
• Enhancing understanding through problem-solving and critical thinking

The Key Challenge (Serious Games/Edutainment): Achieve a perfect balance.

The Goal: Make learning feel natural and rewarding without sacrificing fun.

Key Concern: Ensure learning doesn't overwhelm the player, and fun doesn't feel secondary or gimmicky.

I. Strategies for Fun & Edu Balance :

The core goal is to integrate learning in a way that feels natural, rewarding, and doesn't compromise the fun of the game.

1. Learning Through Play

• The educational content emerges naturally from the game mechanics and systems.
• Description: Players engage in strategic decision-making and learn through trial and error within real-world scenarios.
• Key Action: Educational content is embedded within the mechanics.
• Example: Pandemic. Players learn about cooperation, resource management, and global health as they balance disease spread and seek cures. The fun comes from the cooperative challenge.

2. Layered Learning

• Designers embed educational elements into different layers of the game experience, unlocked as players progress.
• Description: Avoid front-loading the game with excessive educational material. Learning elements are revealed through exploration or progression.
• Key Action: Educational elements are unlocked as players advance or explore features.
• Example: Betrayal at House on the Hill. As players explore the haunted house, the narrative (lore, secrets, betrayal mechanics) provides layered learning in cooperative strategy, storytelling, and problem-solving.

3. Game Mechanics as Educational Tools

• The game's mechanics are used to directly teach concepts, often requiring players to solve problems to advance or earn rewards.
• Description: Challenges and puzzle mechanics are used as direct instruction tools to unlock levels or rewards.
• Key Action: Mechanics are designed to mirror real-world concepts.
• Example: Catan. Players learn about resource management, negotiation, and trade as the core mechanics require strategizing around limited resources, reflecting real-world economic systems.

4. Storytelling with Purpose

• The narrative creates an exciting context for the adventure, reinforcing educational objectives with emotional stakes and relevance.
• Description: Create an engaging narrative (story) that reinforces the learning goals. The story provides emotional stakes to make the educational content relevant.
• Key Action: Narrative drives engagement and reinforces educational objectives.
• Example: The Resistance: Avalon. The medieval/Arthurian narrative adds drama, but the game is fundamentally designed around deduction, communication, and critical thinking—the core educational skills.

II. Key Risk Management: Avoiding Edutainment Fatigue

The risk is making the educational content too overt or forced, turning the game into a chore (the "homework trap").

• Avoiding Over-Instruction: Educational content must be subtle and not forced.
• Gameplay Mechanics: Focus on fun mechanics that naturally integrate learning to keep players engaged.
• Gradual Learning: Use gradual learning; do not bombard the player with information all at once.

Example: Brain Age avoids fatigue by presenting cognitive challenges as competitive mini-games, with engagement driven by competitive challenges and progression rather than explicit instruction.

III. Player Motivation and Rewards

Rewards are crucial for motivation, but they must be meaningful within the game's context and connect directly to the learning objectives.

• Intrinsic Motivation: Players are driven by internal factors like curiosity, exploration, and achievement. This leads to the strongest sustained learning.
• Extrinsic Motivation: External reinforcements like points, levels, or badges that signal and reinforce progress.

Design Goal: Design rewards (e.g., unlocking new levels or discovering new concepts) so they are directly tied to achieving mastery over the learning material.

Lecture 03 | Playtesting & Iterative Design

This lecture focuses on how game designers build complex systems that respond to player choices. It explores the role of player agency in shaping gameplay and how designers refine these systems through prototyping and iteration. The aim is to help students understand how playful systems can evolve dynamically based on player interaction and feedback.

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Design Thinking Process

An overview of the typical design thinking process used to structure creative problem-solving and guide design development from concept to refinement.

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Basic Iterative Process

Introduces the general workflow for projects that involve user testing, emphasizing repeated cycles of testing, feedback, and improvement.

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Iterative Process with Context

Explains a more detailed iterative approach for projects with a specific context, particularly those focused on playful or game-based experiences.

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Types of Playful Experiences

1. Adventure

   • Discovery

   • Exploration

   • Captivation

2. Excel Oneself

   • Suffering

   • Challenge

   • Completion

3. Social

   • Fellowship

   • Submission

   • Competition

4. Excitement

   • Thrill

   • Subversion

   • Humour

5. Imagination

   • Expression

   • Fantasy

   • Simulation

6. Caretaking

   • Nurture

   • Sympathy

   • Control

7. Physical

   • Sensation

   • Relaxation

   • Eroticism

   • Cruelty

II. INSTRUCTION

MIB September 2025

Exercise 1 Recap 

The exercise reports require students to investigate and analyse existing analog or digital games to identify common gameplay patterns and design principles. The task emphasises active play, observation, comparison, and reflection, with findings documented through written analysis and supporting visuals. The goal is to build foundational game analysis skills that inform later design and prototyping work.

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Report 1A: Game Analysis & Investigation

For Report 1A, I chose to focus on Stardew Valley as the main case study. I selected this game because I have been consistently engaged with it over the past year, and despite its release years ago, it has remained highly relevant and popular. This made it a strong example to explore long-term player engagement.

The report focused on analysing core gameplay elements such as mechanics, progression, player agency, and interaction systems. By breaking these elements down, I was able to identify patterns that contribute to the game’s lasting appeal and replayability.

III. REFLECTION

Observations
While analysing Stardew Valley, I observed how its gameplay systems are designed to feel slow, flexible, and player-driven rather than goal-obsessed. The game encourages exploration, routine, and emotional investment without forcing a fixed way to play.

Findings
I found that Stardew Valley’s long-term appeal comes from its balance between structure and freedom. Core mechanics like farming, social interactions, and progression loops work together to create a sense of comfort while still rewarding effort and curiosity.

Experience
This report helped me shift from playing as a fan to analysing as a designer. It made me more aware of how intentional design choices shape player behaviour and attachment over time.