Dev Log #3

In a competitive game, some players will win and some will lose. This creates a context of competition in which players or teams of players try to come out ahead of their opponent, whomever or whatever that might be.  -O'Reilly, Chapter 3. The Kinds of Play. Today in class, we were presented with a game in which we had boats trying to cross a river stream. Our objective was to get to the end of the stream and score points. There were four players, and each player had 3 of their own boats they had to get to the end. Us players were our own team and we had to compete against one another to score more points than the other. 

In many ways, constraint is the “secret sauce” of game design. Much of the satisfaction we derive from playing games comes from well-designed constraints. - O'Reilly, Chapter 2. Basic Game Design Tools. When we played the game today, my classmates and I all agreed that the game we were playing was too easy and not that exciting to play. We then decided to spice things up by adding more mechanics to the game to either make it easier or harder for us. The Lilypad's in the stream acted as a way to boost you up one space, and the rocks in the stream made you move back one space. Adding these mechanics or "constraint" to the game made it more interesting and added replay value. 

The concepts of direct and indirect actions are the tools game designers use to create unexpected outcomes in games. - O'Reilly, Chapter 2. Basic Game Design Tools. The whole premise of the game we played today revolved around luck. There is no particular skill involved. The way you have to make it down the stream was by rolling a die, and hoping you get a big number or a number that benefits you. The higher the number, the more you move. If you land on a specific number you have a chance to avoid an obstacle that could probably benefit you in the long run. This die mechanic made the game pretty chaotic and random.