Working with Systems Dynamics

This week's reading, by Fullerton, is very informational and provides a lot of ideas that designers apply to the game design process. Under the Games as Systems section, the author say, "at the heart of every game is a set of formal elements that, as we have seen, when set in motion, create a dynamic experience in which the players play. " This great remark from Fullerton makes me think about all the games that we have created this semester and how it applies to all of them. From the folk games we made, to the sports paper prototype games we made: all had elements to setup the game for players to have fun and engage. I think the week we had to take a video game and create a paper prototype was the game that most fits with this idea. We took video games and broke them down, to take a look at their formal elements and how they create an entertaining experience for players. I also read, "as I mentioned earlier, systems can be simple or complex. Systems can produce precise, predictable results, or they can produce widely varied, unpredictable effects. This got me thinking about the game Ninja, which we played a the very start of the semester. That game was more unpredictable than most games, with people falling down and not knowing what will happen next. The board game I'm created now seems to have more predictable results and precise elements. As Fullerton says, it depends on what game you are going for, and so the more predictable way seems to fit for Sea Desperado and unpredictable effects works for Ninja. Fullerton also states that any system has relationships. Under the Relationships section, he says, "another example of a relationship is the progression of spaces on a board game like Monopoly. This is a fixed, linear relationship that constrains game-play within a range of possibilities. " I believe this true for board games, and it's something that my group and I thought of for our board game. We wanted to make a board game that is not like a Monopoly or a Candy Land. We turned our game spaces to hexagons and made the layout to where, you can move your character in any direction. It's not just linear. That way there are more possibilities and not so much of a fixed relationship. Honestly, the biggest takeaway from this chapter is when he says, "another important feature to understand about the interaction of systems is that systems are greater than the sum of their parts." He explains further that, "this is important for game designers to realize because games can only be understood during playing when their dynamics become evident." This is very true and I learned it from this class and having to create multiple games. Looking at one part of the game or trying to improve your game by just looking at it, won't make it better. Actually playing the game will let you fix balancing and game mechanics. All the games that were successful this semester, was because they were play tested a lot. This chapter taught me a lot about systems and how important they are to game designers.