Devlog 11

This week was a very interesting week for design for play. Even though the week got cut short, we still made the most of what little time we had. In the beginning, professor brought in a bunch of board games, and we were split into random groups to play with. The game we ended up getting was a mining game that required at least 4 players. We played this game until we became confident in the rules and our ability to play. After a while of playing, we were then told that the groups we were assigned to play with would be the groups that we would be working with for the final project, our very own board game. I am especially excited about this project mainly because of the creation process. I love making things and designs so I can see myself getting really into this project! Per usual, I feel that the hardest part of this project will be the first step, deciding what the game will be about and how it will be played. Mary Flanagan’s Board Games in Critical Play: “Within this spatiotemporal unit the player can abandon himself to the process, acting without self-consciousness. From the earliest times, board games have incorporated Huizinga’s “magic circle” as well as elements of both strategy and chance in their design”. This is something we will have to keep in mind when creating our game. How to make our game equal in chance and strategy. When reading this chapter, I saw something that caught my attention. Mary Flanagan’s Board Games in Critical Play: “Gameplay in Mancala is usually symmetric, meaning that players use the same strategy and play by the same rules to win.” I was thinking that this might be interesting for our game because it would keep things organized and more strategic. Even though we are still at the very beginning phase of this project, this will be something to keep in mind. Finally, I wanted to add something in this devlog that I thought was super cool, Mary Flanagan’s Board Games in Critical Play: “Chess is hand-to-hand combat, between two labyrinths”.