Most of the readers are probably aware, I'm enrolled in a game studies course.
With regards to the final presentations, I was surprisingly more interested in the written reports and powerpoint presentations than the game demos. I was far more curious to see the thoughts and analyses classmates had condensed into cohesive, shareable form. I think the topic I was most passionate hearing about was the glance into the eyes of the developer for The Binding of Isaac. While I haven't played the game, I've watched hundreds of hours of gameplay, and I've been a spectating part of the popular Twitch communities that hosted or participated in the Binding Of Isaac League Racing (BOILeR), season 1 and 2. I've been an avid viewer of broadcasters who have communicated with The Binding of Isaac's developer about the game. The indie game development scene and its relationship with the emerging livestreaming industry is a subject I am strongly passionate about, as I am interested in becoming both a game developer and a broadcaster.
While the presentations for the most part weren't directly related to specific course lectures, they were very much important considerations and examples in game development. A notable example is another topic I have strong opinions about - the ESRB system. There's no getting around calling the ESRB what it really is - using control over the market to push censorship. I happen to believe censorship is entirely nonsensical, and the more you censor something, the more you aggrandize that very thing. In the words of Scroobius Pip regarding profanity, "You give them power when you cower, man, it's so absurd." I've written long expositions during my undergrad studies about censorship in general and why it doesn't work, and to this day, I've only grown more open-minded and forward-thinking.
Throughout the course, I've noticed myself looking at games more analytically from a game development perspective. I've engaged in academic discourse in Twitch chat rooms, most notably regarding MDA and the increasingly prevalent Skinner Box issue. I've started to see these course concepts when playing games myself. Most importantly to me, I've started to utilize these course concepts in game design. Throughout the second half of the semester, I'd been secretly working on a new game by pulling in concepts from both the Game Studies course and my Industrial and Systems Engineering coursework. At the present, the project documentation is a 3k+ word notebook detailing everything about the project, including the document abstract; project abstract; an analysis of the development timeline/life cycle; the who, what, when, where, and why of this game's development, a breakdown of the game's mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics, overview, art, sound, objects, controls, flow, construction, progression; and a rough outline for the prototyping, pre-production, team requisition, marketing, execution, end-game, and service phases of the game's life cycle. With the closing out of the end of May, I no longer have my academic obligations, and my volunteer work has lightened up, freeing up time to dedicate to this project that I'm determined to complete. You heard it here first - be on the lookout for Volcanus Solitarius*.
*Working title.
BakaChibi out.
With regards to the final presentations, I was surprisingly more interested in the written reports and powerpoint presentations than the game demos. I was far more curious to see the thoughts and analyses classmates had condensed into cohesive, shareable form. I think the topic I was most passionate hearing about was the glance into the eyes of the developer for The Binding of Isaac. While I haven't played the game, I've watched hundreds of hours of gameplay, and I've been a spectating part of the popular Twitch communities that hosted or participated in the Binding Of Isaac League Racing (BOILeR), season 1 and 2. I've been an avid viewer of broadcasters who have communicated with The Binding of Isaac's developer about the game. The indie game development scene and its relationship with the emerging livestreaming industry is a subject I am strongly passionate about, as I am interested in becoming both a game developer and a broadcaster.
Throughout the course, I've noticed myself looking at games more analytically from a game development perspective. I've engaged in academic discourse in Twitch chat rooms, most notably regarding MDA and the increasingly prevalent Skinner Box issue. I've started to see these course concepts when playing games myself. Most importantly to me, I've started to utilize these course concepts in game design. Throughout the second half of the semester, I'd been secretly working on a new game by pulling in concepts from both the Game Studies course and my Industrial and Systems Engineering coursework. At the present, the project documentation is a 3k+ word notebook detailing everything about the project, including the document abstract; project abstract; an analysis of the development timeline/life cycle; the who, what, when, where, and why of this game's development, a breakdown of the game's mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics, overview, art, sound, objects, controls, flow, construction, progression; and a rough outline for the prototyping, pre-production, team requisition, marketing, execution, end-game, and service phases of the game's life cycle. With the closing out of the end of May, I no longer have my academic obligations, and my volunteer work has lightened up, freeing up time to dedicate to this project that I'm determined to complete. You heard it here first - be on the lookout for Volcanus Solitarius*.
*Working title.
BakaChibi out.
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