Sploder Game Types

What Makes a Good Game

Games are very diverse. From their objectives, narratives (or lack thereof), designs, and target audiences, every game has a unique chemistry that makes it what it is. However, not every game is a good game. In fact, there are many bad games that are bad not because of opinion, but because they fail to include certain characteristics of research-based best practices for game design. Nevertheless, individual opinion matters when considering a gamer's personal relationship with various games and genres. Following, are criteria of good games and bad games that I have identified through my own experience with digital and analog games.

Good games make you want to continue to play them. There are a number of ways that they do this. A few of them are timely rewards and observable feedback systems. These provide players with essential information regarding their effort. Also, narrative has a gripping effect on player engagement as well. This, quite possibly, is due to the emotional impact on a player that narrative can have. A third characteristic of good game design is differentiated game play. As Dr. Puentedura alluded to, good games should not allow a newb to hit buttons randomly and earn a similar score to a more involved veteran player. Conversely, those with little experience should not be forced to simply watch a veteran triumph with little hope of enjoying the game themselves.

In addition to ignoring the previously mentioned characteristics, bad games are qualitatively different than some of our favorite games in a number of ways. These include a lack of space or setting, absence of directions or a reliance on reading an instructional guide for all of the directions in gameplay, lack of a meaningful context, contrived or trivial objectives, and non-scaffolded opportunities for learning how to play the game.

Creating a good game design is not that different from creating a good learning experience. Many of the principles of good game design could be applied to principles of good instructional design. The same goes for bad games and bad instruction as well. At the root of both practices is an understanding of player/learner needs and experiences. The more cognizant we become with these, the more data and information we will have at our disposal to create an optimal experience.


Platform Creator

This genre was reminiscent of the traditional Nintendo games that I played as a young child. The two platform-based games in this quest seemed very familiar to me because of my exposure to similar games from my youth. I enjoy the uncertainty that always awaits just off screen as you move further along the level. There is an element of anxiety that invigorates the game play. However, this quality is also what deterred me from playing too challenging of platform-based games when I was younger. Still, today, I lack control that is otherwise present in a game like Madden or Call of Duty.

I also grew frustrated with how "touchy" the keys and corresponding movements were as I continued to fall off of platforms back to a lower level throughout the games. This quickly became a nuisance which probably limited the time I was willing to invest in playing the games further.

Both of these had frequent reward systems that I enjoyed as part of their designs. Whether that was leveling up, finding a new resource along the path, or conquering a foe, each of these served to reinforce my efforts in the game.


3D Game Creator

This game style was my favorite of all of them. I really liked the narrative. I liked being responsible for another character. I liked the puzzle elements that added to the storyline and overall engagement in the game. I also liked the opportunities to gain health boosters and new weapons. These sent a squirt of oxytocin into my brain each time I came across them.

As for things that I didn't like, the challenge was quite easy. The villains were never able to do that much damage to me. I was also caught off guard when the game ended. There wasn't anything that seemed to designate the final portal as the winning condition of the game. I simply stepped on to it and then realized that I had accomplished the goal of the game.



Classic Shooter

Though I've come to like first-person shooter games since beginning this course, I did not like any of the games in this quest at all. In fact, none of the three had anything that I would use in my own game. That's not to say that I won't experiment with this genre however.

What I did not like about these games was that the rules of gameplay were unclear. It seemed like their were unknown physical forces working on my ships as I played. I found that I would get stuck under or next to an object in the playing field, and I could not get myself loose. This eventually led me to frustration. I also did not like the lack of clear instructions. While one game challenged me to "Get the crystal." There was no additional information to tell me how to get it, where to find it, or what I should avoid in pursuit of the winning condition. I would run into what looked like adversaries, but they would not have a negative effect on me. Along this line, I did not like the absence of immediate feedback. I never knew how close I was to success or failure until the game ended for one reason or another.


Retro Arcade

I really liked this one. Similar, in my mind, to a platform-based game, this game had some very rewarding characteristics. On a basic level, the music was calming and the sound effects for collecting coins was reinforced that behavior. On a more theoretical level, I appreciated, in Stage 2 of Level 1, how there were two different ways to reach the finish line. One was above ground and the other was subterranean. Upon discovering this, I felt very optimistic in my ability to observe such options in future levels. It was also rewarding for me as someone who is always looking for ways to "cheat" the game, so to speak. Finally, I found the feedback bars very helpful. I was able to see how many coins I had collected and how each kick from a green monster diminished my health. This helped me in making decisions throughout gameplay.

Narrative, Games, and Theory

As a born again gamer, I've found myself most attracted to the affects of narrative in the gaming process. Initially, I saw this as simply adding context to the missions that I was enjoying in a few first person shooter games. However, because of reading Narrative, Games, and Theory, I've come to assimilate much more into my paradigm of narrative in games.

Narrative adds to the gaming experience by causing us to "adopt the outlook of the characters who are living the plot as their own destiny (Ryan, 2001)." Simons refers to this phenomenon as "prospective" rather than reflective. At issue here is whether or not this approach to game play is more valuable than the objectivism preferred by ludologists. As both perspectives are considered, an understanding of the potential relationship with narratology and narrative becomes more complex.

Interesting to the debate is the lean of game theorists regarding the presence and role of narrative in delineating all potential strategies and evaluating relative advantages and values of each. Whereas a casual gamer might finish a game and use the culmination of the narrative to help him or her retroactively connect the dots amongst the sequence of events, game theorists "weigh the outcomes of the alternative choices they are confronted with" in order to "be able to compare the payoffs of all possible outcomes of a game" before taking action. To effectively evaluate competing strategies, narrative in the context of a game is strongly considered. Simon's findings support this, stating, "Games not only become 'stories' after the fact, but stories can be an important part of the decision making process during the gameplay itself."

There is no doubt in my mind that I am more of a narratologist in my enjoyment of gameplay. The immersive quality of a well-composed narrative keeps me more engaged than the actual activity of play itself. Simon's thoughts certainly fortified the way that I view narrative in games. Additionally, they have helped me to better understand the functionality of narrative beyond simply adding context to an otherwise arbitrary endeavor.

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