Game Elements

Game Elements


My readings for this week gave me a lot of insight on not only what you should include when giving feedback and critique to a game, but also gave me an idea of key elements to think of when designing my own game.

There are so many elements to be considered when reviewing a game. What works well and what doesnt work well? Giving critique should go beyond saying “its fun" or “not fun". To properly give feedback on a game, I have learned that you must take into consideration the type of game it is you’re reviewing, and then looking at the formal and abstract elements of the game, analyse and test the game to give valuable informative feedback.

Rock paper scissors elements

Source: Wikimedia Commons

One interesting point I have found from my readings is regarding the rules of a game (you can read it here). Though some games have defined rules, there are a lot of implied and unwritten rules in games. How far do rules have to be defined? How would defining rules benefit the player experience? The example I found to be effective of communicating this was the one regarding spawn camping in shooter games. I used to play a lot of shooters when I was younger, and I was definitely subjected to spawn camping. It is implied that you shouldn’t do this through the community- but it is not defined. Some consider it cheating. There’s no way for the player to really know since this rule has not been explicitly defined. Undefined and implied rules may cause arguments and confusion amongst players, so from my reading I will be sure to look at rules when giving feedback on games.

Another point I liked in my readings was that of information provided to the player (which you can read here). In games such as chess, the information about the status of the game is clear for the players to see- while in games like Clue the player is not given this information and must find it for themselves. Using this as reference can pose many questions when reviewing a game. Does the player have enough information to know what they’re doing? Or is there too much information which makes the game too easy? Does a lack of information benefit the gameplay? I have overlooked information in regards to reviewing games- but my reading made me realise how crucial it can make the player experience.

One reason why it’s so hard for us to properly give feedback on games is due to our lack of of a design vocabulary. As this article by Doug Church says, many professions and subjects have defined terminology for things within them, while game design lacks this. This is why people find it so hard to describe what a game is, and find it difficult to give feedback. This article discusses the Formal Abstract Design Tools (FADT) as a framework to discuss and build this vocabulary we lack. The discussion of Mario 64 along with the use of FADTs to discuss the game was actually very useful in my understanding. I at first found the concept a but confusing, but as the article went on and used the FADTs to discuss games it made more sense to me.

Overall I found these readings very beneficial in my understanding of exactly what a game is and how to review one. It helped me understand the importance of aspects I would have brushed away before, and it introduced me to the concept of FADT which I find will help me with giving feedback on games in the future.