Weekly Gameplay Experience

  1. No Game:
    There is no game required for the first week.
  2. No Game:
    There is no game required for the second week.
  3. Club Penguin:
    Play a browser-based game of your choice on Club Penguin. (Games are in Map / Games.) Please focus on one game and not any chat interactions for this assignment.
  4. A Series of Gunshots:
    This browser-based game takes about 90 seconds for one playthrough. There are no instructions. I found it a little buggy -- if you get the "game over" message right at the beginning this is a bug. Try using a different Web browser (e.g., try Firefox if you were using Chrome, etc.) The game is at this URL: A Series of Gunshots
  5. Flow:
    1. Get the game
      Unlike last week's game, this game takes a while to play. I strongly recommend that you play this on the largest screen possible. If you have access to a PlayStation, I recommend you buy the PlayStation version for $6 and play it on a large television. This is available on the PS3 and PS4. If this isn't possible, if you are comfortable opening .zip archives you can download a free version on the Mac or PC. Be sure to make the window as large as possible. Finally, if none of the above are possible, as a last resort you can play online with a Web browser if you have installed Adobe Flash Player (or your browser already supports Flash). In this case use "Zoom" and "Fullscreen" commands of your Web browser to make the window as large as possible.
    2. Use instructions or not
      The game may be more fun without instructions. However, there are some minimal PC/Mac instructions if you are confused. On the PS3 or PS4, reading the description of the download may help explain things.
    3. Take a screen shot
      Please take a screen shot (or a picture with your phone) of your creature at its most evolved. I can't tell you when to take the picture without spoiling the game, so you will have to decide when to take the picture. I suggest you take the picture when you feel have seen everything there is to see.
  6. ElectroCity:
    Play the browser-based game ElectroCity. Allow at least 20 minutes to play this game, more might be required. Note that a complete game is 150 turns. Sometimes you will have to press the "turn" button rapidly to make the time pass and that is OK. You may need to play the game more than once to understand it and answer the weekly question successfully. At the end of the game (after "Congratulations") please save your city by as a "public" entry, entering false information into the form that you will remember later. Then search the list of public cities to find your city again. For instance, I called my city Stinkpile, made it public, searched for Stinkpile in the list of public cities, then found it again. Press "View City" and add that URL to your post. This way, someone reading your post can click the link and view the condition of your city at the end of your game.
  7. Doom:
    Using a Web browser that supports Flash, play the Doom demo online. You do not need a Kongregate account. For me on the PC the keyboard controls are: QWEASD, the number keys select weapons (if you have found any), R opens doors, and (space) attacks. I found only the first episode was playable. Optionally: If you wish you can play Doom 2 or Doom 3 instead but you will probably have to buy them. Play until you can control your character reasonably well and you can answer the weekly question.
  8. Fieldwork:
    This week, instead of playing a game you'll watch someone else play a game. Follow the Class Fieldwork Guidelines and print-out and use copies of the Class Consent Form to observe the play and technology situation that you signed up for in class on Wednesday, 2/17. Remember to give participants a copy of the consent form, and turn in one (signed) copy to the instructor for each participant.
  9. Candy Box:
    Using a Web browser that supports JavaScript, play Candy Box until you get to Mount Goblin. This may take some time, but you do not necessarily have to be paying attention for much of it (e.g., you can have the game run in an open window in the background while you do other things). WARNING: You can't put this game play off until the last minute and rush through it because Candy Box requires a certain, fixed minimum amount of time (e.g., 1 candy per second). Feel free to search the Web for help if you get stuck.
  10. No Game:
    There is no game required for this week. Instead you should do your design project pitch.
  11. No Game:
    There is no game required for this week. Instead you should do your peer feedback on design project pitches.
  12. Undertale:
    Either download, install, and play the Undertale demo (free) or purchase the game ($9.99) using Steam or the Undertale Web site. Reserve 30 minutes to play the game. Play the game until you must fight (not just talk to) Toriel (a.k.a. goat mom), or until 30 minutes are up. (If you can spare $9.99, buying the full version is recommended -- progress on the demo will not transfer to the full version and you will have to start again.)

That's it! There are no further weekly games!

Weekly Question

Questions:

  1. No Question:
    There is no question for the first week.
  2. No Question:
    There is no question for the second week.
  3. Child Play:
    Thoroughly explain an single idea or concept from S-S Ch. 3 (Rhetorics of Child Play) using your game from Club Penguin.
  4. Power:
    Drawing on your experience of A Series of Gunshots and (if you choose) other video games, what can gunshots mean in games? Please refer to one idea, concept, or quote from the Dyer-Witheford & de Peuter reading or Monday's slides.
  5. Self:
    The game "Flow" (assigned for today) was designed to demonstrate the ideas in this week's reading "Rhetorics of Self" (S-S ch. 10). Explain how one or more ideas in ch. 10 relate to the game "Flow". If you wish, you can also address the question: Is the game successful at using these ideas? Important: Please attach a screen shot (see instructions above) to your answer using the "Attach File" button on Canvas.
  6. Simulation:
    Explain one important idea in Salen and Zimmerman's PDF "Games as the Play of Simulation" using your experiences with the game "ElectroCity".
  7. History:
    Doom pioneered the first-person shooter genre in 1993. People were certainly as excited about it as the person in the reading "Shoot Club". Today, playing Doom probably feels very different than it did when it was released. Use one or more examples from your gameplay with Doom and one example from the "Shoot Club" reading to answer the question: What do you think made Doom compelling or exciting as a game? (For example, is excitement about a game purely a function of hype, novelty, peer pressure, technology, gameplay, or something else?) If you wish, you might also consider: Is it possible for an old game like Doom to remain compelling? How? If you wish, include an screenshot to illustrate your point(s).
  8. Fieldwork:
    Researchers conduct fieldwork because careful observation and interviewing almost always yields discoveries they didn't expect. Conduct at least one hour of fieldwork according to the Class Fieldwork Guidelines. Print-out and use copies of the Class Consent Form. Investigate the play and technology situation that you signed up for in class on Wednesday, 2/17. For this weeks's answer, describe surprising discoveries from your fieldwork. You may need to provide some context for your discoveries to make sense; for instance you might need to describe part of a game or refer to a photo that you took. (If you aren't sure what to write about, refer to any prior course material. The "Why Are Rooie Rules Nice?" reading from 2/17 is also a model of fieldwork.)

    Important: Unlike past weeks, this week to receive credit for this assignment you need to turn in your signed consent forms and some form of evidence as described in the fieldwork guidelines. These requirements are in addition to your write-up. For instance, you might attach photos, an audio file, or a Word file to your Canvas post. Or you could include a link to a YouTube video. You should bring your signed consent forms to class. Your evidence and write-up should be anonymized as far as practical (No names -- e.g., "Player #1 said..."") according to our discussion of research ethics and the fieldwork guidelines.
  9. Design Vocabulary:
    Try out Church's design vocabulary approach to analyzing this week's game (Candy Box). Propose a new FADT that did not appear in the Church article that is relevant to Candy Box, then discuss Candy Box using that FADT. You may also want to reference the other FADTs in the Church article.
  10. No Question:
    There is no game required for this week. Instead you should do your design project pitch.
  11. Peer Reviews:
    This week, respond to three design project pitches on the class discussion forum on Canvas. In each of your three posts, please specifically respond to question five (COURSE MATERIAL) from the design project pitch document. For example, you could suggest concepts from readings or new readings that may be relevant, or you could respond to the relevance of what is there already. Then, if you have space, respond to other questions (the concept, influences, research). Your responses should be analytical, helpful and constructive. Simply stating that you like or dislike something is not analytical and will not count toward the word count of this week's answer. To ensure everyone receives responses, please do not respond to any pitch that already has three responses.
  12. Struggle:
    Referencing your experiences with Undertale, explain the concept of "struggle" as used in the Costikyan reading. (You may have to use additional ideas from Costikyan for this to make sense.) Be sure to quote Costikyan at least once. You don't have to agree with Costikyan that the idea is useful--you can critique it if you want to--but it should be clear you understand his use of the concept(s).

That's it! There are no further weekly questions!

 

(Return to the course syllabus.)