Ludology Class

So the first steps into the Msc in Digital Games began with Ludology and as part of our first class we had to develop a board game using only a few raw materials. These consisted of a dice and then 7 items which you could choose from a collection of bits and bobs like lego blocks and straws. We had 15 minutes to come up with an idea and I think at this hour of the morning my mind was still trailing behind and the creative brain cells we still struggling to get going. I went for a simple tower building game using the dice to take turns and depending on whether you threw odd or even you either got to place a piece of lego as part of building your tower or passed your go. After getting your tower to a certain height you had to then throw a 6 to be able to finish your tower with the last piece.

The other part of the session was to then pass the game to the person next to you to compare games and then decide on a final game to run with and then try and improve it before passing it to another group and swapping your game with theirs so you could have a go at theirs. Myself and Peter used his game which was basically a race to build a cake. You moved around the board trying to collect ingredients to back a cake and needed to collect one of each type of the main ingredients to be able to progress to a seperate path on the board which would allow you to possibly land on one of the squares which would let you bake your cake and finish the game. The game itself was like many board games based on the luck of the dice and being able to land on the right squares to achieve the main goal and win the game.

From playing the other game and seeing and reading about the other games people made I found it interesting to see how everyone went for a different topic or idea for a game and how they related it to something they were interested in or passionate about perhaps or to a similar type of board game they liked playing. While its natural to go for something you are interested in I think it made me think about how when making a game you have to consider who the game is aimed at and the market it would have or general interest. If the topic of the game is too specific then will it only interest a small group of people, if its too generic then will people be interested enough to want to play it over another game and try it out. I found it interesting listening to peoples comments at the end about what they learned and for me how your whole thought process on gaming opens up to so many other factors that you dont really think about when you are sitting playing your favourite game on the xbox!