Game Studies - Exercises

|| 04/23/2025 - //2025 (Week 1 - Week )

|| Bertrand Alden Gani / 0370471

|| Game Studies

|| Bachelor Of Design In Creative Media

|| Exercises

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Instructions

2. Lectures

3. Exercises

4. Reflection

INSTRUCTIONS

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LECTURES

Week 1 : Game Design Principles

Game design is the process of crafting interactive experiences that are enjoyable and playful. It blends creativity, technical knowledge, and an understanding of how users think and behave. A well-designed game includes fun gameplay, an interesting story, and the right level of difficulty.

Core principles of game design :

- Player experience = The player feels while experiencing the game.
- Gameplay mechanics = Rules and frameworks that govern player interactions.
- Storytelling = Narrative while playing.
- Balance and Challenge = Providing a satisfying experience while avoiding overwhelming the player.
- Feedback and Iteration = The gameplay and player experience are continuously enhanced.
- Immersion and Worldbuilding = Building a convincing world for players to immerse themselves in.

Challenges in game design :

- Over Complication = A simpler design often leads to a more enjoyable experience.
- Failing to Adept = Disregarding player feedback or market trends can result in games that fail to engage players.
- Monetization vs. Player Experience = Striking a balance between profit goals and the player's enjoyment.

Week 2 : Balancing Fun and Educational Elements in Game Design

Fun : Games are fun when they have engaging gameplay, meaningful challenges, and emotionally satisfying experiences, often driven by choice, competition, discovery, and a sense of achievement.

Education : Games are educational when they can involve learning concepts, developing skills, or applying knowledge, ranging from basic facts to critical thinking and real-world problem-solving, or subjects like math, science, language, or history.

Strategies for Fun & Edu Balance :

- Learning Through Play: Let players naturally absorb educational content through interactive mechanics.
- Layered Learning: Introduce educational elements gradually as players advance.
- Game Mechanics as Educational Tools: Use core game mechanics to actively teach concepts.
- Storytelling with Purpose: Incorporate narratives that support and enhance learning objectives.
- Avoiding Over-Instruction: Keep learning integrated and seamless to avoid it feeling forced or tedious.
- Player Motivation and Rewards: Design reward systems that align with gameplay and feel genuinely satisfying to players.

Week 3 : (No lecture)

This week is the fun times you have with your group members. Play all sorts of board games and explore all sorts of games together. Make notes, record your gameplay - anything to help you develop your own game framework.

Fig 1.0 Playing Ludo

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EXERCISES

Exercise 1

Instructions :

For this exercise, we were instructed to pick a video or tabletop game that we love, one that we coming back to play even after taking a break for a while. We needed to review the aspects of the game that make it enjoyable and the areas where we think it could improve. We were also allowed to include gameplay clips or demonstrations.

ARK: Survival Evolved

ARK: Survival Evolved is one of my childhood game that I used to often play. It is a game developed by Studio Wildcard,  with its partners Instinct Games, Efecto Studios, and Virtual Basement LLC. It was first released in early access in 2015.

The game set in a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs and other creatures. The challenge is to gather resources, build shelters, and tame wild animals to survive. I love the game’s diverse environments from jungles, snow plains, volcanos to harsh deserts. What keeps me returning is the sense of freedom the game offers, whether I’m exploring, building, or hunting for resources, there’s always something to do.

Gameplay :

In ARK: Survival Evolved, the main gameplay focuses on gathering resources, building structures, taming creatures, and breeding.

Players collect materials like wood, stone, and metal to craft tools and build shelters. 

Fig 1.1 Building in ARK

The players can tame wild dinosaurs and other creatures, each have their own unique abilities. This will greatly help the players in various aspects of the game such as transportation, protection, and resource gathering. 

Fig 1.2 Taming in ARK

There is also breeding, which lets players to breed their tamed creatures to create offspring with improved traits, making them stronger. This is one of the strategies to fight the game's bosses.

Fig 1.3 Breeding in ARK

The objective of the game is to beat cave dungeons to get artifacts as well as beat bosses to get their material drops, then the material collected will be used to enter the final boss dungeon.

Fig 1.4 Artifacts in ARK

Fig 1.5 Broodmother boss

Fig 1.6 Megapithecus boss

Fig 1.7 Dragon boss

Fig 1.8 Overseer final boss (in-game screenshoot)

What makes this game enjoyable?

1. Freedom to choose - I can explore, build, tame, or fight however I like. There’s no fixed path, which gives me full control over how I want to enjoy the game. Whether I want to focus on creating a strong base, collecting rare creatures, or just exploring the vast world, the choice is always mine.

2. Enjoyable narrative - While exploring, I can discover lore and hidden notes that slowly reveal the history of the world, keeping me curious about what happened on the island.

3. Immersive and beautiful environment - The game features diverse biomes like jungles, beaches, snowy mountains, and caves. There is also weather changes and day-night cycle which make the world feel alive and realistic. Hence, I used to often take screenshoots of the in-game scenery.

4. Variety of customization - There is a lot of customization in this game, for example I can customize my character's and dinos appearance, design of my base and even weapon accessories like scopes, silencers, flashlight and laser light. This level of creativity allows me to express my own style in the game. Beside that, I can also customize the game difficulty however I like.

5. Survival challenges - The game can be quite challenging especially in default settings and withoud mods. I have to manage hunger, thirst, temperature, and health while protecting myself from wild animals and other players (in PVP mode). The difficulty makes success feel rewarding, every small achievement feels earned.

Where it could improve?

1. Better optimization - ARK is a beautiful game, but it’s often very demanding on hardware. On many systems, especially consoles or lower-end PCs, the game can suffer from lag, frame drops, or long loading times. I personally experienced this in my gaming laptop. Improving overall optimization would make the game smoother and more accessible for more players.

2. Better balanced PVP - In multiplayer PVP servers, large tribes can often dominate smaller ones, making it hard for new or solo players to survive. Introducing more balanced raiding mechanics or protections for smaller groups would create a fairer and more competitive environment.

3. Better tutorials and beginner support - ARK has a lot of mechanics, new players can easily feel overwhelmed. In my cases, I watched online videos about the mechanics and gimmics back when I started playing. Adding clear tutorials, in-game tips, or guided early-game missions would help players learn the mechanics more easily and enjoy the game from the start.

4. Better monetization - ARK currently offers paid DLCs and cosmetics, but its monetization can feel a bit unbalanced.  The game must ensure that paid content doesn’t give unfair advantages in PVP or create barriers for casual players. This would help keep the game fun and fair for everyone.

Exercise 2

Instructions :

For this exercise, we needed to identify a non-digital game which has been converted into a digital version. Things to discuss :

- Brief explanation of the gameplay

- Differences and similarity of play dimension (real life vs on screen)

- Benefits and disadvantages of three-dimensional

Ludo

Fig 1.9 Ludo Board

Fig 2.0 Digital Ludo

Gameplay :

Ludo is a board game that can be play with 2 to 4 players. Each player need to selects one of four colored sets of tokens. The goal of this game is to move all your tokens from the starting area to the center "home" before your opponents.

1. First, players take turns rolling a die to start the game.
2. Player must roll six to move a token from their base onto the board.
3. All tokens must be brought to the board by rolling a six before they can be moved further.
4. Rolling a six will grants the player extra turn.
5. Capturing opponent's token will also gives the player another turn.
6. Landing on a square occupied by an opponent will send their token back to the base.
7. Tokens on the four star-marked safe zones cannot be captured.
8. The first player to move all their tokens into the home triangle wins the game.

Difference and similarity between real life vs on screen :

Here are some differences :

1. In real life Ludo we need to setup the board manually, while in digital we don't, the game will automatically start.
2. Player roll the dice physically in real life version, while in the digital version player roll the dice virtually randomized using software.
3. In real life Ludo, player need to move the token by themselves. On the other hand in digital Ludo, player just need to tap and the token will automatically move.
4. There are no sound or visual animation in real life Ludo, meanwhile in digital Ludo there are, which could add a bit more flair to the game.

Here are some similarities :

1. Both follow the same basic rules.
2. The main goal of both version are the same, which is to move all your tokens to your "home".
3. The game still use turn-based mechanic in both of the version.
4. Both require luck and strategy to win the game.

Benefits and disadvantages of three dimensional/real life version :

Here are the benefits :

1. Real life version encourage more social interaction by meeting face to face.
2. Roling the dice and moving the token physically could be more engaging and satisfying for the players.
3. Players don't need electronic devices or internet connection to play the game.

Here are the disadvantages :

1. There is cheating or miscount possibility while rolling the dice in real life Ludo, while in digital one it is restricted by the system.
2. Rolling the dice and moving the token physically could take a bit more time compared to just tapping the screen.
3. Players need to have the physical game board and token to play the game.

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REFLECTION

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