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Objective: Level setting about the current state of video game platforms and marketplaces. Use material from Chapter 12: Gaming Technology Platforms Visit 2 different game marketplaces: Steam (store.steampowered.com) and one of its major competitors like the Epic Games Store, itch.io, or GOG. Take note of what is shown on the main page. How is content featured, and how would you as a player navigate the store? For each marketplace you visit, complete the following tasks: Note what attracts your attention first. Did it catch your eye because of art, animation, or text? Did you receive a popup or other targeted…

Objective: Weigh the relative nuances of different game monetization models against each other. Use material from Chapter 11: Efficient and Ethical Economies QUEST: Choose at least 2 of the games you analyzed in previous steps and identify where they land on the Spectrum of Game Monetization, keeping in mind that "free to play" is rarely the only thing happening. Which quadrant does each game land in? Visit the Reddit forums for each of the games you're analyzing. How does player sentiment support or contradict your analysis? For any games that offer loot boxes, take a moment to examine the loot…

Objective: Learn to deconstruct the gaming economy by looking at individual monetization decisions across competitors. Use material from Chapter 10: The Money Game QUEST: Look at two different free-to-play live-service games. What types of currency do they offer? How do their approaches to store offers differ? Reflect on your perception of value from store to store as you see how a variety of smaller monetization decisions show up in an aggregate marketplace. For each game you select, complete the following tasks: Analyze the monetization choices. How can players pay? Are there subscriptions? Microtransactions? Downloadable content packs? Audit the currencies on…

Objective: Observe the effects of existing in large-scale player communities in real time Use material from Chapter 9: From Emergence to Prosocial Gaming QUEST: Explore what it means to be in a gaming community. Select 2-3 games with online communities. Review their community guidelines and note the differences. Then, watch streamers engage with these games either live or on recording and see how the community guidelines manifest in real-time interactions while reflecting on how your own relationship to the game shifts. For each game you select, complete the following tasks: Consider choosing contrasting games, like a casual game and a…

Objective: Deconstruct the role that game graphics and aesthetics play in a game's success. Use Material from Chapter 8: Creating Immersive Worlds QUEST: Choose two different games: one with 2D visuals, one with 3D visuals. Define what quadrant of the Spectrum of Gaming Graphics each game would occupy and then explore online forums and tools to see how the community perceived these elements. For each game you've selected, complete the following tasks: Plot the game's visuals into one of the four quadrants of the spectrum of gaming graphics (below). Evaluate the game's alignment to reality and the complexity of the…

Objective: Examine the relationship between story, immersion, and player agency in narrative-driven games. Use material from Chapter 7: Engaging Players Over Time Quest: Choose a game where narrative plays a critical role in the player experience. Play through 2-5 hours of the game while paying attention to specific narrative design prompts around character design, gameplay choices, and player agency (as in, the effect the player's choices have on the story). As you play through the first few hours of your experience, pay attention to the following dimensions: How are the characters depicted? What information is shared about the characters? Are…

Objective: Immerse yourself in the lived experience of different forms of multiplayer gaming. Use material from Chapter 6: The Why of Multiplayer QUEST: Challenge yourself to experience different forms of multiplayer gaming: ranked play, massively multiplayer online gaming, the tutorial of a sandbox-style user-generated content driven game, a party game with friends and family, and a cooperative game. Deeply and actively engage in different forms of multiplayer gaming. Experience 5 different archetypes of multiplayer gameplay. This is a time-consuming challenge, but each of these examples is fundamentally different and touches on different human motivators and social dynamics. If you don't…

Objective: Mindfully try a new game and observe the role UX plays on your ability to learn and succeed. Use material from Chapter 5: Game Experience Design in Practice Quest: Choose a new game you've never played before, and document your passage through the game's user experience for the first 2 hours, keeping an eye on these helpful prompts for what to look out for. At the end of the 2 hours, reflect on what you learned. Play a new game and answer the following questions as you go: Set a timer for no more than 2 hours of gameplay,…

Objective: Holistically evaluate gameplay loops and compare across games. Use material from Chapter 4: Game Designer's Toolkit Quest: Use a grid of game genres to choose a genre you're not familiar with, and explore 2 games from that genre. Play those games for a few hours and complete several prompts designed to help you deconstruct the core elements of gameplay. For each of the games you select, complete the following exercises after playing the game: Identify at least one core game loop in this game. There might be more than one loop if there are multiple game modes, but there's…

Objective: Reinforce the complexity of getting a video game out into the market across company boundaries. Use material from Chapter 3: Putting the Dev in Game Development Quest: Pick a game from each of the following decades: the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s, and the 2020s. Use sources like Wikipedia, MobyGames, game credits, and company websites to identify how many companies were involved in the creation of each of these games and what role each of these companies played. For each game you select, answer the following questions: Who developed this game? Was it a single studio or multiple studios?…