Term 2 has ended after a last few hectic weeks. While it was a really great term and I learned a lot, I'm disappointed in myself. I really feel I did not do my best work.
Our Flash game, unfortunately, was nowhere near the level we wanted it to be at. However we did manage to get the boss in at the end, and I painted up a title screen and end screen that I really liked. I think I'm going to try to finish up the enemies that didn't get into the game just so that I can have them in my portfolio, because I do like a lot of them. So that's something, at least.
Level Design was a good class, I wish I had done better on my Deathmatch level though. In the end it was just... too plain. I was worried about making things too cluttered and really just wound up not bringing it to the level of polish that I would've been happy with.
Well, since I'm already talking about classes, I suppose I'll mention a few more of them here. This is only a handful of the classes we had this term.
Game theory practical was awesome. In practical we basically played games all class, working our way up from some of the earlier games- Space Invaders, Tetris- to games today, moving through genres and topic, from alternate controls to open world and choice in games. At the end of each class we'd meet up and answer questions asked at the beginning of the class relating to that class' topic. It exposed me to quite a few games I never got the chance to play and gave me several lists of questions to ask myself when playing or designing a game. On top of it all it was just plain fun, and tied into another class of ours: Critical Analysis.
In Critical Analysis we wrote one page essays every week analyzing games we played in Game Theory Practical. We had to make a statement about the game and back it up with arguments. Fairly simple assignment, but the teacher was very thorough when grading them. He didn't care what statement we were making about the game, he just wanted to see that we were supporting it and structuring our essays well. It all really went back to the three paragraph essay format you learn in school, holy nostalgia Batman!
Our Game Mechanics class was, once again, a great class. In the first class we had to come up with an idea for a game that used only a single button as its mechanic, it really made you think about core gameplay. For our final class this came full circle, we had to get into groups and actually make a one button game in about 2 and a half hours. Our game basically consisted of hitting the space bar to make our teacher jump and eat pies while avoiding peanuts, puppies and bombs. It was just insane and awesome.
But above everything else, our Game Theory Digital class was amazing. The teacher is really incredible and insightful, he had a lot of great advice. The homework was unbelievably helpful as was his feedback; all of our homework was basically to create a game based on restrictions that he gave us and write up a concept doc for that game in a set number of pages and then pitch it within a time limit. It was awesome. For my final pitch I took a game idea I'd been hanging on to since term 1 about being inside a comic and breaking the fourth wall to solve puzzles.
One of the great things that our teacher did was he would let us know when our assignments were ready to be picked up, but we had to go to his office ourselves to get them. When we went to go get our marked papers he'd sit us down and speak with us about our concept doc and presentation. Just... wow. Amazing teacher. I think I really learned the most this term in that class.
On the last day of class we had our only in-class exercise (the class was mostly lecture with homework); we got into groups and were to design and pitch a game targeted at women. This was a nice, fun exercise. But... I feel like whenever 'games for women' comes up, everyone jumps to the social genre, and occasionally puzzle games. RPGs, FPSs, RTSs, etc. are all tossed aside as not being 'for women'. Then they strip away anything they consider to not be feminine; combat, violence, micro managing, stats, levels, mathy things, actions and choices that actually have a significant outcome or an impact on the game, and the intricacies of the mechanics are hidden from view. And at that point it feels like.... there's just not much left.
The thing is, I
like combat in games. I like having stats to tweak and customise, and weighing the bonuses of different skill tree paths or equipment. I like my actions to have some weight to them or have some effect beyond superficial things. I think these reasons are why I like RPGs so much. I don't mind simple games or non-violent games, I've played and loved many games without those elements, but why are they taken away
every single time guys are taken out of the picture?
In most 'games for women' I get the feeling like there's just nothing much for me to do. Or there are things to do, but
I don't get to be the one who does them, other people in the game are the ones actually doing things or things just happen. Or if I do get to do things, they are unimportant. One of my biggest issues with media in general is that women don't get to do things; they get to help men do things or be the catalyst for why men are doing things.
I play games to
do things. Particularly things that I don't get to or just outright can't do in real life. Please stop taking this away from me when you claim to be trying to create something for me.
Rantrantrantrantrant moving on.
Term 3 starts on Monday, and we've had to choose streams, just like in Foundations, though this time we pick 2 streams. There are 4 streams to choose from, Art, Programming, Level Design and Writing/Cinematics. We each get 2 special classes per stream but we all still have several general classes together and we can sit in on the other classes if we want to, we just don't have to do the homework and we won't be the instructor's priority.
I've chosen the Art and Level Design streams. Writing was very tempting, but Level Design is something I need to get better at and I think it will dovetail very nicely with the Art stream. Regardless of my choice, I will be sitting in on all the classes for as long as I can. More knowledge is always a good thing, and it will help me decide which classes I want to continue sitting in on if I get too busy to continue in all of them.
Well... while there is more to be said I think I would like to get to enjoying my break. Toodlepip.
