Tag: ETEC 544

The pink screen of death became a familiar sight around the end of March. How did I end up here? I’ve made games on Scratch with my Grade 3s, but nothing like this, so what made me take this leap? 

Brainstorm and Concept Development

While I found my own ideas uninspired, the members of my group had intriguing ideas, especially Ryan’s music idea. This was probably the part of the game design process I enjoyed the most. The initial list of ideas from Assignment 1 looked like this:

Due to time zone differences and schedules, this was done at 1am. After the group meeting I decided to take advantage of my caffeine-fueled alertness and catch up with family members and friends living on Canada’s beautiful west coast. I don’t usually get homesick, but while I was looking over Assignment 1 after my calls, I kept imagining summer vacation and all the places I usually visit when I go home, and that is how the bass player became a beach busker/surfer. This part of the process reminded me how important it is to be open-minded and a lifelong learner. If we lose interest in the world around us, ideas stagnate. I shared my ideas with the group and they added more details and structure which formed the proposal in the next step. I appreciate the collaborative nature of designing video games. I highly doubt that I would have been able to imagine and develop an idea like this if I had been working by myself. If I had done this by myself, the game most likely would have involved pizzas and fractions, an overdone concept in elementary mathematics classes.

Creating Game Assets

Putting the game together was a series of learning processes. To make the music notes, GarageBand was used. It was my first time using the app and while the music I created was not used, it did lead to me planning a cross-curricular project on poetry and music to be used later on with my Grade 3s. The next process was creating sprites and animations for the game. Using YouTube tutorials I was able to create some basic assets for the game. Piksel was used to create the assets, which turned out to be fairly straightforward. What was a bit difficult was picturing how they would be used. Ryan shared videos of how far he had gotten in the coding process so it became easier for me to see how the animations could be used and what other animations might be needed. At this point the game had been simplified from the original proposal, so the number of assets needed had decreased.

Coding

I thought the natural next step would be to help out with the coding. Ryan shared his codes as a .json file so that codes could be added to the game. When I opened up the file in GDevelop, I was greeted by the pink screen of death. Looking at the side bar, most of the images were not appearing, so I tried putting all the assets into a folder with the .json file and reloaded it. Nothing happened so I then manually reuploaded each asset. When I was done, the music and the character didn’t move!

I rewatched YouTube tutorials on GDevelop and played around with the codes. I managed to get the character to move, but now the sound was on a repeated loop. Tweaking with the codes, I was able to stop the loop, but now there was no music, so the same problem as before.

From here I decided that perhaps I was trying to take on too much. I decided to focus on adding coins and a points counter to the game because they’re basic parts of most platform games and I thought it would be easy–ha! Following the tutorial I found online, I added coins and I was able to get them to disappear on contact. That was thrilling. I added a counter and set it to increase by 1 for each coin collected. I coded it so that a “1” was added each time a coin was collected, so the score progressions was 1, 11, 111, 1111, 11111. I watched the tutorial again and tried again. Same result. I tried following another tutorial and this time the counter began to function like a stopwatch with no pause button. Eventually I tweaked so much that the character stopped moving. Because I did not save before I made each change, I had to figure out what I had done to fix it. I could not determine what needed to be fixed and by then I was feeling frustrated. I took a screenshot of what I had created and tossed it.

RIP

Final Reflections

I think there are no shortcuts in coding. If I could go back in time, I would start from scratch and create the game from the beginning rather than try adding codes to an existing game. Perhaps adding codes would work for seasoned coders, but for a beginner like me, it feels like a wiser choice to start and learn from the beginning.

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing portion of game design and I would like to explore how I can utilize this skill. Perhaps I should have focused on adding text to the game.

Looking back on the game design process, I am reminded of Seth Meyer’s interviews with his SNL alumni. During these interviews, Seth and his guests speak of their favourite sketches and sketches that never made it onto the show.  There’s nothing wrong with culling ideas, but it was a startling experience because I normally think in terms of learning processes and outcomes that can be documented and here I was focused on the final product, probably because the failure mechanism is very real. The learning was also very real. Many ideas were not realized, but the learning involved can be actualized later on in different forms, such as the poetry/GarageBand project or in creating a prehistory-based Escape Room through Google/Microsoft Forms.

1. publication year range 2000-2017
2. use of game-based and traditional nonvideo game-based classroom instruction interventions
3. used at least one game-based classroom and on traditional classroom
4. participants were PreK-12-grade students
5. outcome based on mathematics achievement
6. video games could be inferred as “good” according to Shute and Ke’s 2012 definition
7. sufficient data reported to calculate effect sizes

1. elaborate on research procedures, assessment instruments, learning game(s) and learning outcomes
2. examine the effectiveness of video games within different mathematical domains such as geometry, arithmetic, algebra
3. links between game characteristics with learning outcomes

Having experience as an Early Years teacher, I think that participants should not include PreK-2-grade students because learning in these grades is more tactile and multi-sensory and often includes cross-curricular learning which could affect the learning achievements of mathematics. Overall, I found these suggestions to be practical. Lessons are formed around learning outcomes, so the dominant factor influencing lesson activities will have to support the learning outcomes. Administrators can be persuaded to set aside budget and training time for professional development and resources if there are strong links to learning outcomes, especially in mathematical domains that students often struggle with.

PRODUCTION

Taylor (2018) found that game stream productions feature the following components:

• set design
• material and digital infrastructure
• critique and evaluation
• sociality
• economic and commercial frameworks

These components were all present to some extent in the three livestreams watched.

Set Design

The three streams I watched, AdrianaChechik_, Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming have customized channel pages, but only the latter two use professional overlays.

Material and Digital Infrastructure

The streamers used a headset and microphone to communicate. Adrianachechik_’s stream took place in what seemed to be a darkened study. From a conversation she had with a viewer, her glasses are non-prescription, so they are probably part of her streaming gear.

Brad_Taicho’s physical set was his bedroom, which did not appear to have any specific materials displayed for the purpose of the stream. The lighting of his room looks to be part of the original room design. Bot notifications of new chat messages could be heard throughout his livestream.

fen_gaming’s background wall intends to have been decorated as a visual for the stream. From how the room lighting fell, a ring light was likely used.

Performance

The streamers have their own take on bringing humour and suspense to their game commentary. Notably, fen_gaming is fairly good at mimicking the game sound effects and Brad_Taicho speaks in a mostly calm tone with inflection points to express surprise or frustration. AdrianaChechik_’s performance was the most unfiltered. She narrated her gut reactions more frequently than she did her actions: “Damnn! Fatty’s f*cking me up. F*ck you fatty–I like fatties though” (AdrianaChechik_, 2022).

Her facial expressions were more varied than the others.

Change in intonation created suspense. During the wait for a battle to commence, the rapid-fire repetition of “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god” and rise in tone at the end revealed her excitement.

Critique and Evaluation

AdrianaChechik_ (2022) had the shortest commentary on her moment-to-moment actions, “Ahh, you f*cker! Ah sh*t! My stamina’s low”. Her game analysis mostly described the feel of different parts of the game, “Nah, I tried that area. It’s really harder than you think” (AdrianaChechik_, 2022). Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming are more seasoned gamers as tournament players and aspiring full-time streamers. They had in-depth analysis, sharing their strategies, comparing the games with earlier versions and noting the benefits and drawbacks of game options.

Sociality

Every streamer interacted with their viewers, verbally responding to chat comments almost immediately. Everyone welcomed newcomers and used different ways to engage their viewers. AdrianaChechik_ asked her viewers for help finding the “blue guy”.

fen_gaming asked for name ideas when he caught new Pokémon. Brad_Taicho engaged his community by competing with his subscribers in Mario Kart, voting on the next racecourse and asking them for 2-year subscriber badge ideas.

Economic and Commercial Frameworks

Everyone offers a subscription package with customized chat emotes, sub badges and sub-only chats and accepts donations.

fen_gaming sells merchandise. AdrianaChechik_’s channel page has a link to her Amazon.com wishlist.

SPECTATORSHIP

Wulf et al. (2018; 2020) observed that audience enjoyment is linked to the creation of suspense, parasocial relationships (PSRs) to streamers, Virtual Friendship/Respectful Interest and chat interactions.

Creation of Suspense

The streamers created suspense by verbally acknowledging their weaknesses during their play. AdrianaChechik shared how she did not want to go to the cave because she had been unable to pass through it on previous attempts. She also mentioned that she had no heal cure whilst entering a new area of the game. Brad_Taicho moaned how everyone liked to choose the course he found the most challenging and fen_gaming noted that he had an unbalanced team with too many normal Pokémon and that they were two levels too low. Receiving these insights into the streamers’ psyche, viewers mostly shared their tips and gave encouragement to the streamers, though some relished seeing the streamer struggle.

Viewers enjoying Brad_Taicho’s success and struggle.

Parasocial Relationships (PSRs)

Wulf et al. (2018; 2020) correlated enjoyment of the stream to the PSRs with the streamer. Streamers verbally thanked viewers for subscriptions and donations. Everyone has a published schedule while Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming have a countdown timer to the next livestream. There were frequent interactions between viewers and streamers: AdrianaChechik_’s viewers asked to see her dog (see image below). Brad_Taicho’s viewers asked for his opinion on the Veggietale Course and fen_gaming’s viewers talked about birthdays and names for his neck Pokemon. Streamers directly addressed these comments quickly.

Virtual Friendship and Respectful Interest

The viewers see the streamers as virtual friends. AdrianaChechik_ and fen_gaming greeted and remembered viewers: “Buns and Butter, I haven’t seen you in 4 months” (AdrianaChechik_, 2022). AdrianaChechik_’s stream had more conversations about her personal life. As she is closing her stream, her viewers refer to a conversation from a previous livestream about her drinking preferences which starts a discussion on how her drinking habits have changed. She encourages her viewers to join her Discord channel so they can plug their Twitch channels, like a friend promoting a friend’s business. Her viewers show respectful interest in her choice to end the livestream, asking about the production she will be working on before the next day’s livestream. The other two channels had elements of a virtual friendship, but their viewers’ interactions showed more respectful interest than virtual friendship, since most of the interactions were game-related.

Chat Interactions

Twitch chats create a “haven” for the audience (Kneer et al., 2012; Nauroth et al., 2015 cited in Wulf et al., 2018; 2020) by providing streamers with the option to make chats only available to followers and/or subscribers. Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming make it possible for non-followers to lurk by overlaying the main chat with the game screen. There were at least three active options for community interaction (lurker, subscriber, follower) during the streams. The option to display membership through customized emotes, along with multiple available commands added another layer to these interactions. Chats were places for exchanging game tips/strategies, joking around and glimpses into others’ personal lives.

Compared to Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming, the production components of AdrianaChechik_ ‘s stream are lacking, but were compensated by the viewer-formed PSRs. While there appears to be a formula for creating livestream game channels, missing parts of the formula could perhaps be compensated for through PSRs.

References

AdrianaChechik_ (2022, March 19). Boss fight tonight elden ring (ps5) [Livestream]. Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1430980952?filter=archives&sort=time

Brad_Taicho (2022, March 20). [AUS} 200cc’s is simply too many monkasteer [Livestream]. Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1431235866?filter=archives&sort=time

fen_gaming (2022, March 27). [AUS] [SAUMUS/RYU] Join me for a spot of smash: Pokemon legends: Arceus [Livestream]. Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1437116143

Taylor, T. L. (2018). Twitch and the work of play. American Journal of Play, 11(1), 65-84.

Wulf, T., Schneider, F. M., & Beckert, S. (2018;2020). Watching players: An exploration of media enjoyment on twitch. Games and Culture, 15(3), 155541201878816-346. doi:10.1177/1555412018788161

Please click on the file below to access my game log for Fantasian.

Game-Log-Form-SheenaChan

I have attached the screenshots from my three sessions below:

Session 1: This is the scene that both captured my interest with the art and filled me with dread because I knew I would get lost. How do you get to the walkway below? How do you get back up? How will I know which direction I should run?

Session 2: I love how the tutorials are the size of index cards and not filled with text. Bite-sized information that pops up when you need them.

Session 3: Avenyet spent a lot of time pointing out the time and attention the game creators put into their work. Here he is commenting on the dust on the bottles.

Exercise 1.1 Become a game tester

Puzzles and Dragons Playing Experience

To borrow Fullerton’s (2014) analogy, game designers don’t know how players will engage with a game until dinner is served (p. 3). Because of this game’s similarity to games like Bejeweled, I ignored many of the extra features such as evolution and the egg machines. Focusing on one aspect of the game was not enough to keep me interested. My friend has been playing this game for a while; he was the one who introduced me to this game when I asked him to help me with this exercise. I felt overall his game time was spent more effectively than mine. The first action he did was to open his inbox and check any new messages he received so he would know about any new limited-time promotions and quests as well as know what bonuses he received while he was away. I didn’t check my inbox because I want to avoid promotions and avoid succumbing to in-app purchases. While I did go through the tutorial, I didn’t spend much time becoming more familiar with the game world, such as learning which monsters can be used for evolution material and which monsters have useful leadership skills that can be used to increase the team’s defense or attack skills. One of the reasons I didn’t initially bother reading up on all of this was I found the text lengthy–it was an information overload for someone new to the game. Another reason is when I did try to evolve my monsters, I was greeted with flashing purchase signs for all the materials I had not yet acquired.  After watching my friend play, I have tried to play more mindfully, moving the orbs to get as many points as possible instead of trying to move them as quickly as possible. For some reason, I thought I’d be penalized if I took too long to move the orbs. I wonder now why I did not experiment and test limits instead of blindly following rules. Now that I’m playing the game with more purpose, I am finding this game more interesting. I wonder if a more detailed tutorial or a tutorial that was introduced in pieces at certain points of the game would have increased my initial engagement.

Exercise 2.2: Players describe how players might join or start a game of Go Fish versus single-player Quake.

There is a social aspect to both games. Despite being a single-player game, Quake feels like a more social game because there are different tournaments, demos and livestreams so people can watch other players play. Go Fish does have a couple instructional videos, but due to the simplicity of the game, there does not seem to be a need for various videos on strategy.

Exercise 2.4: Rules Can you think of a game that has no rules? If so, describe it. How about one rule? Why is this exercise difficult?

I can’t think of any game with no rules. The closest game I can think of with one rule is driving in some cities. The rule is no contact, in other words, don’t hit anyone and don’t get hit. This exercise was difficult because rules tie the player and game together. Fullerton (2014) notes that players respect the rules of the game with the understanding that they are a necessary component if the game is to function as a game (p. 35). Rules can limit our actions, which determines the parameters for winning. For example, when playing charades, if students are allowed an unlimited number of guesses, the challenge lessens which affects the sense of accomplishment at the end of the game.

Exercise 3.2: Three-Player Tic-Tac-Toe Create a version of tic-tac-toe that works for three players. You might need to change the size of the board or other elements of the game to do this.

I designed this version of tic-tac-toe so I could use it in a classroom setting. I thought a combination of cooperative and team competition would work best.

Objective: To get more points than any other player or team.

This three-team game of tic-tac-toe requires a tic-tac-toe player board as illustrated below, a tic-tac-toe scoreboard, a deck of question cards from any subject (e.g. mathematics, history, science, English). The three teams will elect a representative to start the game by playing rock-paper-scissors to determine the playing order. The first team can choose which tic-tac-toe score can be used.

The first team sends their first representative to select a question card. The player has 30 seconds to answer the question. Team members may assist the representative, but the representative must be the one to vocalize or write down the answer. If the representative is unable to answer the question correctly or within the allotted time, the next team has a chance to answer the question. If that team is unable to answer, then the next team can try. Each team has one chance to answer the question before it is placed at the bottom of the deck.

If a question is answered correctly at the first opportunity, that team can get one point and a chance to place either an ‘x’ or an ‘o’ on the player board. Teams that answer questions dropped by other teams may collect a point, but not a chance to place an ‘x’ or an ‘o’ on the player board.

Teams take turns sending different representatives to pick and answer question cards.

A team cannot send the same representative until each team member has had a chance to be a representative. Turns representing their team should be fairly allocated.

Teams can switch between using an ‘x’ or an ‘o’ on the player board. When a team gets three in a row, bonus points are given. The last spot marked to get the three in a row is found on the scoreboard. The flap is lifted the points are awarded accordingly.

When the player board is filled, a new player board and scoreboard can be started by the next team that answers their question correctly. The game ends after all question cards have been answered.

Tic-Tac-Toe Player Board

Example Tic-Tac-Toe Scoreboard

Exercise 3.3: Interaction Patterns For each of the interaction patterns, create a list of your favorite games in each pattern. If you can’t think of any games in a particular pattern, research games in that area and play several of them.

This exercise was good because I had to challenge myself to research different games to fill out this list. I did try a couple of the games new to me.

1. Single player versus game
   1. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
   2. Kingdom Hearts
   3. Final Fantasy VII and VIII

1. Multiple individual players versus game
   1. HomeScape
   2. Pokemon Go
   3. Puzzles and Dragons

I took a while to decide if I should include games like HomeScape and Puzzles and Dragons. In HomeScape there are team events where you can form teams and solve puzzles to get points, but outside of the team events, you can solve the puzzles by yourself and get prizes based on how you score on the leaderboard. You can also ask friends for lives, kind of how one might ask to borrow a BINGO dabber from a neighbour in a BINGO hall. Puzzles and Dragons has the option of borrowing a helper player from a “friend” but otherwise, you don’t have to interact with the player.

Player versus player

1. 1. Chess
   2. Street Fighter
   3. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Unilateral competition

1. 1. Mafia
   2. Mysterium – players are psychic investigators on the hunt for a murderer
   3. Among Us

These games feel similar to each other. Mafia is probably the most requested game in my upper primary classes. I think its cooperative and competitive interaction patterns make it engaging for students.

Multilateral competition

1. 1. Words with Friends
   2. Scrabble
   3. Mario Kart Tour

Cooperative play

1. 1. Overcooked 2
   2. Don’t Starve Together
   3. Sea of Thieves

Team competition

1. 1. League of Legends
   2. Awesomenauts
   3. Arena of Heroes

References

Fullerton, T. (2014). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, NY: Taylor & Francis (CRS Press)/ Chapters 1, 2, 3.

In Gee’s 2008 article, he examines the missed opportunities that can occur when games are only designed and viewed for educational purposes. This shortsightedness is something Gee admits to being guilty of and seeks to rectify by considering how the game Portal, despite using physics as its “content” the game is not defined by it, instead, physics serves as “possibilities for action that defines play” (2008, p. 233). According to Gee (2008) physics is a tool within the game; the tools people have on hand can direct their attention and their range of discoveries. Gee (2008) argues that currently learning from games is not easily transferred to the physical walls of the classroom. For example, in regard to language learning, games take advantage of placing complex language into a popular context making the language accessible to users who are unable to experience such success within the world of school texts. The article seems to suggest that while the game world and physical classroom can exist at the same time, they have difficulties interacting, so what tools does Gee think are necessary for learning to be transferred from the game world to the physical world?

In a later article, Gee and Gee (2017) explore the interactions between online and offline learning. They (2017) describe the similarities between science and game play, where science is a “high-powered, tool-enhanced, socially and institutionally organized conversation with the world, based on a  desire to understand and a respect for the world’s responses” (p. 9) and games are a world with its own set of rules that must be known and understood to progress. Gee and Gee (2017) observe that the ability of gamers to test out different scenarios within a game, existed before video games; people have been playing out possibilities in their minds before acting on them. Rather than focusing on a particular aspect of technology or traditional learning, the article argues that the best of both worlds exists when the focus is placed on communication networks, such as the ones found in a DTAL system (2017). Communication networks are vital due to the influence they have on shaping learners’ focus and appreciation, so a modern DTAL system is ideal as it offers tools from both worlds to continue and develop interactions in both spaces (2017).  The article (2017) mentions that the right conditions can best utilize DTAL systems, but I feel there are barriers that inhibit society from moving beyond affinity spaces, did Gee and Gee observe people from different social and political backgrounds interactions within DTAL systems?

The 2017 article builds on what was written in 2008; the interactivity of DTAL systems provides the space for users to explore and react to their environment, much like cats do. The rigid wall between learning in games and the physical classroom described in 2008 is broken in 2017 with the recognition that experiences and interactions build on each other and form how people value and appreciate the world, thus guiding an individual’s learning journey.

References

Gee, J. P. (2008). Cats and portals: Video games, learning, and play. American Journal of Play, 1(2), 229.

Gee, E., & Gee, J. P. (2017). Games as distributed teaching and learning systems. Teachers College Record, 119(11).