Engaging with Chapters 1–3 of Tracy Fullerton’s Game Design Workshop.
Exercise 1.3:
List five areas of your life that could be games. Then briefly describe a possible underlying game structure for each.
House Renovations
When I first started tracking down a pesky leak inside my wall, I had to diagnose exactly where the water was coming from. I set strict rules and constraints for this task to shape my decision-making: I had to track the leak with minimal drywall damage. I chased the water from the basement, through the main floor, and finally to the space underneath my upstairs bedroom window.
For me, the “name of the game” was efficiency and problem-solving. The goal was to open the wall just enough to dry everything out without creating unnecessary repair work. I see this as having strategic and exploratory game structures, where the player acts as the designer of their own constraints.
Teaching Grade Two
Engaging students in literacy or numeracy activities in my Grade 2 class can sometimes be tricky. Recently, I gamified our math lesson by introducing a twist on BINGO; instead of calling out numbers, I called out problems like “2 + 3” for them to solve.
One underlying game structure for BINGO could be the simultaneous rounds and turn taking whereby everyone takes their turn at the exact same time resulting in a bit of action and suspense each round. Additionally, BINGO acts as a platform; once the students know the rules, the game becomes a vehicle for delivering all sorts of different content through a familiar interface.
Playing Jazz Guitar
When I practice, I often turn the session into a game by imposing strict constraints on my improvisation to see if I can still make music or play through the chord changes to a song. I might tell myself, “This time, I can only play arpeggios over the changes,” or “I must play every dominant seven chord with a sharp five.”
The underlying game structure here is the coordination of knowledge and ability around a set task. By creating self-imposed challenges, I am effectively using rule-setting to enhance my creative practice and stretch my knowledge and ability on guitar so that I don’t “play myself into a corner” when improvising on the guitar.
Going Grocery Shopping
Navigating the grocery store during rush hour often feels like a real-time strategy game. Get the groceries, make it to the cashier and avoid running into people I know is often the task. I find myself constantly crunching numbers to determine if a bulk item is actually a good deal, or racing against the clock to get in and out as fast as possible.
The game structures at play here involves resource management (time, money, attention) and navigating the unpredictability of other “players” in the environment. It requires a constant situational awareness of oneself in relation to the chaos of the aisles.
Cooking
When I am making lunch during my short lunch break, I mean business. The objective is to optimize the cooking process so efficiently that I actually have time left over to sit and enjoy the meal.
The underlying game structure here is pure self-challenge and optimization. It is a race against a timer where the win-state is a hot meal and a few minutes of peace, and the lose-state is rushing back to work hungry while still eating my scrambled eggs.
Exercise 1.5:
List ten games you played as a child and briefly describe what was compelling about each of those games.
Capture the Flag
Heads Up, Seven Up
Charades
Freeze Tag
Rock Paper Scissors
Dodgeball
Four Corners
Hot Potato
Simon Says
Fort/Base Building
Exercise 2.6:
Name three games that you find particularly challenging and describe why.
Out of games I have played, I would say that I find the following to be challenging for different reasons:
Game of Risk
With Risk often comes challenges between players as they form alliances and oppositions against one another over territory. Given the high-stakes nature of the game, in the times I have played it, there always seem to be negotiations and shifting relationships that emerge between players. These dynamics often create tension and strong emotions as decisions are made across multiple rounds, especially when strategic choices intersect with the chance-based elements of the game.
Trivial Pursuit
I am not particularly knowledgeable about pop culture or many of the categories that frequently appear in the game. Being required to recall specific facts that I may or may not know can be challenging, and this sometimes influences my motivation and engagement during gameplay. The game highlights how knowledge itself can become a source of pressure, where knowing (or in my case not-knowing the answer) shapes one’s experience of challenge and participation.
Boggle
Over the holidays, I was playing Boggle with a few friends on my TV, and what I found most challenging was actually stopping myself from playing it. Because the gameplay was visible to everyone on the screen, it became difficult to withhold informal participation, even when it wasn’t technically my turn. The game felt fast-paced, familiar, simple, and addictive, and its flat mechanics gradually turned into a cognitive challenge as I felt compelled to constantly search for patterns and words. In this way, Boggle became less about competition and more about the tension between observation, impulse, and self-control.
Exercise 2.8:
Have any stories within a game ever gripped you, moved you emotionally, or sparked your imagination? If so, why? If not, why not?
For me, the most impactful RPGs were always the ones that left me longing for the story to continue even after the credits rolled. Earthbound on the SNES stands out as a defining RPG from my childhood.
I found myself captivated by its unique blend of elements in the:
Setting
Earthbound takes place in a quirky sci-fi world where a young boy who gains psychic powers encounters both supernatural mysteries and humorous situations.
Tone
An inherent silliness and playfulness, seen in the quirky dialogue and clever wordplay, characters and personalities.
Depth
Hidden references to music theory that added a layer of sophistication that comes to light after the game is over and the gameplay is later reflected on by the player.
The imagination behind the characters, situations, and gameplay was something which made the world feel incredibly alive and distinct, turning a bizarre adventure into a deeply engaging journey further impacting my future Super Smash Brother’s character choices forevermore.
Exercise 3.9:
For each of the resource types described, generate a list of your favourite games that use resources of that type.
Resource types are: Lives, Units, Health, Actions, Currency, Power-ups, Inventory, Special Terrain, and Time.
References
[1]
Fullerton, T. (2014). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. Taylor & Francis (CRC Press). Chapters 1, 2, 3.