Journal Entry # 8

The showcase night was a great and fun experience. However, I have to confess I was little nervous about my project and people’s response to it. I was really surprised to see that people enjoyed my project and had fun playing. Some people gave me more advices and feedback if I would like to continue working on this project.

Also, I really enjoyed looking through other people’s project. I noticed that a lot of people were very creative with their project and I think they did very well in their final product.

Regarding my project, I plan to keep working on, even though I’m not required. The reason why I would like to do this is because I know that the subject that I’m treating in my project is very delicate and it needs a lot of work. I know that the time constraint and my skills were a limitation for this project. However, if I don’t have any requirements to be completed, I’ll have more time to work on this on my own pace.

According to Salen & Zimmerman (2005), in the design of games, there are three parts that defines this process such as: context, designer and meaning. Regarding this fact, I believe that the role of the designer is essential for the process of developing a game. During the process of the developing my game, I realized that designing a game is not an easy task since I have faced problems not only during the design process, but also during the development phase. Another thing that I realized while reading this article is the importance of engaging players in the context. However, the context needs to be very well-elaborated. Barab et al (2007) have pointed in his study the relevance of balancing the context/narrative with the content; otherwise learners will be deeply devoted to the context, failing to appreciate the subject and content of the activity.

Regarding these points, I think my project has a specific context, but it lacks in the narrative part (story folds). Since this was only a prototype, I have been taking notes of every single detail that I should make to the project in the future.

This semester was not my best, but I’m really glad that I was able to have my project done for showcase.

Reference

Barab, S., Sandler, T., Heiselt, C., Hickey, D., & Zuiker, S. (2007). Relating narrative, inquiry,
and inscriptions: Supporting consequential play. Journal of Science Education &
Technology, 16(1), 59-82.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2005). Game design and meaningful play. In J. Raessen & J. Goldstein (Eds.), Handbook of computer game studies (pp.60-79). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.