Failure and success are extremely subjective concepts. Many people have the mentality of the "Success Ultimatum" meaning that you either succeed, or you fail. Success doesn't have a set meaning, and neither does failure. The measurement of each is changes completely from person to person, and more importantly, from situation to situation. For example, while working on on a paper, you decide you aren't going to finish a particular section of it. Is this a failure? Well, it matters. Would you say that its a failure if you had been working on this paper for the last 3 weeks, and its due the next day, and you've already been working on it for the last 5 hours and need to sleep? You'd say that its a success that you've made it that far. Except, you've done this before, multiple times, and the only reason you didn't finish it this time is because of distractions. That would be a failure, allowing yourself to be distracted, right? Or is it still a success for making it as far as you did? So, in this complex web that is the definition of failure and success, and the difficulty that is deciding what failure and success is for you, why on earth would you concern yourself with the opinion of others? Its like trying to find your way through the darkness, but on a tightrope while juggling plates that are covered in spikes. What you need to do is analyze each situation, and based on how well you were expected to do, how difficult the job was, what environment you worked in, and what you expected of yourself, and determine from there if you succeeded or not. And remember, don't let other people tell you if your a success or not. You determine your failures. I, personally, consider myself to be a success. This isn't me being egocentric, I honestly believe, given my circumstances, its amazing I'm the person I am today. I went through a lot of hardship in my early years, and its shows in an acute sense of paranoia, as well as general distrust for other people, but considering what happened, I think I'm lucky to have gotten off so lightly. I define my successes right now as products that I put productive time and effort into, and come out shaped how I want them to be, whether its a piece of art or a term paper, but have also affected someone else. I want what I put into this world to make people feel emotion, be it joy or depression, I want people to feel emotions that I purposefully evoke. Failure has allowed me to know where my boundaries are, and what needs to be pushed so that I can achieve my goals. Currently I'm working on improving my art skills to expand to the visual world. 10 years from now, I hope to be working in a stable job, doing what I love, which is bringing out emotion in people. First, I've got to improve my art skills so that I can have at least some basic understanding in that field, but then I've got to sharpen and focus my writing skills, as the particular job I want to go into is story design. I'll write stories, then use my knowledge of art to help the more advanced artists translate my work into a way that can be used in a video game, be it visually or audio.
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The gaming expo was an extremely informative experience for me, and hopefully my peers as well. I learned a lot pertaining to local industries, both gaming and IT, and what it takes to get into them. The Triangle is thriving with both gaming and IT industries, most notably Red Storm and IBM, and all of them are looking for new recruits. The requirements are also set relatively low, basically only needing a relevant college degree and some experience in the field. The most important session for my examination of my future career was the Path To the Parks, because it really showed off all the new advancements and frontiers in both IT and gaming. Unfortunately, due to my fathers profession in IT, not a whole lot of new information was passed along on that front, but it was good to see the station where someone was teaching kids how to take apart computers, that's a good skill to have. I spoke with quite a few people, each of which were very enthusiastic about what they were working on. I spoke with a speaker who was working with emergency response dogs, both training the dogs to work in they field but also designing vests of sensors to allow the people back at base a more in depth idea of the surroundings. Another panel was about small, extremely cheep rovers that you can 3D print, and another was about Bit Coin. I find it interesting that they had Bit Coin there, as it really isn't directly related to IT or gaming, but it is the largest electronic currency system to date, and it has a very large hand in the future of currency its self, so the panel itself was interesting, if slightly out of place. Also, the entire section on Robotics, while also slightly out of place, was extremely informative, not only on the process of creating robots and the effort that goes into them, but also on the possibilities for programmers, getting jobs in everything from IT to gaming to Robotics.
Topple: Players: Topple is designed to be played with 2 to 4 players this being constricted within the game its self, as there are only four different colors of pieces. The game appeals to its target audience, ages 6 and up, with a very colorful and simple game look, while still appealing to older audiences with the needed dexterity and, somewhat complicated scoring system. It also appeals to its younger audiences with a "Young People Version", which gets rid of the scoring system, and replaces it with a the basic condition of if you cause a Topple, you're out. The interactions between players created by this game is very PVP, as you literally steal other players points by putting your piece on top of theirs, turning into a stacking game between the two players, till both players run out of pieces, and then the last person to role just puts theirs onto of the tower and gets like 20 points. Objective: The objective of the game can vary. In the normal version, you try to get to the predetermined winning score, and avoid being the one to Topple the board. In the "Young People Version" (Yes, it really is called that) this is simplified to just avoiding being the person to Topple the board. Topple is a "connection game", as you score points by connecting your pieces in, much like in connect 4, except in three dimensions. And with 5 pieces, not 4. Procedures: An important procedure would be putting your piece down, as this can determine a lot of things, such as if the round as ended, if you won, if you prevented someone else from winning, etc. The starting action is rolling the die to see who will go first. Some progressive actions would be rolling the die to see where you can put your piece on the board, and actually putting your piece on the board. There are two resolving actions. One, if you put down a piece that gives you enough points to either meet or go past the winning amount, or if you put down a piece that Topples the board. Rules: Generally, the objects aren't named for you. You can call the pieces pieces, and the board the game board, and the die the die. However, they define the concept of Toppling to be when the board falls off its tower. A restricting rule is that you are only allowed to place your piece on the spaces corresponding to the number you rolled on the die, a 1 being placed in the 1 places, a 2 in the 2 places, so on and so forth, with the only exception being 6. If you roll a six, you may places your piece where ever on the board you want. Another constricting rule is that you have to place your pieces on the board. A determining affect in Topple would be if you roll a certain number, you can place a piece on those specific places, such as it you wanted to place a piece on the 1 space. You must role a 1 to place it there. Probability: A sense of randomness is added with the rule that you must place a piece in the places corresponding with the place you role on the die. For example, you could technically role only ones for the entire game, and only be allowed to place your pieces in the center. Resources: The resources are the game pieces. They are used to score points. They are useful in that they are the only means to score points, and the only way to win the game is scoring points, and they are scarce as you have a certain amount of them, and once you run out, your out till the end of the round. Though, everyone gets the same amount of pieces, so everyone runs out at the same time. Conflict: A sense of conflict is achieved when you want to get a line of points, but someone else also wants to get those points, so you must fight for them with the constant risk of Toppling the board. This comes into play with player experience because it can cause some very personal vendettas against each other for stealing that 20 point stack. Boundaries: The boundaries are both physical and conceptual. Physically, there are only certain slots you can put pieces in, and putting them anywhere else will cause them to fall off the board. Conceptually, you're only allowed to place pieces in the slots corresponding to your roll. Topple is a closed system game, as nothing you do IN THE ORIGINAL RULES affects real life. Outcome: You know when you reach a outcome when either the points are tallied up and someone has met or gone past the required points to win, or when the board falls over. Cootie: Players: Cootie is a game for 2 to 4 people, with an intended audience of 3 and up. It appeals to its audience with colorful and easy to construct pieces,and extremely easy rules. Though, it panders more to the younger end of its age spectrum. It creates a player interaction of PVP, as you race the other players to create you Cootie first. Objective: The objective of Cootie is to create your Cootie before the other players do. This makes Cootie fall into the category of race games, as you race each other to build your Cootie. Procedures: Some important procedures include rolling the die and putting the pieces together to create your Cootie. The starting action is rolling the die to see who goes first. Some progressive actions are rolling the die to see what new piece you can put on your Cootie, and putting said piece onto your Cootie. The resolving action is someone putting the final piece on their Cootie. Rules: The different pieces are defined as different body parts, such as Head, Feet, Body, Eyes, and Hats. A concept they define is that you must role a specific number to get a new piece, which also happens to be the constricting rule and the determining rule, as it restricts you from say, taking a leg when you role a 2 instead of a 6, and its determining because you must role a number before taking a specific piece. Probability: Advancing in Cootie is completely about chance. You must role a specific number to get the next piece, and if you don't, then you can't advance. Technically, due to this, the game could go on indefinitely. Resources: Cootie has resources in that it has a limited amount of pieces, though this really only limits the amount of people that can play, as there is enough for everyone. They can be incorporated into game play if more then the recommended players are playing, thus making it so that you must not only race to complete your Cootie, but you must race to get a piece before it runs out. The pieces are useful in that you must gather them to win, and scarce in their limited numbers, and their difficulty to get, as you must role the specific number to get them. Conflict: A sense of conflict is created as players race to build their Cootie first. This effects player experience as it (when you actually care about winning, which for older players you really don't as its a very kid game) creates a very personal conflict, as you are directly racing with the person sitting next to you. Boundaries: Boundaries are procedural, as to proceed you must role a specific number, and if you don't you have to wait. I suppose they could be physical, if you were so weak you couldn't put the pieces together, but that's really stretching it. Outcome: You know the game is over once someone has successfully created a Cootie, meaning that they have gotten every piece and put it onto the body piece. Cootie V.S. Topple Both Cootie and Topple create a very personal conflict between players, Cootie in the race to build your Cootie before everyone else, combined with the excruciatingly painful process of sitting there, turn after turn, trying to role the specific number you need to get the next piece. Topple in your ability to steal points from each other by putting your pieces on top of each other. Both also, even though they are targeting a young audience, can be enjoyable for older players, especially Topple. In contrast however, Topple is a much more skill based game, with basic strategical planning needed to score points, as well as taking into account trying to keep the board from Toppling on your turn, and potentially setting it up to Topple on the enemies turn. Cootie, you roll the die, you either get the piece or you don't. Of course, being from completely different genres, Cootie being a building/race game that kinda teaches you about biology (Sorta? Like, you know where the legs go. Sticking straight out on the side of the body. Idk. Just, just forget that one.) and Topple being a 3d Connect 4 with 5 pieces not 4, you wouldn't expect them to have a lot of similarities, but the player interaction is actually very similar, where it ends up with you absolutely hating everyone you play with, in Cootie because you've been rolling over and over and over again for one last piece, and the person next to you just gets piece after piece and finishes before you, and in Topple because the one person just has to put their piece on that combo you had been working on, nearly knocking over the board like 5 times in the process, and they just plonk a piece on it and all your points are gone, and they don't even get all that many points because they didn't have any pieces in the combo, they just did it because they know your out of pieces and you can't take it back. Tryhards. Summary: Both of these games are just plain enjoyable for me just because of the interactions you have with your fellow players. The game play its self isn't very special or engaging, but they interactions it forces out are fun, and will either bring you all together, or make you hate each other. Or an odd combination of the two. Anyways, wither these interactions were intentional or not, it really makes it so that older audiences can enjoy this. For kids, its simple enough to not fry their little brains, and has points of randomness they can feel good about, and all of it is wrapped up in a colorful, difficult to swallow (literally, not figuratively) package. All in all, Cootie and Topple both had a surprising amount of enjoy-ability for being designed for little kids, and are actually well designed for said little kids. |
AuthorI am 17 years old, and currently enrolled in Durham School of the Arts. Within the Game Design field, I'm looking to become a game writer or a programmer, preferably a combination of the two.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public School Archives
June 2018
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