Games Decisions

 

Image of Flow theory chart.
Source : Link

This weeks reading focused on core concepts of game design and the nature of “fun”. I read "Building a Princess Saving App" which gave insight into building learning and fun into applications, which can be be implemented into game design too. I read that games are inherently fun because game designers and their respective games hack into human beings fundamental learning processes. They are carefully tuned machines that exercise applied psychology. Games give the humans a set of tools which they must turn into useful resources. In achieving this, games rely on a simple technique, "Exploratory Learning". By definition, exploratory learning is; "an approach to teaching and training that encourages the learner to explore and experiment to uncover relationships, with much less of a focus on didactic training (teaching students by lecturing them)". In simple terms, the player is given a goal, they aren't told how to reach it, they can fail or succeed, and delight comes when the player figures out how to get to the goal by themselves. 

Another piece of reading I looked into was a video "The theory of Flow design" by Gigity McD. Flow is a psychological theory that we can adapt to our games to create challenges that are both engaging and matched to the players skill level, which in turn helps players stay interested in the game. Flow helps game designers make their games better in many places and have a solid framework for gameplay that is based on human psychology. Flow has a simple progression that game designers work with. Present the player with a challenge, which will put the player into a flow state, and then keep them in the flow state. Flow to game players is fundamentally when the player is immersed and highly engaged with a game, which I'm sure many people can relate to.