Play Journal
This is part of a journaling project for EDUC5550 - Play, Language, and Learning, a course I'm taking as part of my master's studies in digital media.
Over the duration of the course, I'll be adding onto this journal, creating small micro-games whose creation and play relate to ideas from our class discussions and readings.
Controls will vary from game to game, but will usually consist of point & click with a mouse or touchscreen, or use of a keyboard's arrow keys or WASD keys. (Gamepad should work too)
Comments
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Lovely. Had to play it over due to getting the bad ending :(
Ended up seeing the author's notes and having a better time the second time around.
There's a bad ending? 😲 I'd love to hear more about what made your experience worse the first time and better the second.
Well, there's a chance to leave one block buddy trapped forever. I like to imagine that they want to be together.
After closer inspection, what I had imagined as each cube's eye, could also be interpreted as a 2d weight in the hollow of the cube, simply moving around due to gravity. I guess the same could be said for the googly eyes at the end.
That said, something being made of simple 2d physics objects does not mean that they're not entitled to companionship. 😤
Good point! I like that the suggestion of an eye and a pair of them was enough to suggest companionship / seed the creation of a player-made goal to bring them together. I could make a small level design tweak to make it harder to leave one of the blocks behind - think I should do that? Or is it more interesting if there's a "bad" ending vs a "good" ending to strive for?
Perhaps this is my own preference, but I really enjoy mechanics that punish hubris. It's fairly easy to miss the button before the final fall. Games offer you the catharsis of doing it all over again. Something rarely afforded IRL. I think if it wasn't for that, I would have just played it once and not noticed the author notes button at the beginning. 😅
Further, I think it introduces a bit of agency, without that choice, I think I would feel like I'm just going through the motions set up for me.
All of that said, perhaps it removes some of the authorial intent of getting the player to experience the transition between avatars. That said, projecting onto Googly McWobbleLegs felt easier after feeling disempowered from helping cube 2 being un-stuck.
Sorry if this is reading too much into this.
Not too much at all. I'm grateful for the input, thank you! 😊