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Your Robot Best Friend is a game where you play as a small robot that is trying to gather some parts to fix up their friends. The game seems to take place in a workshop. There seems to only really be 3 parts of the workshop to explore but as the player gathers more parts and fix more of the robot friends, they are able to access more parts of the workshop. The game finishes when the player collects all the parts and rebuilds all of their robot friends.

The gameplay is the robot character walking around the workshop and collecting items. The player is able to interact with items that are highlighted in white. After collecting a specific item, they are able to bring it back to a person able to rebuild the friends. At first the player is only able to really collect items on the ground. Other items are shown to be up high and are said to be out of the player’s reach. When the player collects the parts to build the first friend, the player is then able to progress. With the help of the friend, the player is able to reach some higher areas to collect more parts. Also as more parts are collected and friends are built, the player is able to interact with more objects and progress through the story. One of the events that happens is that the cat will be able to tell the player the combination of a lock. Once all the parts are collected and the robot friends are built, all the characters will celebrate and the game will be finished.

The controls are simple as they are only the arrow controls. Walking towards an object will interact with it. Since interactable objects are white, they stand out from the background and are obvious to the player if they are interactable. The sprite work for the game is well done. Even though only 2 colors are used for most of the sprites, the tiles convey the scenery well. Objects are drawn well enough to be recognized and the background is not confusing to walk through. The small details in the background and sprites help set the scene and make the game more interesting. The game is also drawn with depth. It is not just a flat space the player walks through and each room looks like a room with three dimensional depth. Even through color limitations, the game is able to showcase a well drawn scenario. Even with the simple art style, there are a lot of details with the backgrounds and sprites. The other characters also provide understandable objectives and create a lively environment. The other robots in the game are allies to the player and help them with their objectives.

The game, “Your Robot Best Friend” is a neat game that is charming. The characters and dialog create nice interactions and make for a nice game. The artwork is drawn well and creates clear and simple visuals that enhance the engagement of the game.

In the game, Garbage Day, you play as a garbage collector doing their job. The game starts out as seemingly a normal routine for the garbage collector, but then the player encounters something mysterious. The player finds parts of a map in the garbage that they collect. Later on, they find all the pieces and then follow the map. By following the map, the player encounters a secret. It is not fully revealed what the secret was, but it seemed to shock the narrator. The player is also able to make choices throughout the game, resulting in branching paths.

The storyline is told through the garbage collector narrating their day, from start to finish. The garbage collector starts out their day with a morning routine and breakfast. They then head out through the neighborhood to collect garbage. As the garbage collector goes to each house, a sequence of repeated events happen for each house where the garbage collector ultimately collects the house’s garbage. The garbage collector also looks through the garbage and sees some of the items. Some of these items in the garbage catches the eye of the garbage collector. The main item that the game focuses on is the part of a map. At first focus was put onto that item, but then the garbage collector moves on and continues their routine. After a bit more of the garbage collectors daily routine, a week passes by. The routine is repeated and the player experiences similar events as the garbage collector. However, the garbage collector then runs into another piece of the map found earlier. The garbage collector is then able to combine both pieces of the map in order to follow the map to a specific location. The mystery of the existence of the map intrigues the garbage collector. They seem to be driven to figure out what is the map for and where does the “x” on the map lead to. After following the map to a location, the garbage collector starts digging and it is implied that a body is found judging by the description of seeing a hand in the ground. However, it is not fully revealed and the reader only really reads the reaction of the garbage collector.

The gameplay and story is engaging. This is probably due to the mystery that is shown. The unexpected mystery stands out from the seemingly normal routine that was shown at first. The routine is told in small bits with some times given to explain about which times were the events taking place. Images are also added to many of these events to help visualize what is going on to the player. These images help set the scene more and enhance the immersion. Another effect that enhances the immersion is the addition of sound effects. These sound effects add a nice flair to the morning routine and creates an interesting choice on what to listen to on the radio.

In the game, Garbage Day, the player goes through the routine of a garbage collector and encounters something interesting. The story is written to keep the player engaged and to tell an interesting story.

In the game The Shuttle, a recording is played that the player is able to read through. The setting of the game is a space and features a crew in charge of cleaning old ships drifting in space. The setting is well established with the space background and the explanation of looking through a space recording. The images included with the dialog also helps with the immersion. The images help visualize the unfamiliar setting. The first choice in the story is to decide who will return to get a scanner. Depending who gets the scanner, the story will split and different outcomes will be shown. The main storyline revolves around the crew finding a mysterious being in the ship and having to escape the ship. Depending on the player’s choices, the main character and the crew may escape. Or the player and the crew don’t escape. Other possibilities include a combination of the main character and part of the crew escaping or being trapped. These choices, along with the narrative and images, create a replayable experience. It was engaging to look through all the different paths and read the different outcomes. The sense of mystery and horror elements created an atmosphere fitting for the sci-fi setting. I think the mystery in the game helps with the engagement. Enough details are explained for the player to be confused but not all is explained so the player will get bored. Players may be left wondering what is happening and may read closer in order to see more context clues. The story is also written in a first person perspective which also helps with the sense of engagement. When the player makes choices, it is apparent to the reader of what the consequences are. These choices are especially apparent after replaying the game and reader through the other possibilities. The story also features a few other characters. Wagner and Simpson seem similar to each other, however the different story paths that feature the character are different from each other. When the main character and Wagner or Simpson meet the unknown creature, different outcomes happen depending on which characters meet the creature. The creature featured towards the end of the story also plays a major role. There is mystery surrounding what happened in the ship and what even is the creature shown. Because of how the story is told in a first person perspective, the creature is not given much information. The details of the story are told through detailed and artistic images of the scenes. They complement the written story well and seem to make it clear to the reader what is going on. The images feature the spaceship as dark and messy which matches the main character’s role as someone who is supposed to go to old ships. Because of the replayability, the game is able to tell a few interesting ways the story may end. It also features interesting choices for the player to make that causes different outcomes. The game overall is a well written short story featuring interesting choices and engaging imagery.

Prompt 3:

The core verbs of this game would probably be to forage or to gather mushrooms. When the player collects all the mushrooms as a squirrel, the level seems to be completed and the mushrooms regrow on other platforms. The game mostly relies on the player collecting these mushrooms. Although another action for the player is also to walk and jump around the map. The player’s actions do not really require them to keep track of what they did because they are able to visually see what mushrooms are collected and still need to be collected. An indicator towards the top of the screen is also given of how many mushrooms the player has collected. A verb the game initiates on the player could be described as regrowing. After the player collects the mushrooms, they regrow on other platforms so the player can collect them again. These actions are automatic when the player collects mushrooms until the game ends. The player does not really have much of a reason to avoid or prevent the game from letting more mushrooms grow. The game does not really put the player in danger and the game can be played at the player’s own pace. The game’s map has different areas that the player is able to jump to. The player needs to properly aim and time their jumps to reach the upper platforms with mushrooms. These upper parts of the level create a different experience than the lower levels where it is more of simply walking.

Prompt 2:

The game wants the player to lose in order to stop the sheep. The game throws obstacles towards the player. The enemies of the game are able to stop the sheep if the sheep makes contact with the enemies. The player must avoid these enemies to continue the game. The obstacles seem to be on a random path and spawn randomly on the right side of the screen. The obstacles do go from right to left and vary in their direction. These obstacles resemble monsters and bees. They seem to be able to stop the sheep but they also continue on if they miss the sheep. These enemies could be motivated to stop the sheep, but also may not be. The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible and to get a high score. The difficulty of this comes from the constant movement required by the game. The player is forced to move in order to avoid obstacles. The game does not provide anything to help the sheep, so the sheep must rely on itself to avoid the obstacles. Because of the nature of the game, there is not really a set path for the player. The player just has to avoid the enemies and is able to move around anywhere on the screen. There does not seem to be a helping designer as opposed to the thwarting designer. There are mostly obstacles for the player to overcome. Most of the interaction in the game comes from the player controlling a sheep that avoids monsters and bees.

Prompt 4:

In the game Alien Dungeon, the game seems to be about an alien trying to escape a dungeon. The space the game takes place in is a dungeon with some open spaces and some corridors. There are also platforms, ladders, and doors. The dungeon also seems to be populated with several aliens that the player could interact with. The main character is an alien who seems to be a possible prisoner of the dungeon and then tries to leave the dungeon. Before the game started, I sort of thought the game may have a sort of darker and maybe a spookier tone due to seeing the title screen’s name and how it is made of bones. The levels of the game sort of gives the vibe that the prison is underground. This is based on how I interpret the textures of the backgrounds and walls. The player also is supposed to climb upwards to escape the dungeon. With this context, I interpret the game to take place in an underground prison. Because of the aliens, the game could also possibly take place in space. The other aliens seem to be calm and do not seem to comment much on the dungeon. Other aliens seen in the dungeon seem to not indicate that they are also leaving the dungeon. Interacting and talking to the other characters seems to show the other aliens talking about random topics. The main character alien seems to be more emotive when the player makes progress through the dungeon and doors.

Prompt 1:

In the game, Jump or Die, the space is organized to be open and tall to allow for jumping. Some areas are narrower and limit the player’s jumping ability. This creates some challenge for the player and requires more precise timing for the jumps. Some areas are safer for the player to jump towards whereas other areas are full of dangerous obstacles for the player. These obstacles also create a challenge for the player. The entrances tend to start from the bottom and the exits are towards the top of the screen. While jumping around, the player may face some parts of the map that limit the player’s jump height, through using spikes. The player also may have to climb up some narrower paths and gain some height. Some parts of the levels are also wider and require the player to make long jumps. The player has to be careful with their jumps because they may miss a platform or land on a spike and have to start over on their progress. Some real world analogues could be how people may try to avoid snakes and animals for their safety. This seems to be a simple and intuitive analogue that translates well into the game. The game splits up the stages and the player has to walk through doors to continue through levels. The player is able to hit walls, climb ladders, and jump through some platforms. However, if the player makes contact with a snake, dog, or spike, they will have to restart the level.

Prompt 3:

The text is laid out with bold or italics formatting to emphasize major sounds like a gunshot or the floor creaking. These sound effects communicate a loud sound or a major action. For some passages, a shaky effect is added to the text. This effect seems to be added to when the house resident is shouting. The shaky effect could possibly be added to convey to the reader an ominous sound or feeling when confronting the house resident. With how the text is shown, the links communicate the actions the main character chooses when trying to escape the house. Text is laid out in small passages that describe one or two actions. The text is usually from the main character’s perspective. Either the main character is doing something or is observing something. Sometimes the main character is trying to decide on a choice and that is when the reader is able to select a choice. These choices lead to branching paths. The short passages sort of gives the reader a feel that the main character is moving and thinking through quickly and in short moments. The main character is moving quickly through the house while trying to not be noticed. As the main character moves, the passages describe the thoughts of the main character. The text color and font size has stayed mostly the same throughout the story which could indicate that the main character has a consistent feeling the whole time while being chased. With the way the passages were presented, the story conveys the main character’s struggle and thoughts.

Prompt 5:

It is important that the reader has the option to click because being able to click lets the reader make choices when the path diverges. In the story, the reader is able to pick several paths that will change the outcome of the ending. The main character has many decisions on how to proceed and the player is able to pick those choices. The main limitations are the outcomes of the player choices and how those decisions affect future outcomes in the story. The kind of words the readers are able to click on are mostly actions describing ways for the main character to become the prom queen. The story is sort of structured like a choose your own adventure book, where a passage will be displayed and then a couple choices will be shown. These choices are located at the bottom of the game and are highlighted to signify that they are choices. Because the reader is many of the actions the main character does, many words are highlighted and are used to guide the main character. When clicking on these choices, many verbs could be used to describe the main character’s actions. The main character asks, chats, and moves throughout the story to accomplish the goal of becoming the prom queen. These actions are the result of the reader clicking on these actions and the main character actively doing those actions. However the results are out of the readers and main character’s control. When the reader picks something, the resulting passage may describe events the reader did not intend.

(Prompt 2)

While playing the game, I tried out the brushes and drew scribbles to see what the brushes did. I drew lines and saw how the lines were. After understanding the brushes, I wanted to try to clear the board but I did not see an option to do so without resetting the website. Because I do not see the button that seems like it could erase the screen, I assumed the only way I could clear the screen was to refresh the page. The tools in the game were limited in that there were not many options. There are two brushes that have specific apparences. One brush is shaped like a smiley face and the other is star shaped. The brushes are able to draw specific shapes with one having random colors, and the other having only one color. A possible addition could be the same brushes but with different color options. These variations could also be expanded upon by having the brushes vary in size or shape with additional settings. The feelings I was having were curiosity and intrigue on how to use the brush and the possible drawing that could be created. Having more options could let a user create more with the game, however it is possible that people may prefer a simpler program because it could be easier to use or seem less overwhelming. Having too many brushes may not make a better program if someone just wants something small to mess around with and create a simple drawing.

(Prompt 3)

When using this program, I felt like being able to mess with the buttons and settings to try to create a drawing. I felt like I was playing with something because of how I am able to explore the settings to try to make something interesting. I tried to make lines with the brush quickly in order to see if the program could keep up. I also tried using the rainbow button to see how that would affect the brush. Because it was an art program, I did not really set a goal for myself. I just wanted to draw something with the game but I did not have anything particular in mind. I explored the program by pressing the buttons and then saw the outcome. The random button was interesting in that I pressed the button multiple times to see how the outcome changes. I only made simple drawings with the dots in the program so I did not share my creation with anyone else. I also did not really have a story to tell about what was happening when I used the program. My experience with the game was fairly straightforward in that I just messed around with the program and drawing random scribbles. The program was able to support my play though by being interesting to use and to have multiple brush options. These brush options made the game more interesting to use by giving the player the opportunity to press the buttons and to see how it affects the brush.

I thought an interesting interaction was how there were bad nuts that caused the player to restart the level and the ability to push multiple nuts at a time. The bad nuts provided an interesting challenge for the player to move through levels without causing restarts. I thought it seemed satisfying to push multiple nuts into the nest. This may be because it felt efficient to push and complete the objective in a short sequence. This action could be done in most levels and the levels seemed open enough for multiple ways for players to accomplish their goals. The action to push multiple nuts also applies to being able to push the bad nuts. Because of the ability to push multiple nuts, the player is able to move the bad nuts using other nuts. This lets the player move more freely through the levels without having to make contact and restarting the level. Without the rule to push multiple nuts at a time or if there was a more strict limit, the game may feel more restrictive or difficult. Part of what makes these interactions interesting is the amount of thought is needed to complete the levels. The levels seemed open-ended enough where there could be multiple ways to complete the level, but planning ahead is required to prevent restarts due to mistakes. The player may accidentally push a bad nut into the nest or get a nut stuck against a wall. Thought could also be put in to complete the levels quickly or in a satisfying way.

It seems like that there was a rule where whenever the action button was pressed, the sprites moved to the right. This was a useful rule since the goal blocks were limited to moving up and down. However, there is no way to move left so the player has to think carefully before moving the sprites. The rule is consistent so the player could think through their actions to accomplish the goal without having to make a mistake. The way the levels were designed was to make it possible to get stuck on the walls and have to restart due to not being able to move left. The player could get stuck and be prevented from moving up or down and be unable to reach the goals. The game required consideration for the player’s actions especially since the player was moving two sprites at a time and needed to move the sprites to goal tiles. However the player controls both sprites at the same time so the player’s inputs affect both sprites. Because of the synchronization, the player needs to take advantage of the level design. Since the sprites stop at a wall, the player could move one sprite without moving the other by having one sprite be against a wall but the other is not. Then the player could move the sprites to the left and cause the sprites to become more separated. This separation allows the player to be able to solve the puzzle of getting the sprites to their goals.

The game seems to have a lot of attention to the backgrounds and land portions. The details and business makes it seem like a barrier for the player to keep them on the river. The land is made up of several tiles to create trees and other vegetation. Many tiles are used in combination to create a large amount of plants and to represent their size. Meanwhile, the river seems more open due to the dark green. Some tiles are animated with subtle waves to convey the river illustration to the player. Interactable tiles are colored differently to make it more apparent to the player that it is something that the player can talk to or pick up. These tiles also contrast with the water through color and animation to imply that they are above or partially above water. When the buoys disappear, the player has to rely on something else to guide them. Two of the wave tiles are subtly different from the other tiles which helps convey a new guide for the player to follow. In the last room, the player is guided to land by a row of tiles that look like the shore. The line of shore tiles has one tile that is above the other tiles. This creates a hole that guides that player back onto land to the next piece of dialog. The designer does not seem to be fighting with bitsy since it does not seem like there is anything unusual and the gameplay felt natural for the story it was telling.

The colors in the game represent the night and spooky mood of the game. Having the low amount of colors feels like there's limited information and adds to the mysterious feel.The low usage of saturation and hue helps communicate the feel of the night shift theme to the player. The main interactable objects stand out from the black and greys with a white color. The white desk stands out so the player may interact with the desk and will read the rules the game wants to say. Having the walls and darkness be black seems to represent the limits of where the player is able to go. In the darkness of one of the rooms, a grey object can be seen moving. Because grey is close to the color black, the low contrast object is conveyed as something unknown in the dark to the player. It is interesting that doorways are represented with a black color, likely to convey an open black to explore. However, in the last hour the door is white. This door is similar to the locked door in the hallway. The game seems to communicate that the door in the last hour is interactable and a special event is about to happen. Grey is used as a neutral color that does not seem to stand out to the player. Grey is used in the floor and as an accent to the background. The player does not really interact with the color grey but the color is used to build up the night time atmosphere of the game.