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The game Coin Runner is a fun, easy to learn, arcade style game that depends mainly on the player’s own skill. The first area where the player must be skilled is with the bombs. The bombs are thrown up from the bottom of the screen and gravity causes them to fall back down. The player must try to avoid clicking on the bombs, otherwise they will have a point penalty. The second area where the player must be skilled is with the coins. Like the bombs, the coins are thrown up from the bottom of the screen and gravity causes them to fall back down and off of the screen. To do well in this area of the game the player must have a good eye and good reflexes. They must be very quick to spot and click the coins on the screen before they fall. Two things are affected by the player’s ability to click on the coins before they disappear: the number of lives the player has and the score. The player has a limited number of lives available. If the player misses a coin and it falls off the screen they lose a life. Once the player loses all of their lives, the game ends. If the player is able to click on the coin before it falls, it is removed from the screen and the player’s score increases. The goal of the game is to click on the coins and gain as many points as possible before the game ends. 

Clicking the coins may be a difficult thing to do due to the small size of the coins, as it is easy to miss clicking on them. It may also be difficult if the coins overlap with a bomb. If the coin and bomb overlap, the player can risk clicking the bomb and lower their score or they can wait and risk missing the coin entirely. I found this an interesting part of the game as I was forced to make a split second decision on whether I would risk lowering my score or my number of lives. Another reason it may be difficult to click on all the coins is due to timing of when new bombs and coins are thrown up onto the screen. It is possible if the player is not quick about clicking the coins that they may have coins from a previous round of bombs and coins on the screen when a new round appears. This causes more coins to be on the screen than the player may be able to handle. 

 The difficulty of this game also depends on what the player uses to play this game. When I first played Coin Runner I did not have my computer mouse with me and used my laptop’s trackpad instead. Like the game description suggested, this added a whole new level of difficulty. Using the laptop trackpad I had to work a lot harder just to move the pointer to where I wanted it to go and I had to try harder to be able to click on the coins before they fell. Until I was able to use an actual mouse, I died very quickly every time I played. Once I got a chance to use my computer mouse it was a lot easier and I was able to last longer.

The game Burger Tetris is a nice callback to the classic game Tetris. Both games have the same basic rules and player actions. This game begins easily enough with the player being presented with a unique shape that slowly moves towards the bottom of the screen. The player has options for what they can do with this shape. They can rotate it in 90 degree increments and move it from left and right. How to do this is a bit unclear as there are no instructions for how to do so. The player must instead use trial and error to find out how to rotate and move the shapes. This is not too difficult to find out however, especially if one is familiar with how the original game of Tetris works. The player has a limited time to choose what they want to do with the falling shape, for once the shape touches the bottom of the screen or another shape, that is where it will stay. Shapes can only be moved from their final position when the player orders the shapes in such a way that they fill an entire row. Once the row is completed, it disappears from the screen and the shapes in the rows above it move a row down. The game becomes more complicated as the player moves further into the game. As the game moves forward, the stack of shapes grows higher and higher, causing the player to have less time to find where the best place to put the new shape is and how to figure out how to get it there. The game ends when the stack of shapes reaches the top of the screen. The only goal of this game is to get a high score. The longer the player can go without the game ending and the more rows they make disappear, the higher their score will be.

The uncertainty of victory in this game comes from the player’s skill in finding the best place for the unique shapes and the type of shape that is on screen. If the player does not have much skill in placing the shapes, they may place the blocks poorly and make the game more difficult for themselves. Poor placement of shapes may cause the player to become overwhelmed later on in the game as they are unable to clear the rows and the stack of shapes only grows higher. The player can become more skilled at placing shapes however. If the player replays the game enough they can develop this skill and become better at the game. While the player is able to improve their ability to place the shapes well, it is impossible for the player to guess what shape may appear next on the screen. No matter how good the player is at the game, if a shape is unable to fit neatly in the existing stack it will most likely be placed in an awkward spot. This placement may then make it more difficult to clear the rows and make future shapes harder to place.

The game Felinophobia opens with a quote detailing a large creature, a Cat-goddess, that seems to have killed someone. The next page then describes humanity's relationship with cats throughout history. This relationship being that even though humans seem to think cats are sweet animals that we allow into our homes, the nature of cats has never changed and they have never been domesticated by humans. The next scene then jumps to an entirely new topic. The player is now a detective hard at work investigating a case. These completely different topics may leave the player with many questions. The player may question why were these first two scenes included or what do these first two scenes have anything to do with a detective trying to solve a case. Why these seemingly different topics were both included in the game is answered later on in the investigation. While searching for clues a destroyed room is found. Inside that room is a table covered in scratch marks. This clue and the two scenes in the beginning of the game make the player’s mind jump to the idea that something related to cats is involved in the case, the player only needing to continue on with the game to find out more. The questions the player may have had at the beginning of the game and this clue serving as a callback to the first two scenes only make the player want to continue playing in order to find what the connection is between cats and the investigation.

Another reason the player may want to continue playing the game is because of the different options presented to the player. There are different paths available for the player to play through and different endings for the player to find. This encourages the player to replay the game with different choices.

The design choices in this game make the game feel more realistic and help the player feel as if they are actually in the game, trying to solve the case. The inclusion of photos next to the text allows the player to see what the developer was picturing when they wrote the story while also helping with the immersion. With the photos the player can more easily picture what is happening in their own mind. The dialogue system is easy to follow and flows like an actual conversation. Instead of a block of dialogue, the player is presented with a line said by another character to the player character. The player then can ‘respond’ to the character by clicking the link/the next line of dialogue. Doing so makes the other character’s response to that line appear underneath the player’s line of dialogue. This continues until the conversation is finished. This whole format makes it feel as though there really is a back and forth between the player character and the other character and that the player is actually involved in the conversation. Italics are used when quotes are used in the game and when pieces of dialogue are coming from a television and not a character in the game.

The game The Other Line follows the story of an explorer trapped inside a cave. The player is thrown right into the story at the beginning of the game by the use of text and of the opening scene. The text is written as though the explorer is talking to themself, letting the player know what they were doing before the beginning of the game. The opening then shows the situation the explorer has found themself in. The design of the opening scene does a good job in showing how dire the explorer’s situation is. The space is small and mostly empty with only the explorer’s bag, an old crate, a crowbar, and a large boulder that is trapping the explorer inside the cave. The player can move around the cave as they please, though there is nowhere else for them to go.

The story is continued once the player begins exploring the cave and interacts with the objects inside. The player can pick up the crowbar, which opens the crate and provides more items that progress the story. The most important of these newly revealed items are the journal, the bed, and the walkie talkie. Using the journal makes text appear in the form of journal entries, detailing the misfortune of another person who was trapped inside the cave before the explorer was. It is implied though these journal entries that this first person was unable to escape and died inside the cave. Using the bed makes time move in the game, allowing the story to move forward. The walkie talkie lets the explorer make contact with another person who is in a similar situation, trapped in a cave with no way to escape. Using the bed and the walkie talkie, the story continues. The explorer and the person on the other end of the line continue to have conversations as time goes on and their situations go from bad to worse. Eventually there is a final call between the explorer and the other person trapped in the cave. Here we learn that the explorer has been talking to someone who died in the same cave decades earlier and that this person is also the one who left the journal from the beginning of the game. This final conversation also opens up a small opening near the boulder that allows the player to move to a new section of the cave. There is where the bones of the other person who was stuck inside the cave can be found. The game ends after this scene, and text fills the screen with the explorer’s thoughts as they die next to their friend.

No skill is required to play this game as it is mostly story based. The player only needs to be able to move around the screen and be able to locate the objects that, upon interaction, move the story forward. Nothing in the game prevents the player from moving forward in the game, and most objects that further the game are fairly easy to find.

Prompt 3 - The core verb for this game is move. This is essential to this game because the game relies on the player moving around the screen and collecting mushrooms in order for the game to progress. The player is able to move from side to side and can also move upwards. This allows the player to move from platform to platform and collect the different mushrooms around the screen. The game reacts to player movement in different ways. If the player moves up, the game will force gravity on the player and the player will eventually begin to fall. If the player moves to a mushroom, the game will make that mushroom disappear from the screen and the player will earn a point. Once the player clears the screen of mushrooms, new mushrooms replace the old one’s in the same locations as before. If the player clears the screen of mushrooms enough times, the game will display a message. Of the different ways the game reacts to the player, the player only really needs to keep track of the way gravity affects them. This is due to the fact that there is a chance the player may miss the platform as they fall, causing them to fall off the screen. This is not a big deal however, as the player resets to the starting point of the game if they do fall off the screen. Another reason the player may want to keep track of this reaction is because they may have to restart their trek to higher platforms if they fall off a platform.

Prompt 1 - The uncertainty of victory in this game is due to the enemy bullets. These bullets move around the screen randomly and cause damage to the player if the player runs into them. If the player collides with the bullets too many times the player runs out of health and the game ends. The longer the player is able to evade the bullets without running out of health, the higher their score is. The gameplay at the beginning is fairly easy, with only six bullets moving around the screen. The movement of these bullets is hard to predict, but the low number of bullets and their slow movement makes it easy for the player to stay out of their path. The game becomes more difficult as time goes on however. As the game progresses, the number of bullets increases and the speed of the bullets grows faster and faster. Eventually the game reaches a point where it seems as though the screen is filled with speeding bullets and it is extremely difficult to evade them. As the difficulty increases, the player needs to be able to more accurately predict where the bullets will move and be able to move out of the bullet’s path more quickly. It is difficult to master these skills however, due to the game quickly speeding up with little time for the player to get used to the increasing difficulty. In order to develop these skills, the player most likely has to replay the game in order to gain more experience with the fast-paced gameplay.

Prompt 2 - The role the player has in Monkey Run is that of a monkey on a quest to find the King Banana so that more banana trees can be grown. Other roles in the game include another monkey who tells the player what the goal of the game is and what things they need to do in order to complete that goal. Another role in the game is a mouse who gives the player a prize for completing the goal and tells them how to end the game. The conflict in the game is the black spikes on different areas of the map that cause the player to go back to the beginning of the level when the player touches them. The game is a platformer and the player moves around the screen by jumping from platform to platform or by climbing trees. If the player misses a jump or falls when climbing, they are likely to fall on some spikes and will be forced to restart the level. In addition to jumping and climbing to the exit, the player must also collect resources in order to move through the different levels. One resource is a sword that is used to cut through the trees and exit the level. If the player finds the exit without having found the sword, they are unable to leave the level and must go back to try to find it. Another resource is the King Banana. Similar to the sword, the player must find it before they are allowed to move on to the next part of the game. All these pieces simulate a jungle adventure, with the player climbing and cutting their way through the jungle on the hunt for an important object.

Prompt 1 - For the most part the space is very open. The game is set in a village and the player is free to move around the village as they please. The space narrows when the player decides to enter any of the houses or the cave. The entrances and exits to these spaces were placed at the doors and at the mouth of the cave and the player only has to move close to them to enter and exit.

The player can collide with different things in the game. The first thing being the walls and trees. Both are used to create the barrier around the village, keeping the player inside. The walls are also used to create the houses, keeping the player outside of them and forcing them to go through the entrance if they want to go inside. The player can also collide with other sprites in the game, though they must press a button if they want to interact with the sprite. The player also collides with doors, the cave entrance, and the stairs leading outside the village. These triggers cause the player to be able to enter or exit the cave and houses and to tell the player what they need to do before the game can continue.

The way the space was organized and the way the player collided with things made the game feel very realistic. The player is able to move around the space by walking around the village and entering houses exactly how one would in real life. Everything felt very grounded in reality as the player was unable to move through objects and had to go through doors if they wanted to enter new spaces.

Prompt 2 - The player is given a choice fairly early in the game. As the player scrambles to get to work on time they are given two choices, run back and grab their briefcase or go without it to avoid being late. If they decide to grab their briefcase they are not given any more choices and the game ends with them keeping their job. If they go without their briefcase however, they find that the briefcase is needed. This leads to the player being given three different options in how they are going to get their briefcase. This choice is similar to the first decision as one option gets the briefcase to the player with no more choices needing to be made later in the game, while the other two options lead the player to having to make more decisions. Eventually there is a point where the player is unable to make any more decisions and they either keep or lose their job depending on their earlier choices.

It is easy to tell where the link will take the player as for the most part they do what they say they do, though the outcome may not be what they expect. For example, one choice the player has is to call their friend for help. If the player chooses to call their friend they do get in touch with their friend, but the outcome may not be what they expected as their friend is unable to help them and they have to get help from someone else.

The player is easily able to get back where they came from in two different ways. The player can use a back arrow to return to certain parts of the game or certain decisions link back to where the player is able to make a different choice for the same situation if their first decision did not work out. The player may want to go back in order to make a different choice if their first choice did not work out or the player may want to go back to see if they can find different paths or endings.

Prompt 3 - The design choices in Monster in my Bed really emphasize the story’s darker tone. The game has a dark background and white text for the most part, with the only color present being the bright red of the text links. These colors only emphasize the darker feeling of the story and make everything seem much more serious. The bright red is very eye-catching against the dark background and also contributes to the eerie feeling the story has. The font also adds to the serious tone of the game as it looks more professional. Text effects used for certain passages also contributed to the atmosphere of the game. For example, at one point a phone rings and the word ‘ringing’ is repeated, with each use of the word coming after a pause and the word shaking. The shaking of the word made the phone call in the story feel more jarring and added to the unsettling feeling the story has.

How the text looked also contributed to what is communicated to the player. Formatting cues such as bold and italics are used throughout the game. When these cues are used they grab the players attention and give the formatted words and phrases more weight. The text layout also helps communicate certain things to the player. The text is mostly laid out in paragraphs but there are some moments in the game where a single word or phrase is alone on the screen or is separated from the rest of the paragraph. These instances where certain pieces of text are separated draw the player’s attention to the text and makes what the text says seem more important than the rest of the paragraph.

Prompt 2 - One thing that I wanted to do when playing this game was to be able to make the triangles made using the triangle button a lot smaller. I was able to change the size of the triangle by moving the mouse around, but the triangle stayed pretty big no matter how I tried to resize it. Being unable to make the triangle smaller made me feel like I had to be careful when using the triangle tool because each triangle I placed ended up taking up a decent portion of the canvas. Though the tool limited how much I could resize the triangle, it did not limit creativity or the number of possibilities of what could be made with the tool as it is now. Even without the ability to resize the triangle there are countless ways to use it and make interesting drawings.

I feel making the triangle tool more resizable might be an easy thing to add to the game because the game has an ellipse tool that allows the user to make an ellipse of whatever size and shape that they want. I think the process of making the triangle more resizable would be similar to the process that made the ellipse completely resizable. I cannot think of a reason why making the triangle tool more resizable would be destructive or mess with the organization of the game, especially because the player can resize the ellipse in whatever way they want and that seems to work perfectly fine.

Prompt 3 - When I first started playing with the game I began by just exploring all of the tools available to use. First I played around with each of the brush buttons and just drew randomly around the screen to get a feeling for what each brush could do. While doing this I noticed that for certain brushes and for certain parts of the screen different brushes did unique things. After finding this out, I went back through all of the brush buttons to draw all over the screen to try and see if I missed anything the first time around. After playing around with the brush buttons I started exploring the keyboard instructions. While doing this I also tried to ‘break’ the game. I began by pressing the up and down arrows over and over again to see just how far the program would allow me to change the brush size. I found that there was no limit to how large the brush size could be made, and it was able to cover most of the screen if I made it large enough. Though I was able to make the brush as large as I wanted, I found that the brush had a limit to how small it could be made. After exploring each of the tools I then started experimenting with what tool combinations could be made. While doing this I found that I could make new brushes by changing the brush style and then changing the size into whatever brush shape I wanted to draw with. The game supported my play by having a lot of different options and some less obvious features for the brushes that made me want to explore each of the different options and how they could be used.

Prompt 3 - One interaction between two rules I found interesting was the interaction between the ability to push the crates and the ability to climb a ledge of a certain height. One of the first rules that the player learns is that they can push crates, and that it is vital for completing each level. In each level the crates must be pushed on a switch so that the player may reach the goal. Early in the game the player also learns that they are able to climb a ledge that is one block high. In a later level the player has to use these two rules together to complete the level. The player must push a crate to the side of a ledge that is too high for them to climb. Since the crate is one block high, the player is able to climb up the crate and up the ledge to reach the goal and complete the level. This interaction between the two rules was satisfying in that it felt as though I had to use knowledge I gained in earlier levels in order to solve the new problem presented to me in the later level. I found this interaction interesting because it felt like the logical next step for the game. It made sense that these two rules would be used together after learning about them earlier and seeing that some levels contained walls that would be too high for the player to climb. This interaction only happened once in the game, but I feel like it could be used again in later levels or even interact with another rule introduced in the game.

Prompt 5 - The colors, sprite designs, and sounds are essential for this game’s experience. The player is easily able to feel as though they are in a cold and icy landscape due to the white and light blue coloring of the walls and ground. The sprite design also adds to the icy landscape, as the penguin and fish sprites feel as though they belong in a colder environment. The sounds also add to the experience, as the walking and eating sounds feel realistic for a penguin walking around on ice and eating fish.

The writing in the game is also important to the experience. The game communicates its goal with a title card before the first level, stating: ‘Penguins eat fish’. The first level then shows a penguin and a fish on the screen and it is clear that the player needs to figure out how to get the penguin to the fish. The rule that a switch of a certain color freezes water of a certain color is not explicitly told to the player, but it is easy to see what one has to do in the first level when provided with a blue wall blocking the fish and a blue switch easily available. While the first rule was not explicitly stated, the rules that the player can move stones and that different colored switches freeze the same colored water are stated before different levels where each rule is first used.

I wanted to keep solving the puzzles partly because of the satisfaction from solving the puzzle, but mostly because the game was very relaxing to play. The goal of the game was clear and it was satisfying to get rid of the different colored water until the screen was mostly clear.

Prompt 4 - The text of Zombie game serves multiple purposes, one of which is to serve as dialogue between sprites and the player character. The dialogue is partly used to inform the player about different mechanics of the game. One instance of this occurs when a sprite tells the player that one of the blocks is different from the others and is hiding the way to exit the room. This prompts the player to search through each of the blocks, looking for the odd one out and moving on with the game. The dialogue is also used to simply have a game character say something about the situation or themselves to the player character. Another purpose of the text is to describe objects. Objects in the game that display text include when the player finds the different block and when the player picks up a brain. The text displayed when the player picks up a brain stood out to me while playing because the colorful text made picking up this object seem like it was an important part of the game.

The designer uses branches in the secret room in the game. Earlier in the game the player is told through dialogue that they will need to ‘fuel up’ on brains for the later confrontation with humans. If the player has not collected enough brains once they come across the humans the human will simply disappear. On the other hand, if the player has collected enough brains, the player will ‘eat’ the humans and the game will end.

Prompt 3 - This game is designed in such a way that the player is able to move back and forth between rooms as they please for the most part and is only limited to going through a single, one-way exit when it is necessary to move the game's plot along. The exits in the game are made very clear to the player, with most being arrows pointing to exactly where the player is able to go or is supposed to go to continue on with the game. The arrow exits in the Clawed Ravens, Doored Gryffins, Puffin Huffles, and Inner Slythers rooms move the player between rooms that seem to be right next to each other, with no time skip occurring. These exits also let the player move in between the rooms as many times as they like, giving the player time to explore the rooms and each team's dialogue thoroughly. This gives the feeling that the player is in a single building and is just moving between rooms to find information about each team.

On the other hand, the exits that let the player leave the room they are currently in, but not allow them to return to that room, move the plot of the game in a linear fashion. The first one-way exit is one of the player’s own choosing, getting the plot moving and molding the rest of the game to that choice. This exit and the other one-way exits after it seem to take the player to a series of rooms that are farther away than the previous two-way exits, and also seem to include a small time skip in between rooms. This gives the feeling that the player is taken to a completely different location than the one they were in before.