In the second week of study, I learned about “game poetry”, a kind of short, metaphorical, emotional and symbolic game.
It does not take “fun” as its sole goal, but rather expresses emotions, perceptions and thoughts like a poem. It is more about allowing players to “feel” rather than “play”. Before creating a “game poem”, I learned five creative inspirations about “game poems” in class:
Strip away the inessential
Leverage poetic devices
Embrace ambiguity
Reimagine “fun gameplay”
Respect the poetic process
And I also made my own “game poem” and brought it to the class to show.
Title: Obsession
Emotion: Despair
Three adjectives:
Relentless
Youdaoplaceholder0 (Hopeless)
Youdaoplaceholder0 (Inevitable)
Metaphor
A person ignored all the warnings and admonitions along the way and insisted on moving forward. Eventually, he became part of the ruins.
In this “game poem”, I have set up several levels. As the character controlled by the player moves, the light inside the levels will become dimmer and dimmer, and the player’s body will also become redder and redder. I set up several “NPCS” to warn players, but they could only move forward. Eventually, I placed many red “bones” to symbolize the fate of those who, like the game characters, insisted on their own way.
In the second week, my “Game Poem” and “Obsession” began to be presented. After several classmates played, they shared their thoughts and feedback.
1.A strong emotional atmosphere
Many students said that they like the emotional tone of this game.
The gradual darkening of the environment and the increasingly red bodies of the characters make them feel a sense of pressure, inevitability and despair, which is very consistent with the emotions I have chosen.
Some students said that this experience felt very poetic rather than fun, which is consistent with the concept of “game poetry”.
- Effective application of color and visual symbols
The prominent use of red – warnings, NPCS and “bones” – is one of the elements most frequently mentioned by the students.
They believe that red is a strong metaphor for danger, obsession and corruption.
The gradual dimming of light is also described as a visual information transmission, which enables the game theme to be conveyed without the use of text.
- Game metaphor
My classmates expressed their great fondness for the metaphors contained in my “game poem” :
A person ignored all the warnings and became part of the ruins.
Simple yet powerful. They believe this is consistent with visual and game elements, which makes the gaming experience more meaningful.
Although most of the comments expressed affirmation of my work, there are still some suggestions:
1.More diverse levels of metaphor development and changes.
2.my classmates were very curious whether a plot branch could be added, even though the only “true” ending was inevitable.
3.Some people think that adding sounds will enhance the intensity of emotions.
All these suggestions can help me improve my work.