Note:

During the lecture, we first viewed two video clips featuring identical footage but distinct soundtracks, ultimately conveying two contrasting messages. The first clip retained the film’s original audio, rendering a tense standoff between the characters. The second clip employed suggestive music, completely subverting the overall atmosphere between the two individuals. This demonstrated to me how sound can profoundly influence a player’s judgement and experience, making it a crucial element in gaming.

The Perception of Sound in Two Games：

We then listened to two audio clips from different games. These were from Unpacking and Inside, and I believe the sound design in both titles significantly enhances the player’s immersion within the game world.

In Unpacking, each time a player taps an item, it emits the sound that object would make upon landing on a table in real life. Moreover, these sounds are not uniform; they vary depending on the material the item comes into contact with. Such authentic sound design significantly enhances the player’s sense of immersion.

The sound design in Inside delivers the same immersive experience, significantly enhancing the player’s sense of presence. What stands out most vividly in my memory is the submarine’s descent beneath the waves, where every ambient sound takes on a hazy quality, allowing players to truly feel as though they are submerged underwater.

Class Activity 1：

1. Creative Vision

I hope the music in my game conveys warmth, liveliness, joy, and cosiness to players. I want them to be able to close their eyes and imagine a group of friends playing together, surrounded by the festive bustle, with laughter and cheer filling the air.

I shall incorporate faint sounds of crackling fires, crackling fireworks, chatter and laughter into the ambient background noise. These sounds will help create a lively, joyful and festive atmosphere.

2. Sonic Mood Board

I shall draw inspiration from the background music featured in cheerful party games such as: Party Animals, Animal Crossing, and Cozy Grove.

Note：

Games are not merely the visuals on the screen; the controllers beyond the screen are also integral to the gaming experience. Players can use controllers to interact with the visuals displayed on the screen.

The form of controllers need not be confined solely to gamepads and keyboards. The lecturer demonstrated numerous specialised controllers. These controllers can be designed as steering wheels, musical instruments, telegraph machines, blankets, and more. Their appearance varies according to the game’s genre, gameplay mechanics, and stylistic approach. Such controllers, tailored to the game’s aesthetic, can significantly enhance the player’s sense of immersion.

Class Activity：

1.

Our team has obtained an image of a Switch console. We need to design the button layout for each control on the console based on the game overview provided by the teacher.

We are working in pairs for this activity. This is my partner; he is highly skilled at Switch games, so he has filled in this form using the standard Switch controller layout. My task is to review the entire basic controller layout sheet and incorporate my own ideas to make some modifications and designs.

In my own design, there are two alterations I particularly favour.

1. Walking and running are both controlled using the left joystick. Gently pushing the stick forwards or pulling it backwards allows the player to walk forwards or backwards. Pushing the stick all the way to the limit enables the fastest possible running speed. As the player pushes the stick further, the character’s speed increases progressively. The degree of stick input is directly proportional to the character’s running speed.
2. The right joystick controls the character’s jump. When performing a jump, the player must hold the joystick down to build momentum; the longer the build-up, the greater the jump height. Once momentum is fully built, the player must swiftly push the joystick forward to execute the jump.

Feedback：

I showed my design to a team member, who found it quite interesting. However, she felt this approach places excessive demands on players’ technical skill, meaning novice players might abandon the game due to the complexity of the controls. Furthermore, in scenarios requiring intricate manoeuvres, this design could prevent players from executing combos smoothly.

2.

Our Group UI Design：

Our group’s theme is the farm, and we wish to design a UI reminiscent of the Dream Garden style.

In the top-left corner of the screen, we have designed the player’s in-game currency balance. The top-right corner houses the game settings button, where players can adjust options such as sound. Our UI design remains on the pause screen. Thus, the centre of the screen features “Play” and “Continue” buttons. Above these buttons are player rewards, which can be obtained by watching advertisements. The left side of the screen displays the player’s reward mechanism: after playing for a certain duration, players can open a treasure chest to receive rewards. The bottom-right corner shows the timetable and other information.

Due to time constraints, our design was not comprehensive. Furthermore, we failed to clearly label the function of each component, resulting in other students being unable to comprehend our design. This also demonstrates that our design lacked clarity and was unable to convey our most coherent ideas.

Other Group UI Design：

I’m rather taken with this set of UI designs. They’re exceptionally clear in their presentation, making their intended meaning readily understandable. The page-turning mechanism is also rather cleverly conceived; I can easily grasp what content lies behind each icon when tapped.This design is rather amusing.