Word Cloud: What Makes a Good Game

We began our Game Design camp with some introductions and some talk about what makes a good game. This is an important focus because we are hoping that the video games they end up making in the four days they are with us have some coherence and playability to them, and are not just games tossed together. The phrase “story backbone” is something Tina and I emphasized with the kids on the first day of our camp, which was a great four hours of excitement and play and just pure teenage boy energy (The camp is all boys, 14 of them, which is somewhat unfortunate, I think. We were hoping for a few girls, although these boys are pretty cool.)

On a notecard, we had them write out their top three favorite games (most of which I had never heard of, but I didn’t tell that to them), and then on the other side of the card, they wrote out three or so qualities of a good game. I had them think about what makes them want to come back to play a game again and again.

This word cloud captures the main ideas and I have to say, I love that Story/Plot came up a few times. I think they realize that a narrative hook is necessary for a good game.

Peace (at the camp),
Kevin