Introduction

Hi guys! 

So my name is Rachel and I am currently repeating Year 3 in CDM after a tough year last year. I should technically be in 4th year with all my pals but hey.. not everyone's journey through college is smooth sailing for the 4 years. I also failed the Multimedia Development 1 module last year but had to repeat it again.. yes I am probably the only ever CDM student who is meant to be in 4th year but still repeating a 2nd year module. Shaun if you're reading this I bet you can't wait to see me finally pass yay! :)

The modules I'm probably the strongest at would be all the design stuff. Visual Design Fundamentals and Brand Identity Design were my favourite classes by far. Hoping to get into some sort of visual design job once I graduate. 

A little bit about me? Well I'm classed as a 'mature student' and coming back to college was one of the best decisions I ever made after working in horrible jobs for 10 years after I left school. I also live in Swords which is handy living close enough to ITB! Fun fact: I started a society here in college in first year with my friend called The Blogger Society.. it didn't really last too long into second year once the assignments and deadlines came along. And who'd a thought, I actually blogged for 5 years previous to coming to college where I ran a beauty and lifestyle blog called The Powder Room which got me some pretty cool free stuff and opportunities to go to events. So I should be good at this blogging thing then no? 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed getting to know me some more! 

Laters,



Rachel 

All About Game Design

One of the first things I learnt today from my readings was what exactly a game is classed as. A less analytical definition could describe a game as play activity with rules that involves conflict but this doesn't truly describe how exactly a game should work or be viewed as. 

By any standards a game should have a 'start' and 'end' and an objective throughout with rules on how to get there or how to finish or win the game. Games can be classed as a form of 'art'. There is also several different forms of games. These can be puzzles, adventure games, shooter style, role-playing games, etc and more often than not a game will have to include some type of story or narrative throughout.

Natural instinct of gamers is to play any game as the rules imply but the nature of some games can lead to more sophisticated gaming styles with heavy narrative and role-play, where your character interaction becomes so important in the overall objective of the game. This is particularly interesting where younger gamers are concerned, because they can engross themselves in this 'fantasy world' where you could experiment with individual personalities and actions in which you would most likely not ever come across or explore in real life. Of course where did modern video/computer games stem from? It was actually mainly board games.

When it comes to game design in particular, what exactly does it mean and what parts of the game is it referring to? Game Design is the creation of rules and in-game content. It involves the overall design of the game but not things like marketing, art, animation or programming. These are referred to as 'Game development' and Game Design should only be classed as a small part of the Game Development phase. So who exactly designs games then? These people are known as 'Game Designers' and they cover a broad range of skills and contain qualities that artists, architects, research scientists and educators all have within the industry. 

Computer Space. 1971 (first ever video game) developed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabne, who later founded Atari.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Space#/media/File:Computer_Space_flyer.jpg