Week 4 - Our game was played.

Since our group was the only one that didn’t have our game playtested last week, I’ll finally be able to cover it now. Our modified version of Four Square did not go well, however, spectators did have some valid suggestions to it. It became clear that the balls we chose just simply did not bounce enough for the game to be played in a smooth way. Players of the inner square had to get down low during the game and it caused some problems with the balls bouncing out of the play space more frequently than we would have preferred. This caused the game to stop way more often than we anticipated making the game’s flow terrible. It did start to go better once we removed some of the complications such as other players, but we learned that trying to make a chaotic game on purpose really is just chaotic.

Now on to the subject for this week: I watched one of Mr. Animate's Sports Encyclopedia videos and enjoyed how simple, short, and to the point his explanation is. Air Hockey is the sport I chose to watch. Air Hockey is a simple indoor table game where two individuals compete. They each use a mallet to hit the puck across the low-friction surface with the goal to hit the puck into the other players, well, goal. It is as simple as that, you win if you have hit the puck into the other’s goal more times than they have after the timer is done. This is an extremely simplified version of normal hockey which consists of teams with multiple people sliding along the ice hitting one small puck into the other team’s goal.

“One of the things we find often in competitive games is yomi. Yomi is the Japanese concept for knowing the mind of your opponent” (Sharp, Chapter 3). 

The concept of yomi is something I have always considered when playing any competitive game with friends. I focus on predicting more than I should, but I find this aspect of competition really fun. Using air hockey as an example with this works as you choose where you want to hit the puck and going against what would be a normal move can often work out in favor.

Bennett Foddy mentions a good point on games where it matters how the game makes the player feel and if they have any motivation to play well. He may have been referring to video games, Air Hockey benefits greatly from having a clear objective. Hit the puck into the goal. This can make a player determined if the competition keeps hitting the puck away from the goal. This brings up the competitive emotions and makes the game a very intense and interactive experience.