1. D15 – Bellringer! Be ready to present! Novelty Challenge Stimulation
Of the 5 Play Value Areas, pick as a table a game of your choice, and then work together to explain how it matches one or more of these areas:
Novelty
Challenge
Stimulation
Harmony
Threat
Be ready to present!

2. Thematic Elements
Review: What is theme? What benefits are there to having a defined theme? (see p. 33)
Engagement increases!
Easier to Learn; a theme helps make more complicated rules, etc. easier to learn and categorize.
Tell a Story! A theme creates a story, with you as the main characters!
(p. 47) What types of stories exist in games? There are two:
Narrative Stories: These are stories that are written by the game designer / you. These can be modified by the players’ actions, and that is something you’ll have to decide is worth doing or not. It can be very rewarding however to have meaningful decisions be part of your gameplay.

3. Options Galore!
Option A: Read as a table one of the following sections of the text:
Stories: Narrative vs. Player Stories
Settings: aka game environment
Game Characters: Loosely Defined vs. Highly defined, created or explained to players
Play Sequence: Whose turn is it? Can we all play at the same time? How engaged are the players at any given time?
Level Design / Environment Design: How should the game space be defined? Should things be smaller / bigger / longer shorter? How will this affect the game experience? Good / bad?
Interface Design: This is how you decide to share info with the player and the between the players.
Next, create a slideshow / presentation explaining your chosen element. We then present those today.
Option B: We go thru it as a class, and then explain it to each other
Option C: Quietly read pp 47 – 49, then discuss it as a class.
What do you choose?

4. Thematic Elements, Cont.
The second type of story are the Player Created Stories. These are the stories that YOU, as the player of the game, create thru your decisions.
There are whole Youtube videos cataloguing these “stories” of players, recording their adventures, etc. (Example) Or, there are people recording themselves while talking about playing…ugh (example)
These can also be interwoven with the Narrative Story so well that the two seem to be one, and that can be a very rewarding gameplay experience, but also requires a LOT of work!
Other Elements that can affect gameplay:
Setting of the Game: this can change how invested you are in the game; a haunted mansion, for instance.
Characters: These matter a LOT. A loosely-defined character, such as Master Chief in the Halo series, is easier for the player to project themselves onto (“I’m Master Chief!”). Or, you can allow players to better define the characters themselves at the beginning or as the game progresses, like in many RPGs. However, well-defined characters seem more realistic, and can help us as players immerse ourselves in the game experience.

5. Gameplay Terms (p. 48)
Play Sequence is another element of gameplay. This answers questions such as “Whose turn is it?” “Do we take turns?” “Can we take actions at the same time, or just one player?”
This is important, because if you only allow one player to take action at a time, that can slow the game, and make it more boring for others who are NOT acting at that time. Try to keep everyone engaged, so that everyone is having fun!
Level Design / Environment Design is another important factor. This is designing the play space, whether that is a board, or the court, or the way that players interact. Example: three point line in basketball.
What if it is two far?
What if it is too close?
What if we get rid of it entirely?

6. Interface Design (p. 49)
Interface Design is the process of creating effective ways to communicate information between the game and the players.
An example of this is the rulebook, which has glossaries, tutorials, help sections, etc.