Entry 6 - Blue

This past week I developed and play-tested my card game Spade & Neuter. When developing the rules for my game I was focused on keeping it balanced and perfect where all players had to rely on some level of strategy to win. I went through multiple long and elaborate rule sets revolving around players using their cards as shares of a stock that was ever changing. Players could influence the market by dumping or buying in a larger stake. The concept was exciting, interesting, and to me it was the greatest thing ever. It was only when I attempted to explain it to one of my friends that it quickly became apparent, no matter how much I wanted to deny it, that it was much too complex and involved to be fun. My friend compared it to having to analyze a research paper just to be able to do competitive math homework with other people. As much as it hurt to have the idea that I invested so much time and thought developing turn out to be a dud, I knew I had to accept it and develop with an average player in mind. When it comes to card games most people don’t want it to take forever, require critical thinking, strategy, or be fair. People want a fast paced, easy to grasp, funny, luck based card game. From this experience I learned that sometimes I need to think less like a designer, and more from the perspective of a player. Thus, Spade & Neuter was born.

Since I first began playing video games I’ve been a big fan of the Call of Duty series. I recently played the Call of Duty Modern Warfare beta, set to release October 25th. After taking a break from the past few Call of Duty titles and coming back for Black Ops 4, I can honestly say Modern Warfare looks to be the most promising of the series to date. After making the mistake of eliminating a campaign in Black Ops 4 in favor of a Battle Royale, a brand new campaign is returning with the beloved Captain Price from the original Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2. The creators of Call of Duty, Infinity Ward, are bringing back a bunch of team members from Modern Warfare 2 to work on bringing back the same game feel that made myself and many others fall in love with Call of Duty all of those years ago. They have also completely overhauled gun mechanics and recoil that made the weapons seem to carry a realistic weight with wild and equally realistic recoil. It was both bothersome, but also presented a new challenge for veteran players that made the game feel new. Movement also feel much more battlefield-esque which takes some adjusting but I was very interested in how they were able to change the entire feeling of player movement through simple camera changes and that is absolutely something I’m going to keep in mind for future game design projects.