Experimental Game Design

zhao.yida

Pblind&J Game

by | Sep 24, 2024 | ,

Instruction

  • This game is designed for one single player at a time
  1. Cover your eyes with a eye mask and ensure nothing can be seen at all
  2. Touch, smell or use any other senses to feel everything in front of you
  3. Trying to determine which is which(including the tools you would need to make the sandwich)
  4. Find the bread and lay it on the cutting board
  5. Find the Jam and spread it
  6. Find the peanut butter and spread it
  7. Put the two slices of bread with spread together.
  8. Taste your sandwich

 

Material required(provided)

  • Bread
  • Water
  • Apple jam
  • Peanut butter powder
  • Spoon

 

Link to Presentation:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oyWSo9VXRoFq3RBi9OL-lc2-bG8TssTnuDS3W4zhtMs/edit?usp=sharing

 

Author’s statement

The game is inspired by both the previous class work and class activity. I went into thinking if we rely on our dominant sense, which is the vision, too much. Thus I want to design a game in which every sense except for vision will be greatly involved.

Along the development of the game, several changes have been made. 

To begin with, changes were made to the game materials: traditional peanut butter was replaced with a mixture of peanut powder and water (blended to become peanut butter). This was done to enhance sensory interaction. Since the peanut butter differs from the traditional one, players need to rely on their sense of smell to identify the ingredient.

Then the game process has been improved to become more precise and more controllable. Instructions should be handed to the player before game play starts while the game player should not have a peak on ingredients.

Through playtest, several feedbacks on the game have been collected: most players agree that the game achieves its initial approach and theme. It’s a highly interactable game for players to fully engage various senses. The limitation on vision encourages and helps the game achieve that. Before Yoko Grapefruit, I hadn’t tried to think of a game presented this way, yet at the end of game playtest and game development, it has strongly convinced me of its significance and playability as a game.