Exercise 1.5: Your Childhood

Exercise 1.5: Your Childhood - List ten games you played as a child; for example, hide and seek, four square, tag, etc. Briefly describe what was compelling about each of those games.

1. Sorry!
   It was fun to try to get all of my pieces home before my siblings did, and it was so satisfying to send one of their pieces back to start when they were just a few squares away from their safety zone
2. Monopoly
   It was fun to compete with my siblings, and to see the horrified looks on their faces when they landed on boardwalk with hotels
3. Pokemon (Emerald Version)
   Building and training my team, stopping Team Aqua and Team Magma, catching legendaries, defeating the Elite Four and Champion - it was entertaining and engaging throughout.
4. Chrono Trigger
   The story was engaging and emotional, the characters were surprisingly relatable, the battle system was dynamic and intuitive, the soundtrack was beautiful.
5. Super Smash Bros
   Every battle is different, every character unique, and the items made battles that much more fun.
6. Minesweeper
   The strategy involved and the randomized boards made this game entertaining and compelling.
7. Settlers Of Catan
   The board was different every time, and each game took unique turns that ensured that every game was entertaining.
8. Tag
   We got to run around and not get yelled at. What's not to love?
9. Hide and Seek
   The suspense of waiting to see if you were found, waiting as the seeker passes your hiding spot. The tension and suspense makes it compelling
10. Pac-Man: Adventures in Time
    It's a new twist on the classic Pac-man, with unique boards and entertaining cut scenes.

Exercise 1.2: D.O.A.

Exercise 1.2: D.O.A. - Take one game that you've played that was D.O.A. By D.O.A., we mean “dead on arrival” (i.e., a game that’s no fun to play). Write down what you don’t like about it. What did the designers miss out on? How could the game be improved?

       One game that I have played that was D.O.A. is Chrono Cross (PlayStation). I didn't like the battle style, and the soundtrack was good, but not very memorable. What I disliked the most about it, though, was that while it was supposedly a sequel to Chrono Trigger (SNES), it was almost like a stand-alone game. It didn't feel like a sequel. The tie-ins with its predecessor were few and far between until the very end of the game; it had 45 playable characters, none of whom received any significant character development (compared to 7 playable characters in Chrono Trigger, all of whom were well developed and unique); The battle sequences were awkward, confusing, and boring. The soundtrack was good, but didn't leave a lasting impression. The story-line was almost impossible to follow unless the player carefully read all text, played Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers (which never saw the light of day outside of Japan) before playing Chrono Cross, and even then many players still can't understand the plot.

       The designers missed out on tie-ins with Chrono Trigger, and also should have made the battle system more navigable and sensible. They should have had fewer characters and more character development, a clearer story-line and plot, and it needed to have shorter loading screens (although that was mostly because of the system itself, not the game).