How did your group get started?
We got started in the process of creating The Game of Parsons by individually working on a mind map to help brainstorm a timeline of how we were able to get to Parsons. While we were in our group we shared each others stories, and memories. We were able to incorporate individual experience as a whole by emphasizing each of our past and present memories onto 6 different game cards. We came up with bad luck, good luck, discouragement, mystery, help from others, and working hard. Furthermore we each personalized our own game pieces. For Elvia’s game piece she chose to make a worry doll. In Guatemalan culture worry dolls are used to help a person rid themselves of anxieties by transferring their worries to the doll; she felt that this embodied her college experience well because of her anxiety about her future. For Laurie’s game piece she chose to make a handbag. The significance of her handbag was reminiscent of her at the age of 13 when she decided that she would carry her portfolio around with her all of the time. For Alex’s game piece, he made a soccer ball which signified his love for soccer and how playing soccer throughout his entire life taught him so many life skills such as team work, working hard, and perseverance.
What did you do to help contribute to the making of the game?
For the design elements I was able to create the game title using Adobe Photoshop. I was inspired by the game title, The Game of Life. I communicated with my group about recreating our game title to look like something similar and I was successfully able to create our title. In addition, I helped make the draft outline of the game board. By this I mean I helped to make the final decision on the layout of the game.Lastly, I photographed the process of the game board from when my partner and I worked on the game board in Stuyvestant art room, and I was able to provide the colorful markers and pencils to help decorate the game.
How did your group respond to the assessment?
We revised our game board instructions. In our instructions we made a more clear point system to show exactly how many points you would need to achieve to win the game. During actual gameplay it became obvious that our original point system would take too long for the game to remain interesting, and other groups confirmed this by saying that our “point system seemed off”. Additionally we chose to make the point system optional so that players could customize their experience with the game. Other comments we received explained that the game was “too positive”; however, we chose not to change this aspect of the game. We feel that the positivity of the game encourages players to actually attend Parsons.
