J1: Hello World!

So... two games I've played....
First is Flux, a card game in which the cards decide the rules of the game. The game starts with only two rules: 1) you draw one card every turn and 2) you can play one card every turn. There are 4 (kinda 5) different kinds of cards in the deck: keepers, goals, rules, action, and creepers. Keepers are cards that you play and just hold in front of yourself. Goals allow you to win the game if you fulfill the conditions on them (usually have keepers x and y). Rules add more rules or change rules in the game. Action cards cause various actions such as destroy a creeper of steal a keeper. Creepers must be played as soon as you get one, and they prevent players from winning the game. Players take turns and simply follow the rules that other people have played until someone fulfills the current goal.

The second game is Osu!, a rhythm game in which the player has to click on circles on screen in rhythm with the song. Players can download "beatmaps", which are songs with the accompanying circles, that other users have created and placed on the internet. Gameplay is pretty straightforward, but varying difficulty levels on the beatmaps keep the game interesting and let you play for a long time without getting tired. Also, the user generated content in the form of downloadable beatmaps means that there are songs that almost anybody would enjoy.

From the introduction, I thought that the line "young people in the United States spend an average of 20 minutes per day playing video games" was interesting. Honestly I thought that the number would be higher and it surprised me a little.

From chapter 1, I liked the line "No rule is set in stone. No technique is absolute. No scheme is the right one." This line makes me think about the development process of some of my favorite games and how, at one point in time, the games may have been very different. I know for a fact that 007 GoldenEye was almost released without the multiplayer part, even though that ended up revolutionizing shooters.

From chapter 2, the line "When you play a game, you set the rules of life aside and take up the rules of the game instead." really stood out. I think it's really cool how you can create an entirely new universe for people to jump into and share in your own fantasies.