Choose a game that you've played recently or are familiar with, and describe the most important verbs in the game, with a focus on how the game develops these verbs. How is each of these verbs introduced to the player? How does the player learn to use the verb? How does the verb develop? Are there moments in the game in which the player has to use the verb more carefully, with precise timing or

Question

more nuanced decision-making? What about combinations of verbs? When and how does the player learn about or experiment with using verbs together, and what role does each verb play in shaping the player's experience?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Play some games made with Knytt Stories, the game-creation tool described at the end of Chapter 3 . These could be games created in your class or one of the many free Knytt Stories games you can find online. Pick one of your favorite moments from playing, and make some notes on exactly what elements of Knytt Stories (objects, power-ups, enemies, save points, foreground and background decorations, and so on) were used to help create that moment. Next, make your own story with the editor, and see if you can do all of the following:
• Introduce the elements that the player needs to understand to create the kind of moment that you picked. This might be one or two objects, or it could involve multiple objects and the dynamic interactions between them and the avatar.
• Create a moment of inversion or unexpected change in your story. Do something surprising that the player doesn't expect, in which the shape of the game turns around or alters.
• Create a scene that uses layering of objects to produce a more complex situation in which different visual elements or object behaviors overlap and intersect.