FA16-Project12: Week 1

The game is trying to teach people the roles and process of a presidential campaign. The learning experience the game is trying to create for the player is about managing a campaign, and showing people how a few errors can turn the campaign around. The player has the ability to choose what to say as the presidential candidate, which is the dominant form of interaction the player has with the game. This supports the learning objective, by showing you how little mistakes can impact a campaign. This is a one-player game, that interacts with computer-players, that generate their own responses, debates, and acts to win the election. The goal is to be one step ahead. In the beginning of the game, you choose your style of candidate and have to beat everyone in the primaries. When you do so, you get into the presidential election and you have to basically strategize where you want to put your efforts into, as “turns”, as stated in the game, are limited. The objective of the game is to ultimately beat the other presidential candidate, in the presidential election. You have to put your efforts where you see fit, as time will be running out and your turn to make a move will end. The game objective reinforces the learning objective. The rules of the game include having turns in the presidential election, which limit you to putting forth only select efforts in pursuit of winning the election. They compliment the learning objective, because it truly gives you insight on the roles and process of a presidential campaign.

During the presidential election, you have the option to choose which resources you want to deploy at which state. Resources can vary from advertisement, fundraising, polling and helping your appearance. The rule of having money to govern where you spend your money makes it as realistic as possible, which further complements the learning objective. In addition, the rule of having turns or limiting how much you can do so also makes it realistic as no presidential candidate can have unlimited time or resources. Conflicts between players are sorted through professional debates and limited debate options. This game prevents players from behaving in an unprofessional manner, because it has a professional standard in which the dialogues are spoken. This can limit fun, because some candidates truly have no filter and may not be professional so it might take away from that aspect of a presidential campaign. The game ends in either win or loss of the presidential election. The outcome does not conflict with the objectives, as they were just meant to show people the process. The main character is self-made. In this case it was Usman Athar. Their motivation is to become the President of the United States. The challenges that are presented are the restrictions of resources. Limited resources can only take you so far. The player must learn to master the skill of responsibility and management. This game takes place in a non-fictional world. The general premise of the story line is a candidate that starts from the primaries and ends up as a president via the election process. The game is half functional in terms of you have control over what will happen next, but it’s not fully functional in terms of wanting to say exactly something specific or do something specific. It was limited to professional options. The game is complete; it includes every angle of a presidential election that I can think of. The game is balanced by having a computer-player go up against you and react to your every move. The game is engaging, especially when you’re losing to a computer, as it really leaves you in the hot seat to make the perfect decision as your next move.

This entry was posted in FA16-Project 12 on by .

About Robert O. Duncan

I'm an Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences at City University of New York, with joint appointments in Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience. I also have an appointment as a Visiting Scholar at New York University. My research interests include cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging, glaucoma, neurodegenerative disorders, attention, learning, memory, educational technology, pedagogy, and developing games for education.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.