Simulation or Game?

 This week we play tested four simulations, here are my evaluations of each.

Space X

I didn’t really enjoy this. It was far to slow for my liking and the controls were very hard to understand at first. I tried a few times but was never successful, and it wasn’t until after the 5^th attempt, did I realize I what I was trying to accomplish. The first few attempts I reset because I never felt like I was getting anywhere. I think the instructions could have had a little more guidance as to what the actual process was. The goal was obvious, dock the ship, but there was no understanding of what that actually means.

I would say this was a simulation.

Sky-High

I liked the simplicity of the design for this. I didn’t like the instructions and the over abundance of information you needed to try it out. I was successful in that I achieved a score of 4, however, my game ended because I two aircraft came to close to each other!

I believe Sky-High is also a simulation.

Circuit Lab

I really, really like the idea of this. If I knew anything at all about circuits, I think it may be a very useful tool to simulate circuits or ideas for a build before building in real life. I did not like the complexity of the content, but that it just because I truly had no idea what I was doing. The interface itself was very easy and simplistic to grasp, which was nice.

I don’t know if I was successful or not because I don’t really know what the goal was??

I would classify this as a simulation as well. Like the other playtest, this one seems to be for practice of a very specialized skill set. I would imagine if I was in to circuitry or testing out different builds, I would find enjoyment out of it, but I don’t see it as a game.

Cell to Singularity

I really enjoyed this. I love the design and the simplistic nature of it and the underlying learning aspect is well done. I can’t say that I found any dislikes to it. I never met the goal, only because I didn’t have the time to dedicate to see it all the way through. 

I would say this is 100% a simulation game. The whole time I didn’t feel like I was learning anything specifically or practicing a skill for mastery. I was just playing a game with a leaning objective infused in it. I could easily see myself sinking hours into this, which for me is the idea of a game!

Overall I enjoyed testing all 4 of these and seeing the difference in each. Some were better than others, with only one of them being more game like in my opinion.