Game Diary: GameFest 2.0, Super Hexagon, Rhythm Hunter: HarmoKnight, Dragon Quest IX, Analogue: A Hate Story

[The Rotation, a recap of the games I’ve been playing lately, is my weekly exercise to write for fun on a more consistent basis. Enjoy!]

“SUPER HEXAGON. Begin.”

The games I’ve played past week have been a whirl of quick blips in between after-work events and crunching for the September 9 deadline for the first round of assignments in the gamification course I’m taking on Coursera. (I hit the deadline but had four sections of lectures to get through in a week before I did—whew.)

The lectures are a bit of an entry-level introduction to games and mechanics (the main example that sticks out was the professor clarifying what a boss battle is), as many of my classmates have never played video games, but the syllabus and professor point you toward quality resources for learning more about the topic. I’d recommend it if this is your first foray into game design. If you have a game design background,it might not be for you, but signing up just to take a look at the resources links might be worthwhile.

Last Saturday, I went to GameFest 2.0, an event organized by the Art of Video Games exhibit at the American Art Museum. While it was more relaxed than the inaugural GameFest that featured Robin Hunicke from thatgamecompany and Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, that’s not to say there wasn’t a surprisingly inspirational game-related talk. Disguised as a historical overview of video games, the “Electronic Gaming before Pong” presentation by Don Daglow, president and creative director of Daglow Entertainment LLC, was a heartfelt retelling of the game industry’s growth, peppered with interesting personal anecdotes and capped off with an encouraging message of following your dreams and doing what you love. I highly recommend catching up with the webcast here. Stick through the Q&A. Don’s answers are great.

Anyway, enough talking about talking about games. (Yes, I meant to write it like that; no, you’re not having a stroke.) Time for games.