Design 101: More Than an Exercise

by Stefanie Game, Imaginetic Design Associate

^{At Imaginetic, our very foundation is built on delivering safe-to-fail experiential environments for growth, learning and analysis. We start with that process internally, embracing every idea, and nurturing the creative spark we all have within. We practice what we preach, as we stride forward, pushing ourselves as we push our clients to learn new things, and, at the end of the day, come out the better for it.
Here, Stefanie Game, one of our brilliant new designers, describes one of the ways we push the envelope to develop ourselves so we can deliver the best possible experiences for our clients.
–Tom Fisher, Imaginetic President}

As a designer new to the industry, I certainly have a lot more to learn about games. Throughout my day I am constantly exposed to new things regarding mechanics and design, but I start my day with the most rewarding (albeit, challenging) learning opportunity. I have been challenged to design a new game each day in 30 minutes for 101 days with no restrictions other than that it must be reflective of a (semi-) serious topic. At first, this was a daunting challenge. It was extremely difficult to come up with a new topic every day and then design it in less than half an hour first thing in the morning. 

The real difficulty, however, came when I was asked to come up with 101 topics and general design concepts for each idea within four days to then be designed every day over the following 101 days. As challenging as this was, I successfully chose 101 topics and made a design outline for each with topics ranging from historical battles and political conflicts to a game about Montreal construction. Having these topics pre-set is a relief, and I am looking forward to seeing them all come to fruition over the next few months. 

Each time I design a game and discuss my process, presentation, and the design itself, I learn something new to be applied each day after. For some games, I re-design the game to push it further, getting it to where I (and Tom) know the design can be. I am becoming more aware of the implications of games, the importance of word choice, and how to design games and track my thought processes more efficiently. I am also learning different ways to think and various ways of representing topics from diverse perspectives that may not always be considered.

This 101-game challenge has me pushing my limits every day, and what was once a daunting challenge has now become a highlight of my day as I explore my creativity and understanding of the world. I especially like the days where my design is not up to par – these are the days I learn the most. I get to talk about where I went wrong and why, and various methods I could use to make it better. The goal of this challenge is not only to see how far I can push myself and provide a learning opportunity every day, but it is also to have the 101^st game I design be better than all the rest. This challenge is a foundation for which I can develop ideas for later use, make mistakes and learn from them, and personally to prove to myself that I can do it.