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Game Decisions

The reading for this week discussed coziness in games and what we can do to make games feel cozier. Coziness will help your game appeal to a broader audience, it helps retention by giving players control over pacing while still maintaining engagement during periods of rest.

Coziness refers to how a game evokes the fantasy of:
Safety - Won't include danger and risk.
Abundance - Has a sense of abundance
Softness - Will contain strong aesthetic signals that tell the player they are in a low-stress environment.

Players seek to fulfill their emotional and psychological needs within games, so if the needs of the player are met they will feel a sense of safety and coziness. eg in the survival game "Don't Starve", food is needed to survive or for the player to feel comfortable. Cozy games help the player to fulfill their higher order needs.

Coziness can be affected by the following factors:
Extrinsic Reward - generates a pressing transactional need
Danger - triggers biological responses in the player
Responsibility - generates high priority need/ expectation
Unpleasant Distractions - distractions demand attention, generating a need
Intense Stimulus - anything over bright or loud
Distance - vast spaces create a sense of the unknown
Phobia Sources - anything commonly associated with phobias
Non-consensual social presence - a presence that is uninvited feels threatening
Confinement - small spaces feel controlling and claustrophobic
Deception, Betrayal, Lies, Insincerity - create doubt within the player
Opulence - lacks familiarity with a safety feeling

If a players lower order need is brought to their attention, they will shift their focus to immediately deal with the more serious issue.

Cozy Visuals
Adding warm and gentle colours such as orange and yellow to a game will sense of warmth and safety for the player. Warm-toned lighting of clear origin and low ambient lighting will also help to envoke this feeling. A small intimate space that contains natural materials such as wood, stone, wool, makes players feel comfortable and welcomed as these materials are familiar. Providing a window reminds them they are taking refuge from an external non-cozy place. eg rain and snow

Cozy Audio
Cozy audio is continuous and soft, the sources should make the player feel as if they can relate to or connect with. eg ambient music
Sound should have an identifyable source. eg waterfall, rain, gentle fire, non-violent storms.

Cozy Location
A cozy location can be a place where a player can decorate to their own taste or expression. These places should be places without danger. eg cabins, an Inn
They should also include visible places to comfortability eg sit, sleep

These design patterns will make any game feel a lot cozier if applied correctly, which in turn broadens the appeal of the game and increases sales.
I enjoyed reading this article, it gave me lots of tips about how to make a game cozy. I also liked the article because it made me think of all the video games I've played where I felt cozy.

Links of Interest 
http://www.lostgarden.com/2018/01/cozy-games.html
The article by Dan Cook for this weeks reading.

https://www.takethis.org/2018/01/think-tank-puts-forward-a-framework-for-building-cozy-games/
I found this article useful because it was similar to the one written by Dan Cook.

https://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/comments/5165yq/the_moments_in_games_when_you_feel_safe_after_an/
I liked this page because I was able to read other peoples thoughts about when games made them feel cozy.


A Cozy Place
   (Link to Image by PublicDomainPictures)








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