In class this week we reviewed the formal and informal/dramatic elements of game design. Professor Parks used the analogy that the formal elements are the engine of car, what keeps it going, where as the informal elements are just the shell of the vehicle. This analogy stuck in my head and was a great analogy to understand the concept. We began to discuss about the readings which we read prior to class, which dealt with the two interactions you experience in a game. Direct interaction and indirect interaction are vital for a game designer to keep in mind while designing their game. When we broke off into our group discussions, our group dove right into trying to focus on challenges our game has.

With every game we had some early flaws that were easily fixed in our group discussions. Some of our problems were that we needed to make value to the lower amounts such as $1 cards and $5 cards, so our game will not rely heavily on who has the highest cards. We also incorporated action cards. These action cards will allow players to change budget cards, cut in line, "get robbed," discounts, etc. This factor really helped improve our game. We briefly began discussing our dilemmas before our time had expired in our group discussions. I am sure we will pickup where we left in our next class discussion, and it looks like we are on the right track!