Welcome back #datafam and a happy new year to everyone! It's been quite a year over at #GamesNightViz too and we appreciate all the support given to this humble community of ours. In 2024, we have had 95 entries across the four challenges we did, namely:
- Jan 2024 - With great power comes great vizzes
- Mar 2024 - The quest for the final narrative
- Jun 2024 - Cooking up the Spice of Data
- Sep 2024 - Press Start
There's a lot of great vizzes and while we would love to feature all of them, it'll take more than a blog post 😉. However we did review each and every one of them, to select our favorites, in order of published date.
But before you scroll down, we would appreciate your participation in the "Gaming Habits in 2024" survey we put out in Dec 2024. It's a short survey to get to understand how your gaming year has been, and it will be instrumental to plan for upcoming challenges (and potentially a cool viz for the #datafam).
And if you're curious... here's the #GamesNightViz's favorite games we played in 2024!
Ant says...
I played my first Role Playing Game (RPG) back in 1997, and little did I know then that it would become one of the biggest games ever made and that I would be playing an amazing remake of it over 25 years later. I loved the game originally and it got me well into RPGs, and I love the remakes (Remake, Intermission and Rebirth) as well, not only because of the huge nostalgia hit I get from them, but also as epic games in their own right! Roll on the final part!
Louis says...
Sun Wukong (or better known as the Monkey King) is one of the most iconic characters in Chinese mythology and his story was first told in the classic "Journey to the West". His journey of transformation, rebellion and redemption is at the core of the narrative and he is often depicted as one who defies destiny and Heaven's bureaucracy. This game "Black Myth: Wukong" is set after the events of Journey to the West, and the storytelling is just fantastic in it. It explores the blurry lines between good and evil (very much like the reality we live in) and his journey to uncover the dark secrets of the celestial court. It's not an easy game as you have to be nimble with your dodges, read your opponents' attack pattern and counter accordingly... but I absolutely adore this game and had so much fun with it!
Will says...
Most of my youth was spent on long car rides, sinking hours into Pokémon Yellow. I loved the team-building aspect—it gave you the freedom to pick strong team members or simply work with the ones you liked, and you could still beat the game either way. The game created great memories, like when your last team member survives on 4HP to deliver the winning move - the heartbreak of missing it! Even though it wasn’t built into the game, you could set your own challenges, like seeing how far you could get with just one Pokémon, making every playthrough feel unique.
Thank you in advance, keep vizzing what you love... and get inspired by our favorite picks for the year!
Will says...
Mario Kart is a super popular game but the character selection is a tricky choice, in fact, Harvey shares that there are over 700,000 combinations of kart. The viz incorporates world record data to guide players towards choices of speed vs turbo for different tracks. This is incredibly useful as it recommends an optimal kart combination that racers can adapt depending on their play style.
Will says...
Creating games in Tableau isn't easy, but you can show off great skills with Tableau. Replicating game actions with Tableau's interactivity, randomising games, and recreating the design of a classic game like this requires a deep understanding of Tableau’s advanced functionality. It’s worth downloading this viz to understand how you can bring these elements together.
Ant says...
I love the look of this viz from Hiroki Uetake, with the lovely chord diagram on the left and the jittered bar charts on the right. I like how whitespace is used to allow the charts to really shine!
Will says...
I downloaded Don't Starve on my iPad, and I did starve, repeatedly. I really didn't know what to look out for to survive the first night or stop myself from going insane (in-game). The viz highlights the importance of crafting dishes rather than eating whatever you find, providing better survival strategies. This is a great of brining your knowledge of the game with data to make a more enjoyable experience. Time for me to start a fresh game with a better plan!
Ant says...
This retro interactive pokedex from Brenda Chavez is right up my street – a fun design and lots of buttons to play with and loads of interactivity. Not forgetting all the useful pokemon information!
Louis says...
If you know how to play Mastermind, you'll also know how complex the code feedback is. Erica did an excellent recreating that using clever combinations of parameter actions and calculated fields. I highly recommend downloading the workbook and dive into it to learn the amazing engineering behind!
Louis says...
This brings back so many memories for me as I recently did an #IronViz submission on my gaming history. While unlike any video gaming art these days, Game & Watch devices were all the rage when I was a kid. Nagase artfully recreates the animation on how these games play, truly a work of art!
Louis says...
Spiritfarer is a very unique game that delves into the heavy topic of death and grief. One of concepts to make the game more colorful (and accessible) is with feeding spirits with a wide variety of food items. Shazeera's beautiful viz explores this during our Cooking up the spice of Data challenge and I am so blown away by the design!
Ant says...
This viz from Jane Kamata has such a retro style to it – and not just the text and backgrounds, but also the way the charts are stylised! I love how vizzing with games brings out these really cool themes.
Will says...
This is a great reminder of how thoughtful design can elevate a dataset. The use of the controller as a focal point immediately communicates the theme, even before reading the title. Features like customised tooltips enhance user engagement by providing additional details about the games, while the overview section at the bottom encourages exploration of other genres.
Ant says...
This was made by my colleague Kerry Elsworth, and I really enjoyed the personal story of her year in Board Games – I always find any viz that uses personal data really brings you into the storytelling. I also love the vibrant imagery and charts used throughout! It really catches the eye!
Will says...
I'm currently going through my own data-driven Pokémon playthrough and love this blend of personal narrative and data-driven storytelling. The game Run & Bun is truly hard, with only 32 players beating it. Having attempted the game the author then shares data on what a successful run looks like, helping the rest of us take on the challenge and beat this game. Also, check out #SecretsOfTheViz where Blake joins Louis in the 🎅Christmas Special to share about this wonderful piece!
Ant says...
I don’t know much about League of Legends, but this viz from Neoris Spain is an encyclopaedia of everything you need to know, and designed in a really cool way to do it with lots of interactivity!
So... the team couldn't decide on their favorite top 5, as you can see. But this is just some of the amazing work the #datafam community has done this year. We are in the midst of planning even more great challenges and enhancing our starter kit dashboard so stay tuned 😉
