Current offering: Fall 2024, taught by Bernhard Riecke & TA Morteza Malekmakan

Join us for our Game Design Showcase on Thursday 21 November 2024 (details TBD)

On Thursday 21 November 2024, stu­dents from my Foundations of Game Design course (IAT 312) will show­case their final game design projects where they were tasked to design a (dig­i­tal) boardgame that is not only fun to play (addresss­ing what  Lazzaro  calls “People Fun”), but also “trans­for­ma­tive” or “pur­pose­ful” (aka “Transformative Fun”, what Lazzaro refers to as fos­ter­ing altered states): That is, apart from being fun to play, the game should also be meaningful/purposeful or add value by some­how chang­ing the player’s out-of-game behav­iours or per­spec­tives.  During the course, stu­dents reflected on topics that they care deeply about that could help create a better world, and designed a game to tackle that topic.

How to participate?

To par­tic­i­pate in our show­case, you have 2 options:

Join us on Zoom for a live-streamed (online) showcase, from 12:40pm - 2:20pm, using this Zoom link

Schedule: [draft]

12:40 — 12:45pm: Introductions from Instructor (Bernhard Riecke) and TA (Morteza Malekmakan), overview of the course and the projects in the showcase.

12:45 — 2:20pm: Game Showcase & team inter­view: Each team will be show­cased for about 10min, start­ing with the short project video pitch/trailer of their game (using zoom screen shar­ing), fol­lowed by Bernhard inter­view­ing team mem­bers and TA screen­shar­ing their game in Tabletop Simulator, while other class stu­dents will play the game in the back­ground so we can see life game­play footage.

2:20pm: Closing:  Final Q&A, audi­ence ques­tions, closing

Join us for in-person game demo/playtesting at SFU’s Surrey Campus in the Mezzanine, from 3 - 6:30pm

If you’d like to try out any of the games and/or chat with the game design­ers or instruc­tional team, join us from 2:30-6pm on the SFU Surrey campus, in the Mezzanine (up the escalator/stairs one flight), see direc­tions.

Documentation of prior course offerings and showcases from

• Spring 2023
• Spring 2022
• Fall 2021
• Summer 2021
• Spring 2021

Project posters

Details about the Games

Paycheck to Paycheck

Ever tried living paycheck to paycheck? Here is your chance to go through a simulation of the struggles and uncertainty that this lifestyle bestows upon numerous people in the world.

Website of Team 1–1

Razor: A game that allows players to experience the struggles of living paycheck to paycheck, where you have to balance your finances, mental health, and physical health in the stressful living situation, where resources are constantly drained and where you spend your time needs to be balanced properly.

Paycheck to Paycheck is a table­top board game in which play­ers aim to sur­vive as long as pos­si­ble barely making a living wage. Each player will have to manage their time between making money at their job and man­ag­ing their phys­i­cal and mental health by going to loca­tions around the board. As they go through their day to day and pay their rent, they may meet up with others and com­pete against them going to cer­tain loca­tions, they can also buy perks or cards from the market and trade with others. There are also major events that will take place at cer­tain times through­out the game.

1 minute game trailer:

 

Caring connections

Mindful Connections, Meaningful Lives

Website of Team 1–2

Razor: An uplifting therapy where players connect deeply, sharing their journeys and strengthening each other through empathy, encouragement, and shared resilience.

Caring Connections is a col­lab­o­ra­tive board game where play­ers role-play as indi­vid­u­als in group ther­apy ses­sions, fos­ter­ing mean­ing­ful inter­ac­tions to sup­port one another in over­com­ing mental health chal­lenges. Each player has a unique occu­pa­tion and mental health issues, uti­liz­ing sup­port cards and resources to assist each other in solv­ing tasks. If any player’s mental health dete­ri­o­rates sig­nif­i­cantly past a cer­tain thresh­old, they “die” from sui­cide, caus­ing a sig­nif­i­cant set­back to the remain­ing play­ers’ mental health as well. This dynamic empha­sizes the impor­tance of resource man­age­ment and the well-being of others, pro­mot­ing the sig­nif­i­cance of sup­port within the team.

 

1 minute game trailer:

 

Poached!

Save the animals or die trying!

Website of Team 1–3

Razor: A board game where you are animals trying to escape a malevolent poacher by gathering enough resources to make it to a reserve. Will you lead your animals to safety? Or will you be Poached?

In Poached!, you play the role of a family of endan­gered ani­mals trying to sur­vive in the wild. Players must nav­i­gate through a maze-like board, scav­eng­ing for enough food to escape the area with, all while a hunter approaches each player. Risks must be taken by going to or scout­ing out var­i­ous points of inter­est on the field, where either food or a hunter’s trap may appear.

 

1 minute game trailer:

 

Cost of Con-nection

Ring! Ring! Ring! Who’s this? Will the scams dial you up or will you stay sharp and keep the con artists on hold?

Website of Team 1–4

Razor: A strategic and immersive party card game where players converse as elderly individuals, family members, and scammers, navigating trust, deception, and hidden motives to reveal the true family connections and prevent scams. Roleplay, buy information, and boost yourself to success.

Cost of Con-nection is an engag­ing and light­hearted social deduc­tion game where play­ers nav­i­gate trust and decep­tion through quirky con­ver­sa­tions. Each player must use con­ver­sa­tion and strat­egy to either deduce or deceive while taking on roles as elderly indi­vid­u­als, family mem­bers, or scam­mers. Elderly play­ers strive to iden­tify who they think truly cares for them and avoid falling victim to scams, while family mem­bers aim to prove their cred­i­bil­ity to gain favours and scam­mers work to mis­lead. With hidden motives and immer­sive role-play, the game offers an intense and comedic explo­ration of trust and vul­ner­a­bil­ity, reveal­ing deeper insights into human con­nec­tions and the chal­lenges faced by the elderly in the modern world.

 

1 minute game trailer:

 

The Lost

Lost at sea, bound by fate—will you discover the truth or be consumed by it

Website of Team 2–1

Razor: The Lost is a pirate-themed 4-player cooperative survival adventure game where teamwork and resourcefulness are necessary for unlocking hidden memories and escaping the cursed seas. If you can survive your crewmates that long...

In “The Lost”, play­ers awaken on a mys­te­ri­ous island with no memory of their past, armed only with a map mark­ing the loca­tions of keys and trea­sure. As they sail through treach­er­ous waters, they must work together, bal­anc­ing lim­ited resources and pre­car­i­ous crew­mate morale to over­come chal­lenges that reveal pieces of their lost iden­ti­ties. With each dis­cov­ery, the play­ers unravel dark secrets of betrayal and greed, facing the choice to seek redemp­tion or repeat past mis­takes. This coop­er­a­tive adven­ture tests courage, trust, and the strength of bonds, deliv­er­ing an immer­sive expe­ri­ence of sur­vival, mys­tery, and the power of forgiveness.

 

1 minute game trailer:

 

Wilder

Observe to Conserve

Website of Team 2–2

Razor: Wilder is a game about observing animal behaviors and conserving species and their habitat.

“Wilder” is a laid back deduc­tion game where play­ers will assume the role of con­ser­va­tion­ist work­ing to research and under­stand animal behav­iors. Each player will sim­u­late ani­mals and their behav­iors on the board while the rest try to describe the ani­mals based on their behav­iors. Use your con­ser­va­tion fund­ing to pre­vent events from reshap­ing the envi­ron­ment and harm­ing the ani­mals you are trying to conserve.

 

1 minute game trailer:

 

Rescue Rangers

Who Will You Rescue... and Who Will Be Left Behind?

Website of Team x-x

Razor: A cooperative, fast-paced card game where every choice matters, challenging players to rescue animals and reduce cruelty levels before it's too late promoting teamwork, empathy, and awareness of real-world animal welfare issues.

Rescue Rangers is a fast-paced, coop­er­a­tive card game where play­ers work together to save endan­gered ani­mals from cru­elty and habi­tat destruc­tion. Set in a world on the brink, each player faces the urgent task of res­cu­ing ani­mals while man­ag­ing lim­ited resources to keep the esca­lat­ing cru­elty level at bay. With each turn, play­ers make crit­i­cal choices bal­anc­ing imme­di­ate rescue efforts against long-term impact as they strive to pro­tect as many ani­mals as pos­si­ble before time runs out. The game’s trans­for­ma­tive theme pro­motes empa­thy for wildlife, offer­ing play­ers an engag­ing expe­ri­ence that blends strat­egy with a mean­ing­ful cause. By the end of the game, play­ers walk away with a sense of urgency and a renewed aware­ness of real-world animal wel­fare challenges.

 

1 minute game trailer:

---

 

Prior students games from the Fall 2024 semester: within just 3 weeks, students designed the below People Fun games earlier this semester: 

 

Inheritance Gambling

Grandpa’s dead! Fight for his money!

Razor: Out maneuver your family through investing in others or stealing from them and racing across the board on a desperate attempt to claim grandpa’s fortune.

Inheritance Gambling is a table­top board game where play­ers aim to earn the most gold by the end of the game. This is mainly done through invest­ment events where one player has the oppor­tu­nity to lie or tell the truth to other play­ers to try to gain more gold than others; this can be done by steal­ing or col­lab­o­rat­ing. Players need to apply strat­egy and think­ing on which cards have been played and the psy­chol­ogy of the others, cre­at­ing a dynamic rela­tion­ship allow­ing for depth and oppor­tu­nity to deepen bonds.

team 1–1 short game pitch video:

 

Alien Blueprint

Build or Be Left Behind!

Razor: To survive the alien's experiment, humans must ask the right questions and distinguish truth from deception, while the alien tries to sabotage them by lying and placing preset bombs within the components to complicate the experiment; if both teams fail to find the answer within the rounds, the alien wins.

Experience the clash of cre­ativ­ity and cun­ning as an inter­stel­lar builder. Your mis­sion is to decode an alien’s mys­te­ri­ous blue­print by strate­gi­cally ques­tion­ing the extrater­res­trial being about its space­ship design. With only “Yes” or “No” answers at your dis­posal, each turn becomes a high-stakes puzzle with the loom­ing threat of whether the alien is truth­ful. To return home, you must race against the opponent’s team to craft a space­ship that matches the blue­print before time runs out. Will you outwit the alien and escape its grasp, or will the secrets of the space­ship remain for­ever beyond your reach?

 

team 1–2 short game pitch video:

 

Wedding Crashers

Any objections? Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Razor: A card game where you are the best man at a wedding and you forgot to write a speech. Can you come up with the best one, or will you crumble under pressure?

Wedding Crashers is a card-based party game where play­ers must impro­vise and think on their feet to deliver the best wed­ding speech they can. Players draw cards with strange and crazy topics and traits that must be included in their speeches, while uti­liz­ing objec­tion cards strate­gi­cally to sab­o­tage other player’s speeches. Whichever player is voted to have the best speech, wins!

 

team 1–3 short game pitch video:

 

The Heir

Establish dominance through infamy, bribes, and blackmail. Will your child be ready to inherit your family legacy?

Razor: Draw cards, bid, and debate head to head with other players to increase your child’s skills in the war of succession to raise the best heir. A competition of quick wits, strategic resource management, and adaptability.

In “The Heir”, play­ers embody mafia moth­ers rais­ing their chil­dren to inherit their family’s crim­i­nal empire. Through strate­gic resource man­age­ment, play­ers bal­ance Wealth, Fame, Intelligence, and Corruption as they face unpre­dictable events and com­pet­i­tive bid­ding wars. Each round builds ten­sion, where play­ers have a chance to prove their child is the supe­rior heir and gain points. The game’s dynamic inter­ac­tions, strate­gic decision-making, and social com­pe­ti­tion make each playthrough unique and engaging.

 

team 1–4 short game pitch video:

 

Purr-suasion

Cat got your tongue? The most purr-suasive cat wins!

Razor: Purr-suasion is a game where cats outsmart, outplay, and out-meow each other as they resolve household issues using the craziest tools for the job. Convince others of your ridiculous solutions and gather the support of your peers while you wait for Grandma to come home and dub you The Cutest Cat for all your efforts.

Purr-suasion is a party game; the ulti­mate cat-on-cat show­down where every roll of the dice brings new rooms, new prob­lems and a new chance for chaos. Players are cats that are trying to solve the house­hold prob­lems they come across when they enter con­flict with the other fluffy family mem­bers in the var­i­ous rooms of the house. The catch? Players must use the item given to them by their oppo­nent as part of their pro­posed solu­tion, no matter how unre­lated the item may be to the issue at hand. Earn Cutie Points for each vote you get from your cat peers and aim to be the Cutest Cat by the time Grandma gets back home!

 

team 2–1 short game pitch video:

 

Pressure Cooker

Cook or be cooked

Razor: Pressure Cooker is a Unilateral Competition game where a team of mice work together to navigate challenges set out by the cat player, completing recipes, overcoming obstacles and collecting resources all in order to foil the cat's plans.

Race against the clock, col­lect­ing resources and cook­ing recipes in this high pres­sure co-op expe­ri­ence where you have to face off against a rav­en­ous cat. You and your team face off against the cat, played by one of your friends and armed with a deck of recipes and traps. Their aim is to over­whelm you with their chal­lenges, but you and your ragtag group have ingre­di­ents and friend­ship on your side. Work together to avoid the pres­sure of the kitchen and the dan­ger­ous cat amidst the chaos, com­mu­ni­cate, and com­plete these meals on time — unless you want to become one.

 

team 2–2 short game pitch video:

 

Whisker Wars

Will you rise to power or fall in battle?

Razor: An engaging cat battle simulator party game between kingdoms that prioritizes player strategy through action cards and skill-based minigames.

In Whisker Wars, play­ers will engage in bat­tles for supremacy, com­bin­ing strat­egy and skill as they uti­lize action cards and con­quer minigames to best their oppo­nents. Each deci­sion counts as play­ers build alliances, break them, and become the strongest king­dom in the arena. Will you rise as the ulti­mate leader, or be destroyed by ones that chal­lenge you?

 

team 2–3 short game pitch video:

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

Want to try out Games from prior classes?

type “IAT312” into the search field on the Tabletop Simulator site on Steam or through this direct link.

Course outline

Brief course intro video (spring 2021)

Course description

In a nut­shell: you’ll learn how to design, build, ana­lyze, and iter­a­tively refine a number of (non-digital) board games.

Course goals

This is an intro­duc­tory course in game design and we will exam­ine the dis­ci­pline and prac­tices of game design. Games are stud­ied across three ana­lyt­i­cal frame­works: games as rules (formal system), games as play (expe­ri­en­tial system), and games as cul­ture (social system). This course will include ana­lyt­i­cal and prac­ti­cal exer­cises in game design includ­ing small non-digital game design projects. Game design is a cre­ative endeav­our requir­ing prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence through design, cri­tique and iter­a­tion. We will explore some of the more uni­ver­sal game mech­a­nisms, such as ran­dom­ness, eco­nomic sys­tems, player moti­va­tion and psy­chol­ogy, and a few spe­cific topics in more detail. This course will pre­pare stu­dents to under­take the fun­da­men­tals of game design includ­ing design­ing, build­ing, ana­lyz­ing, and iter­a­tively refin­ing a number of non-digital games.

During the 2021 Spring semes­ter, this course will be taught online and will apply a flipped approach to learn­ing. Each week stu­dents will work inde­pen­dently and with peers learn­ing about game design through videos, read­ings, dis­cus­sions and small indi­vid­ual and team activ­i­ties. In the live lec­ture part of this class, we will read and dis­cuss some of the work that ana­lyzes play­ers, games and the game design process to estab­lish common ground and pre­pare you for prac­ti­cal work in the labs where stu­dents will play(test), cri­tique, improve and design games as well as report on the course’s longer game design projects.

No pro­gram­ming or Unity knowl­edge is required. All games cre­ated in this course will be or mimick analog games.

Intended learning outcomes

The course is intended to sup­port you to gain both prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence with and a crit­i­cal under­stand­ing of the foun­da­tions of game design in spe­cific con­texts. Specifically, by ful­fill­ing the require­ments of the course you will be pre­pared to accom­plish key tasks in 4 main game design areas:

1. Game Design Basics:
   1. Explain and crit­i­cally reflect on games, and the char­ac­ter­is­tics and fea­tures of dif­fer­ent types of games includ­ing their com­po­nents, mechan­ics & rules, dynam­ics, and aesthetics/UX/fun, the “Magic Circle”, and what makes for a com­pelling game
   2. Analyze and argue what makes for a com­pelling game (or not) and why people like to play games
2. Game Design Frameworks & Psychology
   1. Compare and con­trast dif­fer­ent frame­works and under­ly­ing assump­tions, and deter­mine how and when to use which frameworks
   2. Explain dif­fer­ent player types and psy­cholo­gies, how they affect their game­play, assump­tions, and pref­er­ences, and use this knowl­edge to improve game designs
3. Game Design Process:
   1. Explain and effec­tively uti­lize game design best practices/processes/frameworks/mechanics, and explain how you did this when design­ing sev­eral games in teams. This includes typ­i­cal game design phases such as ideation, pro­to­typ­ing and play test­ing as the base for an iter­a­tive game design cycle
   2. Analyze, dis­cuss, and cri­tique games using appro­pri­ate ter­mi­nol­ogy, and pro­vide well-structured, con­struc­tive, and useful feed­back (e.g., after playtest­ing or game pitches).
   3. Discuss the dif­fer­ence between game cri­tiques vs. playtest­ing, and demon­strate why, when, and how to use either of them effec­tively to improve your game and design process
   4. Effectively demon­strate and reflect on how to effec­tively com­mu­ni­cate your game across dif­fer­ent stages (from early pro­to­type to final game), to dif­fer­ent audi­ences (both inter­nal and exter­nal), and using dif­fer­ent pre­sen­ta­tion for­mats (incl. writ­ten instructions/rule sheets, pitches, game design doc­u­ments (GDDs), and game videos)
4. Game Design Teams:
   1. Reflect on and apply suit­able processes and team-based, col­lab­o­ra­tive prac­tices used in game design includ­ing ideation, pro­to­typ­ing, iter­a­tive revi­sions, and playtest­ing as the base for an iter­a­tive design cycle to a game design project.
      1. Specific processes cov­ered in this class may include struc­tured team brain­storm­ing (affin­ity dia­gram­ming), mood­boards, inspi­ra­tion analy­sis, Razor & Slogan, Play Matrix, playtest­ing scripts, struc­tured game critique/analysis, and Agile project management)
   2. Explain what makes a good game designer, and why and how they often work in teams
   3. Reflect on your own and others’ assump­tions, lenses, beliefs, what people really care about, and pref­er­ences about games/playing, and how do they affect game design and teamwork
   4. Explain and uti­lize a tool­box of how to  foster a col­lab­o­ra­tive, con­struc­tive, and sup­port­ive team cul­ture and process, includ­ing pat­terns of think­ing and behav­iour that sup­port effec­tive teams, as well as spe­cific  tools, tips, processes and frame­works (incl. Agile) that might be useful
   5. Find ways to effec­tively address chal­lenges that can occur in team-based envi­ron­ments while being respect­ful and con­struc­tive. (This could include col­lab­o­ra­tively resolve chal­lenges that com­monly occur in team-based projects, such as bal­anc­ing between leading/following, com­mu­ni­ca­tion chal­lenges, con­flicts that arise, ensur­ing all team mem­bers con­tribute mean­ing­fully, engag­ing all team mem­bers, ensur­ing all care for the project and each other, get­ting people on the same page, and fig­ur­ing out a shared vision/purpose that all can care about).

Delivery Method

This course will include a weekly live lec­ture (110 min­utes) and a workshop-tutorial (110 min­utes) com­po­nent. The course will be deliv­ered in-person using a par­tially “flipped” class­room approach. Students are expected to par­tic­i­pate in:

• syn­chro­nous activ­i­ties during the sched­uled course times. This includes a live, inter­ac­tive lec­ture with demon­stra­tions, dis­cus­sions, and some indi­vid­ual and peer/group work, as well as a live workshop-tutorial where stu­dents will prac­tice and apply the con­cepts of the lec­ture in design­ing sev­eral games
• asyn­chro­nous activ­i­ties (e.g., inde­pen­dent prepa­ra­tion before the lec­ture, team work, peer work etc. to pre­pare each week and to pace your­self care­fully in order to stay on top of the activities/assignments and to get the most from the class).

The learn­ing envi­ron­ment will be active, sup­port­ing, and will afford oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to strengthen knowl­edge, skills, and feel a part of a community.

Teaching/Learning Activities

these include:

• Interactive lec­tur­ing and demonstrations
• Flipped-classroom activ­i­ties: e.g., stu­dents are asked to watch online tuto­ri­als & do read­ings at home so they can come to class pre­pared to do a short quiz, dis­cuss and apply the mate­r­ial, and fill out the weekly JiTT online assignments
• Tutorial ses­sions
• A team project made up of sev­eral team assignments/presentations that cul­mi­nate in a final group project report/presentation and project video
• Group dis­cus­sions (in-class and online chat– and dis­cussing forums)
• Short in-class writ­ing and other activities
• Weekly read­ing and short writ­ing assignments
• Several short stu­dent team presentations
• Peer feed­back and evaluations

Main textbook

• Fullerton, T. (2019 o3 2024). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, Fourth Edition (4^th/5^th Edition.). Boca Raton, FL: A K Peters/CRC Press. ISBN: 9781315104300. This is our main text­book, so make sure you have access and get your own copy by the first week of the semes­ter. You should be able to access it online through the SFU library.
• Schell, J. (2019). The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Third Edition. A K Peters/CRC Press. doi:10.1201/b22101. You should be able to access this online through the SFU library.

Additional read­ings will be pro­vided through Canvas.

Software used for game design & playtesting: Tabletop Simulator

Based on prior stu­dent feed­back and rec­om­men­da­tions, and there being chance we might need to switch to online teach­ing: you won’t need to pur­chase phys­i­cal pro­to­typ­ing mate­ri­als for design­ing your own games. Instead we will use an online board game sim­u­la­tor, the “Tabletop Simulator” https://www.tabletopsimulator.com/about. Course assign­ments will be taught and demon­strated with this soft­ware, and other soft­ware will not be sup­ported by the course. You can also use this soft­ware for rapid pro­to­typ­ing and design­ing your games in your teams, and it also works really well for online and dis­trib­uted playtest­ing (and of course gaming just for fun), and shar­ing your final games online. Thus we strongly rec­om­mend that you pur­chase, down­load, and install your own copy of it before class starts, see link above of directly from Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/Tabletop_Simulator/. it runs on both Windows and MacOS and cur­rently costs CDN$ 25.99. The soft­ware has a lot of excel­lent online resources and tuto­ri­als avail­able at https://www.tabletopsimulator.com/about. Note that to min­i­mize your extra costs for this class, we are remov­ing the need to pur­chase phys­i­cal pro­to­typ­ing and game design mate­ri­als, and I chose a text­book where our library pro­vides free online access.

To see and try out prior games from my IAT 312 course you can enter “IAT312” into the search field on the Tabletop Simulator site on Steam or through this direct link.

Weekly Structure

The course will apply a “flipped” approach to learn­ing. This requires you to pre­pare each week and to pace your­self care­fully in order to stay on top of the activities/assignments and to get the most from the class. Each week it will go some­thing like this:

Preparing Before Lecture

You will begin the week by check­ing the weekly plan and your tasks on Canvas, and then watch­ing short, online tuto­ri­als, lec­tures, or other videos related to this week’s topics; then you will be invited to do the weekly read­ings that will cover topics of the week. You will use a read­ing guide/JiTT ques­tions to help you focus on key aspects of the read­ings, to answer key ques­tions that will help you to under­stand the ideas in the read­ings, and start apply­ing them in the JiTT (“Just in Time Teaching”) online short weekly assign­ments. We will also ask you about any “muddy points” or ques­tions you might still have after going through the videos, read­ings, and JiTTs. This will be done before the live lec­ture and will help us decide what aspects to focus on specif­i­cally in the “lec­ture”.  Occasionally you may be asked to do a short quiz to indi­cate how well you have under­stood the con­cepts in the read­ings and videos.

We will assist you in form­ing small study groups for those inter­ested to help you digest and reflect on the mate­ri­als before class, and have people to dis­cuss the topics with (as that can some­times be a chal­lenge in online teach­ing). We will also have a course slack chan­nel for online dis­cus­sions and Q&A.

Engaging in the Live Lecture where we discuss and apply the material

The lec­tures will be inter­ac­tive and include small group dis­cus­sions,  demon­stra­tions, stu­dent pre­sen­ta­tions and feed­back ses­sions, and instruc­tion on key ideas. Parts of the lec­tures may be recorded for review. It is impor­tant to real­ize that the lec­tures will focus on key ideas and appli­ca­tions and will not be a re-teaching of con­tent found in the read­ings and videos. You are required to read and pre­pare for the live lecture.

Participating in the Tutorials (aka Workshops or WKS)

Following the live lec­ture each week there is a tuto­r­ial aimed to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for prac­tic­ing and apply­ing the knowl­edge and skills of game design. The tuto­ri­als will include small group learn­ing, team activ­i­ties, game playtest­ing, and peer feed­back in par­tic­u­lar on the game design projects. Teams may be called upon to do short pre­sen­ta­tions or pitches of their game ideas and receive feed­back from peers and the instruc­tor on their designs. The tuto­ri­als will be highly engag­ing and prac­ti­cal and require your full con­tri­bu­tion. They also require active par­tic­i­pa­tion in the prior lecture.

Documentation of prior (and ongoing) games that students created

Spring 2023

Spring 2022,

Fall 2021

Summer 2021

Spring 2021

Examples and details from the Fall 2017 course offering

For their final game project, stu­dents were asked to design a non-digital game that includes “Transformative Fun” aspects, also known as “seri­ous fun” (e.g., Lazzaro): That is, the game should be meaningful/purposeful or add value by some­how trans­form­ing the user, e.g., by pro­vid­ing a novel/meaningful user expe­ri­ence, dif­fer­ent perspectives/viewpoints, altered states etc.

Pictures from the final showcase on Dec 13, 2017

Sample Project Videos

Shelter   

ōBit   

StranDead   

Left Behind Bars   

False Illusion   

Rescue   

One Week to Refuge   

Questionnaire  

Some examples from the 2019 offering:

Obsessed with success

Student debt