DePaul GAM 224 Strategies in Game Design
International Game Developers Association
Full name:
| Games Education |
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| Course |
Table of contents |
[edit] Teachers
[edit] Instructors
- Robin Burke
[edit] Course Background Information
[edit] Location
DePaul University
[edit] Classification
Primary classification:
Conceptual Game Design
Secondary classification:
Game theory, criticism of mainstream/commercial and experimental media
[edit] Student background needed
None
[edit] Course prerequisites
None
[edit] Time periods
The class is usually taught 1.5 hours a session, 2 meetings a week for 10 weeks = 30 contact hours.
[edit] Course Structure
[edit] Course description
This course approaches the study of computer games from three angles: first, as examples of media that can be analyzed and critiqued for their thematic elements, formal structure, plot and interactive appreciation; second, as complex software artifacts subject to technological constraints and the product of a labor-intensive design and implementation process; and three as a cultural artifact with behaviors and associations comparable in import to other popular art forms. Student will study the principles of game design and use them both to analyze existing games and to develop their own original game ideas. Students will also learn about the process of game development, starting from the game's narrative concept and moving to consideration of a game's components: the representation of the player, of artifacts, the virtual world that contains them and the interaction between them and the player.
[edit] Course learning objectives
Students are expect to develop critical skills and vocabulary for understanding games. By necessity, they also learn basic game design concepts.
[edit] Week by week topics
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Rules: Emergence, Information
Week 3: Rules: Feedback, Conflict
Week 4: Play: Core Mechanic
Week 5: Play: Simulation
Week 6: Play: Social Play
Week 7: Quiz, Student Presentations
Week 8: Culture: Gender
Week 9: Culture: The Game Industry
Week 10: Quiz, Student Presentations
[edit] Course Materials & Facilities Used
Here you can link to and/or describe books and other materials you used for this course. Feel free to create new pages for each item here if a page for it does not yet exist.
Books
Rules of Play by Salen and Zimmerman
Other materials
Some readings from [[1][The Escapist].
Software (engines, tools)
Our university has game labs (one for PC games, one for console) and a substantial game library. Games from this library were assigned for students to experience.
Syllabus
The course web site contains information about the course schedule and the Powerpoint slides. http://josquin.cs.depaul.edu/~rburke/courses/s06/gam224/
Assessment materials
There were quite a range of assessment instruments used in this class (maybe too many)
- One quiz for each unit (Rules, Play, Culture)
- A few homework assignments
- Two pencil-and-paper group design exercises
- Six one-page reaction papers responding to particular games in the game syllabus
- Three 5-page papers analyzing a game from different perspectives: rules, play, culture
[edit] Analysis of learning methods
[edit] What worked
I make students bring dice and cards to every class and we do game play exercises as often as I can. This is pretty important in this class.
[edit] What didn't work
There are always a few students that don't pull their weight in the group projects. This can be frustrating.
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