USC CTIN 488 Game Design Workshop
International Game Developers Association
Game Design Workshop USC School of Cinema-Television, CTIN 488
| Games Education |
|---|
 |
| Course |
Table of contents |
[edit] Teachers
[edit] Instructors
- Chris Swain
- Tracy Fullerton
[edit] Guest speakers
- Too be added later
[edit] Course Background Information
[edit] Location
University of Southern California
[edit] Classification
Primary classification:
- Conceptual Game Design
- Practical Game Design
- Game Programming
- Visual Design
Secondary classification:'
[edit] Student background needed
N/A
[edit] Course prerequisites
N/A
[edit] Time periods
Spring Semester course
- 4 hours/week, lecture/lab
[edit] Course Structure
[edit] Course description
The growth digital entertainment is creating tremendous opportunities for creative game designers and developers. The purpose of this workshop is to examine models and strategies for creating electronic games that are based in solid play mechanics.
[edit] Course learning objectives
Students will:
experience the fundamentals of game design through the study of classic games in both traditional and electronic form design their own games and playtest/critique fellow students’ games
The course is designed to provide the foundation of knowledge for becoming a professional game designer.
[edit] Week by week topics
Week 1 (8/24): Overview of the Course and Introduction to Game Structures
Week 1 Lecture: Overview of the course. What is a game? Formal and dramatic structures of games. Prototyping, playtesting and iterative design.
Reading:
“Game Design Workshop”, by Fullerton and Swain
· Chapter 1-2
Week 1 Lab: Re-design a simple game system
· Thursday afternoon section meets 8/26
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 8/31
Week 2 (8/31): Formal Elements of Games: Objectives, Procedures, Systems and Rules
Week 2 Lecture: Discussion of elements that make up the formal structures of game systems. Analysis of game rules from classic games.
Reading:
“Game Design Workshop”, by Fullerton and Swain
· Chapters 3 and 6
Week 2 Lab: Conceptualizing and brainstorming game ideas
· Thursday afternoon section meets 9/2
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 9/7
Week 3 (9/7): Dramatic Elements of Games: Metaphor, Characters, Roles, and Story
Week 3 Lecture: Applying traditional tools of drama to game design. Analysis of character, plot, story and metaphor in well-known games.
Reading:
“Game Design Workshop”, by Fullerton and Swain
· Chapters 4 and 7
Week 3 Lab: Prototyping game systems. Design Project #1 Assigned: Game variant prototype.
· Thursday afternoon section meets 9/9
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 9/21
Week 4 (9/14): No class or lab meetings
Week 5 (9/21): Dynamic Elements of Games: Emergence
Week 5 Lecture: Complexity Theory, Conway's Game of Life, Gearheads, SimCity, RollerCoaster Tycoon. Testing your game for functionality, completeness and balance.
Reading:
Game Design Workshop
· Chapters 5, 8 and 9
Week 5 Lab: In-Class Playtesting for Design Project #1
· Thursday afternoon section meets 9/23
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 9/28
Week 6 (9/28): Creating Interesting Choices
Quiz #1
Week 6 Lecture: Game theory, Minimax theory, strategy games. Tic-tac-toe, Connect Four, Chess, Warcraft II.
Reading:
Game Design Workshop
· Chapters 10
Week 6 Lab: Designing better choices: variants of Design Project #1
· Thursday afternoon section meets 9/30
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 10/5
Week 7 (10/5): Social Play
Week 7 Lecture: Social roles and player interaction. Killer, Pictionary, You Don’t Know Jack, Acrophobia, NetWits.
Week 7 Lab: Designing for social play: variants of Design Project #1
· Thursday afternoon section meets 10/7
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 10/12
Week 8 (10/12): Managing Resources
Week 8 Lecture: Types of resources, information structures, game economies. Magic: The Gathering, Settlers of Catan, Pit.
Week 8 Lab: Play and analyze Settlers of Catan
· Thursday afternoon section meets 10/14
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 10/19
'Week 9 (10/19): Puzzle Games
Week 9 Lecture: Set, Tetris, Smart Games, MetaSquares, Incredible Machine, Myst.
Week 9 Lab: Designing levels for a puzzle game
· Thursday afternoon section meets 10/21
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 10/26
Week 10 (10/26): Narrative Play
Week 10 Lecture: Development of interactive drama. Interfilm, Kino-Automat, Eliza, Catz. Social
Week 10 Lab: Designing levels for a strategy game
· Thursday afternoon section meets 10/28
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 11/2
Week 11 (11/2): Role-Playing Games
Quiz #2
Week 11 Lecture: Dungeons & Dragons, Hack, Diablo, Ultima Online. M.U.L.E., Habitat, Battle.net, Sony Station.
Week 11 Lab: Designing levels for a roleplaying game
· Thursday afternoon section meets 11/4
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 11/9
Week 12 (11/9): Online Communities
Week 12 Lecture: Principles of online community design. Design Project #2 Assigned: Original game prototype.
Week 12 Lab: Avatars Online documentary (or Gamers documentary)
· Thursday afternoon section meets 11/11
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 11/16
Week 13 (11/16): Concept through Delivery: Stages of Development
Week 13 Lecture: Discussion of teams, process and documentation. Design and planning documents from actual products will be distributed. Scheduling & Budgeting exercise.
Reading:
Game Design Workshop
· Chapters 12 and 14
Week 13 Lab: In-Class Playtesting for Design Project #2
· Thursday afternoon section meets 11/18
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 11/23
Week 14 (11/23): Business of Games
Week 14 Lecture: Game market statistics, publisher/developer relationships, royalties & deal structures.
Reading:
Game Design Workshop
· Chapters 15 and 16
Week 14 Lab: In-Class Playtesting for Design Project #2
· Thursday afternoon section meets 12/2
· Tuesday afternoon section meets 11/30
Week 15 (11/30): Guest Speaker
Quiz #3
Week 15 Guest Speaker: TBD, Quiz #3 and Course Wrap-Up
Week 15 Lab:
· Thursday afternoon section Week 14 lab is on 12/2
· Tuesday afternoon section – no lab on 12/7
[edit] Course Materials & Facilities Used
Books
Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping and Playtesting Games
Syllabus
[edit] Analysis of learning methods
[edit] What worked
Please discuss what techniques worked well
[edit] What didn't work
Please discuss what techniques didn’t work as well as you had hoped
| This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. |
