International Game Developers Association

Full name:

Games Education
Course

Contents 1 Teachers 1.1 Instructors 2 Course Background Information 2.1 Location 2.2 Classification 2.3 Time periods 3 Course Structure 3.1 Course description 3.2 Course learning objectives 3.3 Week by week topics 4 Course Materials & Facilities Used 4.1 Assessment materials 5 Analysis of learning methods 5.1 What worked 5.2 What didn't work

Teachers

Instructors

• Ian Schreiber

Course Background Information

Location

Ohio University

Classification

This course covered selected topics from a broad range of classifications. The common theme here is rapid prototyping and iterative process; the course was largely project-based, with each project involving idea conception, creation of a quick-and-dirty prototype as fast as possible, and using the prototype to playtest and iterate on the core idea.

Primary classification: Conceptual Game Design; Practical Game Design; Game Programming; Game Production.

Secondary classification: Play Mechanics, Experimental game design, Interface design; Game Tuning, Play testing and Player Analysis; Prototyping; Design documentation.

Time periods

• This class was taught in Winter 2006
• Class met two hours per session, twice per week, for ten weeks.

Course Structure

Course description

The course catalog says:

Advanced Game Development: Advanced issues and process in the development of digital games.

This is a lie, intended to scare you away. Thankfully, it didn’t work. The actual description for this course would be something like this:

Game Design Workshop: Undergraduate game designers work in small teams to brainstorm game ideas within a given set of constraints, and then refine the results of these sessions into a series of written game concepts and proposals.

Course learning objectives

In this class, we will study the mechanics and dynamics of games across a variety of genres, platforms and media, in order to discover what properties a game must have to be compelling, interesting and fun. We will then apply these findings to the creation of new games and game ideas through a series of hands-on workshops.

At the end of this course, you will be able to generate ideas for games within a given set of constraints, and express those in the form of concept documents.

You will also be able, from experience, to answer the question: “Mommy, where do game ideas come from?”

Week by week topics

Th 1/4

• Intro to the course.
• Student surveys.
• Signups for groups, assignments.

Tu 1/9

• Design of gambling games.
• Research 1 assigned.

Th 1/11

• Project 1 assigned.

Tu 1/16

• Design of Sequels/Expansions.
• Research 2 assigned.

Th 1/18

• Project 2 assigned.

Tu 1/23

• Prisoner’s Dilemma.
• Research 3 assigned.

Th 1/25

• Project 3 assigned.

Tu 1/30

• Design in an Unfamiliar Genre.
• Research 4 assigned.

Th 2/1

• Project 4 assigned.

Tu 2/6

• Research 5 assigned.

Th 2/8

• Project 5 assigned.

Tu 2/13

• Design of Euro Boardgames.
• Research 6 assigned.

Th 2/15

• Project 6 assigned.

Tu 2/20

• Design of a Licensed Title.
• Research 7 assigned.

Th 2/22

• Project 7 assigned.

Tu 2/27

• Design of a Collectible Card Game.
• Research 8 assigned.

Th 3/1

• Project 8 assigned.
• Final Exam Pre-Analysis assigned: Play Golden Axe in the GRID Lab.

Tu 3/6

• No Class (GDC). Class notes on Blackboard.
• Play several “serious games”.
• Research 9 assigned (Blackboard).

Th 3/8

• No Class (GDC). Meet in your groups on your own.
• Project 9 assigned (Blackboard).

Final Exam

• Final Project: Real-World Design.

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

None. This class is a set of creative exercises; there are no textbooks that would be of any direct, immediate value.

Assessment materials

Grading: As this is a course on games, a game-related scoring system will be used. You will start with 100 Hearts. Points lost on projects will cause your grade to take damage. Extra credit heals your grade.

Project Research 1-3 8 Hearts each (x3 = 24 Hearts total) These short analyses are assigned every Tuesday and due on Thursday. They involve preliminary "market research" which will give you a head start on the in-class projects.

Only one individual on each team will be responsible for this each week, rotating to a new individual each week, so everyone will turn in three of these over the course of the quarter.

You lose Hearts if you turn in an analysis that is missing key information.

In-Class Projects 1-9 2 Hearts each (x9 = 18 Hearts total) These activities are run in class every Thursday. They are exercises designed to give you experience with brainstorming and idea generation in a fast-paced environment. You receive a set of constraints, from which to design a game concept. The class will then be divided into teams of three, and each team works to form an initial concept during class.

You lose 2 Hearts for an unexcused absence, or 1 Heart for attending class but just sitting there and not making much effort to contribute to the group.

Project Writeups 1-3 16 Hearts each (x3 = 48 Hearts total) These projects involve taking your idea from an in-class brainstorming session, and fleshing it out into a presentable document. They are due the following Tuesday.

As with the pre-analysis, one individual per team turns this in on behalf of their team, with each person turning in three of these over the quarter.

Grading is based on the quality of the idea and of the presentation of the idea.

Final Brainstorming Project 10 Hearts Groups come together one last time during the scheduled final exam period to create a brainstormed concept under conditions inspired by real-world events.

Groups receive a team grade, based on how well they are able to adapt on the fly to come up with a decent concept under difficult constraints.

Extra Credit up to +15 Hearts There are opportunities for extra credit scattered throughout the quarter.

Analysis of learning methods

What worked

The overall format of the course was well received by the students, as was the content. Each project involved a different situation inspired by real-world development, such as creating a concept for a sequel, a licensed title or a game in an unfamiliar genre. All projects were designed to force students to work outside their comfort zone, something that happens all too often in the industry.

I was careful to explain the rationale behind each project, i.e. how it related to an actual situation I'd encountered (or heard of) in the game industry. Students appreciated hearing war stories, and also accepted the projects much more easily because they knew they were being put in the same role as a real designer.

The final exam worked out really well. (This involved a two-hour team brainstorming period where I changed the constraints every 20 minutes or so.) I was afraid my students were going to want to kill me for some of the stunts I pulled -- especially forcing one student in each group to rotate to a different one, and cutting the exam 15 minutes short unexpectedly -- but they really got into the spirit of the exam and enjoyed the experience.

I was also initially afraid of the grading system, in particular the demoralizing effect of a student's grade "taking damage", but my students found it amusing (they even correctly surmised that a late assignment took "poison damage"). I made sure on every grade to write both the total number of Hearts earned, and also how much "damage" was taken so that students could record their score either way.

Students reported the workload as being very reasonable.

What didn't work

I had students group into three-person teams on the first day of class, and kept them in those teams for the entire course. This caused difficulties when one or two people in a team didn't show up for class. In the future it might be easier to have students form teams each class period, so that no one gets stuck in a single-person group.

I might even try randomizing groups at some point, just to force students to work with different teams.

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