Last modified: 3/6/2008
January 9:
Course overview, key issues in video game design.
Read: Preface (pp. xii-xv), About This Book (pp. 1-9) of Rules of Play.
Read: Adventure as a Video Game: Adventure for the Atari 2600, Warren Robinett
January 11:
Blogging about game play sessions (gamelogs). What is play, what is a game. The magic circle.
Read: Chapter 7 (Defining Games, pp. 71-83), Chapter 8 (Defining Digital Games, pp. 85-91),
Chapter 9 (The Magic Circle, pp. 93-99) in Rules of Play.
Read: Chapter 2, pp. 36-43 only, in Half-Real, Jesper Juul.
January 14:
Role played by rules in a game (rules as limitations or affordances)
Qualities of rules, rules on three levels (operational, constituative, implicit)
Gameplay rules & gameworld rules
Read: Chapter 11 (Defining Rules, pp. 119-125), Chapter 12 (Rules on Three Levels, pp. 127-139)
of Rules of Play.
Read: Chapter 3,
pages 55-61 of Half-Real, Jesper Juul.
Due: Game session log: game of your choice.
January 16:
Rules of digital games, emergent complexity in rule systems,
Games of emergence and progression, state machines,
Finite state automata, Conway's game of "Life"
Read: Chapter 13 (The Rules of Digital Games, pp. 141-149),
Chapter 14 (Games as Emergent Systems, pp. 151-171) of Rules of Play.
Read: Chapter 3, pages 61-83, of Half-Real, Jesper Juul
January 18:
Temporal aspects of games: Game exhaustion, segmentation of gameplay
Read: Game ontology website, www.gameontology.org
Due: Team selection for game design projects
January 21:
No class, Martin Luther King, Jr.
holiday
January 23:
Introduction to Game Maker, RPG Maker. Game examples.
Read: Designing Games with Game Maker, pages 7-14
January 25:
Introduction to Game Maker, sprites, objects, events, rooms, keypresses
Read: Designing Games with Game Maker, pages 14-29
Due: Game session log: game from classics list
January 28:
Conditionals (if-then logic), advanced rooms, lives system
Read: Designing Games with Game Maker, pages 30-37
January 30:
Potential exam topics, introduction to collision detection in Game Maker
Due: Game concept document
February 1:
Exam #1
February 4:
Challenge and conflict
Read: Chapter 20 (Games as Systems of Conflict, pp. 249-265) in Rules of Play
Read: Chapter 4 &
Chapter 5, pages 37-70 of Chris Crawford on Game Design
February 6:
Interactivity, core game mechanic
Read: Chapter 6, pages 71-92 of Chris Crawford on Game Design
Due: Work breakdown and schedule for game project
February 8:
Game flow, games as systems of pleasure, goals, rewards, reinforcement schedules, fictional elements of game worlds
Read: Chapter 24 (Games as the Play of Pleasure, pp. 329-361) in Rules of Play.
Read: Chapter 25 (Games as the Play of Meaning, pp. 363-373) in Rules of Play.
Due: Game session log: game of your choice
February 11:
Narrative, telling stories in games
Read: Chapter 26 (Games as Narrative Play, pp. 377-419) in Rules of Play,
Read: Interaction and Narrative, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern
February 13:
Design history and level design for Platformers
February 15:
Creating a Platformer using Game Maker (simple state machines, collision detection)
Due: Partially operational game prototype
Due: Progress report for game project
February 18:
No class, President's Day holiday
February 20:
Creating a Platformer using Game Maker (jumping onto platform, moving platforms)
Due: Game session log: game from classics list
February 22:
History of computer games
Due: Game analysis: multi-game analysis (genre evolution, compare/contrast)
February 25:
Potential exam topics
Scrolling backgrounds, particle effects in Game Maker
February 27:
Exam #2
February 29:
Games and culture, violence in games, games for women, games for girls
Read: Chapter 29 (Defining Culture, pp. 505-513) in Rules of Play
Read: An Interview with Brendal Laurel (Purple Moon) Chapter 5 in
From Barbie to Mortal Kombat, pp. 118-135.
March 3:
No class.
March 5:
Design history and level design for Shmups (Shoot-em-ups, also known at STG (shooting))
Due: Game session log: game of your choice
March 7:
Governance & economics of multiplayer online games
Read: Chapter 8, The Economics of Fun: Behavior and Design and
Chapter 9, Governance, in Synthetic Worlds, Edward Castronova
March 10:
Details on final exam, persuasive games
March 11:
Due: Final computer game project
Submit to box by Prof. Whitehead's office, Engineering 2, room 273
March 12:
Interactive Fiction
March 14:
Future directions for computer games
March 17:
Game project demonstration of best games in class, in Media Theater (external judges)
Wednesday, March 19: Final Exam, Media Theater, 4PM-7PM