Class Game Design I

This unit provides students with the fundamental game design literacy that underpins all disciplinary fields involved in game development. The unit focuses primarily on introducing the distinctive practices and processes that set game creation apart from other creative fields, particularly as it regards peculariaties in specification, iteration, and user testing due to how these practices in game creation simulatenously concern different knowledge fields. The unit is highly relevant within the degree program, not only for students interested in a career as game designers but also as a complement to studies in game development and game art disciplines.

Not applicable

Course Unit Introduction A Few Defining Features of Games; What Is Game Design; What Does a Game Designer Do; The transmediality of games. Low-Level Game Design Objects/Properties/Behaviors/Relationships; Game States; Mechanics and Procedures; Stages in the Player Connecting to the Game; Introduction to Level Design. Game Design Process Understanding and Researching a Game Genre; Design Documentation (including flowcharts); Development and Publishing of a Simple Game in a Specific Genre Specific (modifying a base game specifically developed for educational purposes); Pitch Document (initial specification); Level Design; Range of Design Documentation; Iterative Process and Playtesting; Playtest Methodology; First Playtest; Second Playtest; Publishing a Small Game.

Project-based learning, with consistent and varied practice both inside and outside the classroom. Use of a game developed exclusively for educational purposes to streamline student work and bring into focus the design of relevant parameters and levels of user experience (analogous to programming scaffolding, but oriented toward experience design, as well as game modding practices).

Adams, E. (2009). Fundamentals of Game Design (2 ed.). Berkeley, CA: New Riders. Braithwaite, B., & Schreiber, I. (2008). Challenges for game designers. Boston: Charles River Media. Fullerton, T. (2014). Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating innovative games. CRC press.  Nguyen, C. T. (2020). Games: Agency as Art (1a ed.). Oxford University Press. Waern, A. (2012, Junho). Framing games. Em Proceedings of DiGRA Nordic 2012 Conference: Local and Global-Games in Culture and Society (pp. 1-14).