January 6:
Course overview, key questions in video game studies.
January 9:
Juul's classic game model
Read: Chapter 1, Introduction, and Chapter 2, pages 23-43 of Half-Real.
January 11:
Evaluating games against Juul's classic game model
Read: Chapter 2, pages 44-54, of Half-Real
Due: Team selection for game design projects
January 13:
Role played by rules in a game (rules as limitations or affordances), state machines, Conway's game of "Life"
Read: Chapter 3, pages 55-61 of Half-Real
January 16:
No class, Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
January 18:
History of video games
Due: Video game analysis #1
January 20 :
History of video games
January 23:
Overview of Photoshop
Read:
January 25:
Game rules, algorithmic rules, games of emergence and progression
Read: Chapter 3, pages 61-83, of Half-Real
Due: Classic, non-video game design project
January 27:
Emergence in gameplay, interesting choices
Read: Chapter 3, pages 84-120 of Half-Real
January 30:
Exam #1
February 1:
Creating a game using Game Maker
Read: Designing Games with Game Maker, pages 7-17
February 3:
Creating a game using Game Maker
Read: Designing Games with Game Maker, pages 17-30
February 6:
Creating a game using Game Maker
Read: Designing Games with Game Maker, pages 30-38
February 8:
Creating a game using Game Maker
Read: Designing Games with Game Maker, pages 38-42
February 10:
Perspectives on design: challenge and conflict
Read: Chapters 4&5, pages 37-70 of Chris Crawford on Game Design
Due: Photoshop assignment
February 13:
Perspectives on design: interactivity, graphic realism, design by accretion, topic vs content
Read: Chapters 6&8, pages 70-92, 107-124 of Chris Crawford on Game Design
February 15 :
Design essays: Adventure, Centipede, Eastern Front (1941)
Read: Chapter 18, pages 245-257 of Chris Crawford on Game Design
Game Analysis: Centipede, Richard Rouse III
Adventure as a Video Game: Adventure for the Atari 2600, Warren Robinett
February 17:
Narrative and conversation
Read: Chapter 23, pages 313-339, of Chris Crawford on Game Design
Interaction and Narrative, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern
Due: Game concept document
February 20:
No class, President's Day holiday
February 22:
Basic game AI
Due: Work breakdown and schedule for game project
February 24:
Games for women, games for girls
February 27:
Game behaviors that depend on the computer seeing the player
March 1:
Exam #2
March 3:
Multiplayer online games
Read: Chapter 8, The Economics of Fun: Behavior and Design, in Synthetic Worlds, Edwards Castronova
Due: Progress report for game project
March 6:
Governance of multiplayer online games
March 8:
Violence in video games
March 10:
Game console architecture, and impact on game design
March 13:
Demonstration and evaluation of game projects
Due: Final video game project
March 15:
Demonstration and evaluation of game projects
Last modified: 3/6/2006