Game Design Course

ACTIVITIES (LEARNING TASKS)

• Have students start thinking about games. Ask students on Google Plus “First question: What is the best video game you have ever played (it can be on any game system), and why did you like it so much? (You must give at least three reasons why you like it).
• Begin the process of designing a new game. Video game design starts with an idea, often a modification on an existing concept. The game idea may fall within one or several genres. Designers often experiment with mixing genres. The game designer usually produces an initial game proposal document containing:

the concept

gameplay

feature list

setting and story

target audience

For the first class, students join together with 1 or 2 or 3 other people (no more than 4 people per group) and start to hammer out some ideas – mostly for the concept for a video game. But, if ideas emerge for the other categories, studets are asked to record those as well.
Only ONE person in the group needs to record. Recording may be done on paper, or on a google doc, but ideas will be eventually turned in on a Google Doc.

The group students are with on the first day will not necessarily be the group they remain with. There will be an opportunity down the road for switching to another group, should someone come up with an idea that a student finds genuinely appealing.

• In class, students will play some popular online games and discuss (verbally in class sometimes, online in Google plus other times) why they are popular. What is appealing about them. (Angry Birds, Agar.io, Paxon)
• Students will write the backstory (narrative) for their game – Tell the story of what is happening, and tell the stories of the characters. This will be an ongoing assignment, it is not meant to be finished in one class block, but added to and embellished as the game moves out of its infancy.
• Presentation of the basic game premise – students prepare a slide presentation (Teacher provide the framework for the presentation) outlining the basic idea of the game, the characters in the game, the basic victory state and the basic loss state
• Cover design – students use Photoshop to design a cover image for their game. What would people see in an app store or in Best Buy if they were looking for a new game to play.
• Creating a playable prototype – students must, in some fashion make their game playable for the other students in the class. It need not be a digital version. It may be a card game (example discussed was Pokemon, a very advanced card game), a board game or some other means of play.
• Midpoint check in with students to receive critical feedback on the project. Questions to be done individually, not within eye-shot of other group members. Questions students need to respond to are:

1. What are you enjoying about this project? List as many things as you can.
2. What challenges are you facing with this project? Again, please list as many as you can.
3. In what ways do you feel your experience playing games impacts your decisions as a game designer? Please give examples.
4. Are you finding the process of designing a game to be easier or more difficult than you might have expected?  Please explain.
5. What aspects of your game do you feel we need to devote more class time to?
6. How do you envision your prototype looking? (This is the playable version of your game).

• Students need to do a strengths assessment to diversify who is working on which aspects of the game. The scope of the project is enormous, and so groups need to consciously work to incorporate the skills that individuals bring to their groupings.
• Students will create either a teaser/trailer for their game or a documentary about the making of their game. They will have a range of choice of software in which to create this. Cameras and memory cards will be provided if they are choosing to film a documentary.