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The emphasis for this course will be on the development of critical thinking and game design skills in the area of video game design. Students entering the course are expected to have had experience with video games, although there is no formal prerequisite in this area. There are no 'technical' prerequisites for this course, although multimedia experience is a plus.
Each student will have the opportunity to work on 4 projects. The first two projects are individual and the last two are group. The projects will be:
Demonstration and participation in the games appropriate to each topic will take place for each topic. Critical analysis of each of these game types will take place through a review of the games as well as course readings (on reserve in the Education Library).
Deliverables
1) Each student will write a 3-5 page review of one game from the first 3 topics(3 total). Included in this report will be:
a) A review of the game. The review will reflect the context of the state of gaming at the time that it was released, including the technological limitations that designers faced.
b) A crtical analysis of what were the positive and negative aspects of the game.
c) Recommendations on how (given the context) this game could have been improved.
d) References from literature found in the library and the World Wide Web.
2) Each student will propose an original game desgin that fits into the given topic (4 total). Included in this design will be:
a) A written story that the game is based on. This can be very elaborate or very simple.
b) Visual images (drawn by hand or with a computer graphics program) that represent the game interface.
c) A storyboard of important sequences or events within the game.
d) A reflection stating what games this design is similar too, and how it is unique and different from them (in other circles this is called a 'literature review').
3) A final project will be a fully developed game design that will include all of the requirements listed in 2 above as well as a market perspective and a multimedia presentation during the final exam time. This final project will be sent to a minimum of 2 existing game companies as a proposal to be developed.
Attendance will be required for all students. This course requires that students keep up with the course material at all points in the semester, consequently failure to attend class will make this difficult, and repeatedly missing class will make it impossible. Attendance plus Daily Quizes will count 20 points(results on daily quizzes will count as an attendance to class (or not, if the quiz is not passed) and added into the percentage of classes attended.
| 3 Game Reviews - 20 points each
3 Game Designs - 20 points each attendance+quizzes - 20 points Final Project + presentation - 60 points Total points possible - 200 points |
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1) Definitions of Games and Simulations from the Encyclopedia of Education.
2) Various articles from video game magazines (ie. GamePro or PC Gamer).
3) Other articles and readings to be announced.
| Course Homepage | Class Schedule | Game Graveyard | Course Syllabus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
