Game 1: Theme Jam

One theme can be turned into many different games. Working from your assigned kind of play, choose a theme based on the words submitted by the class during the last journal. design a game with your assigned kinds of play and bring a prototype of it to life via a playtest. Use the constraint in theme to focus on the other game elements and tools.

Part I: Proposal

Due March 3

Be prepared to give a brief presentation of your game proposal and to discuss each other’s games.

Prepare the following slides:

  • Name, kind of play
  • what’s your design value / the core experience you want your players to have?
  • how do you plan to use game design tools to shape the game elements to serve that experience?

Part II: Prototype

Due March 10

  • Develop at least three design questions you would like your playtest to answer. These should be both for yourself and for your players.
  • Begin making a prototype that can answer these questions. Have it ready to show during your small-group meeting.

Part III: Playtest

Due March 31

  • Continue developing your prototype to a playtestable state
  • Playtest your game with at least 1 set of people from the class and 1 set of people from outside the class
  • Document your playtest
  • Summarize

Part IV: Document

Due March 31

Add the following slides:

  • Name, project title, kinds of play; one-line or one-paragraph description
  • A document detailing the rules of your game.
  • Documentation of your prototype
  • 3+ images of your game (including playtest)
  • Optional: video summary of playtest

Criteria

  • Fidelity of imagery, sound, etc is unimportant at this stage; an unattractive game will not harm your grade and a beautiful game will not benefit your grade.

Form & Tools

  • Your game must be playtestable remotely on whatever computer other students are using. (So no heavy-duty Unreal or VR projects!)
  • There are no other constraints regarding form. You can design a game intended to be a physical boardgame or card game, then create it in Miro/Mural/etc for playtesting.
  • There is no constraint regarding tools. Recommended tools are listed on the class website. I’d recommend looking at the tools that create simple virtual spaces like Hubs or Gather if you want to re-create aspects of an in-person performative game.

Kind of Play Assignments

Name Kind of Play
Baixing Chen Expressive
Juliyen Davis Experiential
Daniel Han Performative
Xiaofan Jiang Competitive
An Kong Role-Playing
Bowen Li Co-operative
David Malary Simulation
Collin McClain Chance
Miliaku Nwabueze Skill-based
Vincent Joseph Perez Role-Playing
Sherry Shao Performative
Deveena Sood Expressive
Liang Chun Wang Competitive
Xintong Wang Cooperative
Yunnan Xu Chance
Peter Yu Experiential

Words & Phrases

  • Tragicomic puzzle-solving
  • depression, oppression
  • Eerie, Unnerving, Repetitive, Intuitive, Deceptive
  • Untangling disorientation
  • Gently wonderful
  • jazzy sliding-puzzle
  • Cerebrally immersive
  • old-fashion jobs
  • Taylorism
  • Urban planning.
  • Comic, collaboration
  • Romantic, Independence
  • Social stranding, group relations, connection, estrangement, virtual reality
  • bridge
  • fall
  • changing
  • Long Walk
  • Repetitive collection process.
  • Stylized model, storytelling, classic