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6.073

Creating Video Games

Undergraduate · Historical course

Fall 2014

Topics

  • Introduction; Guest Pablo Suarez ( Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Center ); Game Engines; Meaningful Decisions in Games
  • Project 1; Brainstorming and Low-Fidelity Prototyping
  • Revision Control; Game Engines; Vision Statement
  • Project 2 Intro; Project 2 Elevator Pitches; Digital Prototypes; Project 2 Team Choice
  • Agile Software Development
  • Agile Project Management
  • Quality Assurance; Playtesting by Genevieve Conley ( Riot Games ); Focus Testing Results
  • Project 2 Presentations; Project 3; Digital Prototype with User Interference
  • Guest Lecture – Hidetaka “SWERY” Suehiro ( Access Games )
  • Project 3 Check-In; UI and Usability
  • Game Development and Best Practices by Tim Cowan ( EA Games )
  • Project 3 Presentations; Project 4 Topics by Guest Pablo Suarez ( Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Center ); Project 4 Brainstorming
  • Project 4 Planning and Team Formation; Serious Games
  • Aesthetics
  • Freedoms of Play by Scot Osterweil (MIT Game Lab); Project 4 Playtesting; Project 4 Status Report
  • Team Dynamics
  • Working with Artists by Luigi Guatieri
  • Fiction and Narrative in Video Games
  • Working with Sound Designers by Richard Ludlow and Andy Forsberg ( Hexany Audio )
  • Writing in Games by Heather Albano and Laura Baldwin
  • Guest Lecture: Blizzard Entertainment
  • Project 4 Check-in Presentations; Scope
  • Project 4 Feedback; Team Discussions
  • Running a Game Studio (Guest Lecture by Michael Carriere and Jenna Hoffstein of the Indie Game Collective )
  • Getting Players to Your Game by Sean Baptiste ( Fire Hose Games )
  • Final Presentation Rehearsal
  • Final Presentations

Readings

  • This class does not have a required textbook, but a useful book to read for advice on game design is Brathwaite, Brenda, and Ian Schreiber. Challenges for Game Designers . Charles River Media, 2009.
    Listed reading
Sources