CMS.864
Game Design
Practical instruction in the design and analysis of non-digital games. Provides students the texts, tools, references, and historical context to analyze and compare game designs across a variety of genres. In teams, students design, develop, and thoroughly test their original games to better understand the interaction and evolution of game rules. Covers various genres and types of games, including sports, game shows, games of chance, card games, schoolyard games, board games, and role-playing games. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 20.
Fall 2010
This course provides practical instruction in the design and analysis of non-digital games. Students cover the texts, tools, references and historical context to analyze and compare game designs across a variety of genres, including sports, game shows, games of chance, card games, schoolyard games, board games, and role–playing games. In teams, students design, develop, and thoroughly test their original games to understand the interaction and evolution of game rules. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.
Readings
- Brathwaite, Brenda, and Ian Schreiber. Challenges for Game Designers: Non-digital Exercises for Video Game Designers . Boston, MA: Charles River Media/Course Technology, 2009. ISBN: 97815845058081.
Spring 2008
Topics
- Lecture: design [JJ]
- Workshop: introduction to playtesting [DR]
- Lecture: types of fun and game history [JJ]
- Lecture: game design patterns and twenty formal game questions [DR, CFV]
- Guest workshop, Scot Osterweil: playtesting exercise – poker variants
- Guest lecture, Barry Kudrowitz: toys
- Workshop: fortunetelling, games of chance and dice (Roulette, Bingo, Tarot) [CFV]
- Lecture: competition and chance [PT]
- Lecture: the player [CFV]
- Workshop: Doris’ 1000 blank cards [DR]
- Lecture: card and guessing games [PT]
- Lecture: information [PT]
- Workshop: initial presentation poker deck game, playtest to get feedback, and suggest changes [all]
- Workshop: racing games (Parcheesi, Life, Goose, Mille Bournes) [CFV]
- Lecture: racing games [CFV]
- Guest lecture, Dennis Loo: gambling and probability
- Lecture: space games [CFV]
- Guest lecture, Denis Dyack
- Workshop: Go, Chess, Xiangqi, Hasami Shogi, Draughts [PT]
- Lecture: possibility space [PT]
- Lecture: feedback and emergence [JJ]
- Workshop: board game playtest
- Lecture: bending and breaking [JJ]
- Guest lecture, Marc LeBlanc
- Workshop: LAN party (conflict, competition, and cooperation) [PT]
- Lecture: digital games [JJ]
- Lecture: abstraction and simulation [all]
- Lecture: social play [JJ]
- Workshop: narrative play (riddles, puzzles, and word games) [DR, CFV]
- Guest lecture, Sam Ford: wrestling, meaning, and symbols
- Guest lecture, Joshua Green: That’s Just Not Cricket!
- Guest workshop, Stephen Balzac: live-action roleplaying game
- Guest lecture, Stephen Balzac: exploiting the constraints
- Guest lecture, Jason Haas: improv games
- Workshop: playtest for the final project
- Guest lecture, Chris Weaver
- Lecture: course evaluations and postmortem [PT]
Readings
- Bateman, Chris, and Richard Boon. 21st Century Game Design . Boston, MA: Charles River Media, 2005. ISBN: 9781584504290.
- Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games . Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780252070334.
- Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop . 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2008. ISBN: 9780240809748.
- Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons and Dragons . Lake Geneva, WI: Tactical Studies Rules, 1974.
- Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780192129987.
- ———. A History of Card Games . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780192829054.
- Piccione, Peter A. “In Search of the Meaning of Senet.” Archaeology 33 (July/August 1980): 55-58.
- Rules of Play, Ch. 3.
- Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop , Ch. 8.
- SES #: 5 · TOPICS: Lecture: game design patterns and twenty formal game questions [DR, CFV] · READINGS: Björk, and Holopainen. “Games and Design Patterns.” Game Design Reader , p. 410.
- SES #: 6 · TOPICS: Guest workshop, Scot Osterweil: playtesting exercise – poker variants · READINGS: Rules of Play , Ch. 11 and 12.
- SES #: 7 · TOPICS: Guest lecture, Barry Kudrowitz: toys · READINGS: Background Reading: Rules of Play , Ch. 5, 7, 9, and 10.
- Parlett, David. A History of Card Games , Ch. 1-2 and 18.
- ———. Oxford History of Board Games , Ch. 2.
- Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games , Ch. 8.
- Rules of Play , Ch. 15.
- Bateman, Chris, and Boon, Richard. 21st Century Game Design , Ch. 3.
- SES #: 11 · TOPICS: Workshop: Doris’ 1000 blank cards [DR] · READINGS: Rules of Play , Ch. 14.
- SES #: 12 · TOPICS: Lecture: card and guessing games [PT] · READINGS: (none)
- SES #: 13 · TOPICS: Lecture: information [PT] · READINGS: Rules of Play , Ch. 16 and 17.
- SES #: 14 · TOPICS: Workshop: initial presentation poker deck game, playtest to get feedback, and suggest changes [all] · READINGS: Parlett, David. A History of Card Games , Ch. 3-4 and 6.
- SES #: 15 · TOPICS: Workshop: racing games (Parcheesi, Life, Goose, Mille Bournes) [CFV] · READINGS: Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games , Ch. 1.
- SES #: 16 · TOPICS: Lecture: racing games [CFV] · READINGS: Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games , Ch. 3 and 5.
- SES #: 18 · TOPICS: Lecture: space games [CFV] · READINGS: Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games , Ch. 11, 12, and 16.
- SES #: 19 · TOPICS: Guest lecture, Denis Dyack · READINGS: (none)
- SES #: 20 · TOPICS: Workshop: Go, Chess, Xiangqi, Hasami Shogi, Draughts [PT] · READINGS: (none)
- Rules of Play , Ch. 19.
- Poundstone, William. “Game Theory.” Game Design Reader , p. 382.
- Rules of Play , Ch. 18.
- SES #: 23 · TOPICS: Workshop: board game playtest · READINGS: (none)
- Rules of Play , Ch. 21.
- Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games , Ch. 4.
- Sniderman, Stephen. “Unwritten Rules,” and DeKoven, Bernard. “Changing the Game.” Game Design Reader , pp. 476 and 518.
- SES #: 25 · TOPICS: Guest lecture, Marc LeBlanc · READINGS: Piccione, Peter A. “In Search of the Meaning of Senet.”
- SES #: 26 · TOPICS: Workshop: LAN party (conflict, competition, and cooperation) [PT] · READINGS: Rules of Play , Ch. 20.
- Rules of Play , Ch. 8 and 13.
- SES #: 28 · TOPICS: Lecture: abstraction and simulation [all] · READINGS: Rules of Play , Ch. 27.
- Rules of Play , Ch. 28.
- Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games , Ch. 3.
- Rules of Play , Ch. 26.
- Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeon Master’s Guide , 1st ed.
- 31 · Guest lecture, Sam Ford: wrestling, meaning, and symbols · Rules of Play , Ch. 25.
- Halpern, Charna, et al. Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation . Colorado Springs, CO: Meriwether Publishing, 1994, pp. 59-63. ISBN: 9781566080033.
- Orbanes, Philip E. “Learning the Game: 1898-1910.” Chapter 2 in The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers, from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit . Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2003. ISBN: 9781591392699.
- The textbook for this class will be:
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: One subject in Comparative Media Studies or permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-3-6 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2010
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2008
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.