Department information

 

582328 From Game Design to Prototype Workshop (3 cr) Spring 2009

Lecturer Aki Järvinen and course coordinator Tomi Pasanen.
The course takes place between 11.-15.5.2009 in class B222 (when computers are needed we use B221).

The week-long course is an intensive workshop, which kicks off with an introduction to game design fundamentals, and rapidly proceeds to building simple prototypes of games. In addition to lectures, the workshop includes a number of practical exercises where the students will learn both so-called agile game development and game analysis. During the week the students will be working in groups, creating visualizations of various game mechanics and implementing them. Students with skills and interests in programming, animation, and game/interaction design should apply.

Monday 11.5 (5h + reading at home)

Theme: introduction to Game design

• 10-12 Lecture: Intro to Game Design & workshop
• 13-15 Exercise: Designing rules
• 15-16 Group formation & briefing into reading
• Home reading: Article "How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 days" (http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051026/gabler_01.shtml)
• Monday slides

Tuesday 12.5 (5h + home exercise)

Theme: Basics of Prototyping

• 10-12 Lecture: Game mechanics & Prototyping
• 13-15 Exercise: Preparing a paper prototype
• 15-16 Exercise: Brainstorming a digital prototype
• Home exercise: Specying a prototype idea into a template
• Tuesday slides

Wednesday 13.5. (5h)

Theme: Implementing game mechanics

• 10-12 Home exercise debrief and briefing for prototype implementation
• 13-16 Working in groups: Implementing the game mechanic
• Delivery guidelines

Thursday 14.5. (5h)

Theme: Iteration

• 10-12 Working in groups: Implementing the game mechanic
• 13-14 Playtesting across groups
• 14-16 Working in groups: Iterating the mechanics

Friday 15.5. (4h)

Theme: Evaluating results

• 10-12 Working in groups: Polishing the prototype
• 13-15 Presenting the results & debrief session

Output

Gravfly zip	Stack'd jar applet	Catfish jar	Bakteerit exe
Seedling by JAMZ jar http	Cat by Hypervisor jar	Temporal Escape by Legendary 4 zip	Cloud Control by Gang of Four zip http
The Revenge of Banana Flies jar	Everybody Loves the Ball Legends jgame-all.jar, gameproto.jar, applet http	Samurai Soup by Raisin Ninjas jar (run by java -jar SamuraiSoup.jar 1024 877)	Blubbering Fish by FruttiDiMare jar (run by java -Xms512m -Xmx512m -jar frutti.jar )