Department of Cognitive Science

Game Mechanics

96931 COGS-4320-01

Tuesdays, Fridays 2:00PM - 3:50PM
Sage 2510

Instructor: Marc Destefano
Office: Sage 3204
Email: destem [at] the usual
Office Hours: Mondays 1-3

Book: Game Feel, by Steve Swink

Course Description: This is a class in ludology - the study of games before the marketing team decided they should be more like movies. We will deal with games almost exclusively from the perspective of rules and system dynamics. Topics will include luck vs. skill, cooperation vs. competition, game balancing, and kinesiology. This class is not about graphics, sound, characters, or story.

Learning Outcomes: The proper analysis, criticism, design, prototyping and playtesting of games. We will primarily deal with classic and fundamental gaming media such as cards and dice, and then move into software scripting. The programming you did for Game Design last semester will be sufficient.

Course Policies

Preparation and Attendance: This is a hands-on course. Attendance is mandatory, and not just a matter of merely showing up. You will be constantly testing and tuning games, which will require your presence, and the ability to work with other people. The number one skill game designers need is communication. You will be allowed one unexcused absence, any others must be excused with a letter from the Dean of Students Office. Missing a class does not excuse you from any assignments given that day.

Academic Honesty: Student relationships are built on mutual respect and trust. Students must be able to trust that their teachers have made responsible decisions about the structure and content of the course and that they are conscientiously making their best effort to help students learn. Teachers must be able to trust that students do their work conscientiously and honestly making their best effort to learn. Acts that violate this mutual respect and trust undermine the educational process. They counteract our very reason for being here at Rensselaer and will not be tolerated. Any student who engages in any form of academic dishonesty will receive an F in this course and will be reported to the Dean of Students for further disciplinary action. The Rensselaer Handbook defines various forms of Academic Dishonesty and procedures for responding to them. All of these forms are violations of trust between students and teachers. Please familiarize yourself with this portion of the handbook. In addition to the violations listed within the handbook, I also do not tolerate multiple submissions of the same assignment to different classes.

Gender-fair language: Because the way we speak and write affects the way we think, everyone in this course is expected to use gender-fair language in all discussions and writing. A guide to gender-fair language is available from the Writing Center and from the Library.

Grading: Most classes will have homework assignments, which will be due at the next class meeting. These will consist of a number of design exercises and challenges. In addition, there will be three major design projects. The first will be primarily chance-based, centered around dice; the second will be more open-ended towards its balance of luck and skill. Finally, there will be an individual final project which will be presented to the class during the final exam period. Late homeworks are penalized at 10% per 24 hours, starting at the end of the class in which the assignment was due.

Factor	Percentage of Grade
Homework Assignments	50%
Dice Project	15%
Piecepack Project	15%
Final Project	20%

Exercises will be taken from the following books:

"Challenges for Game Designers" - Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber
"The Complete Wargames Handbook" - Jim Dunnigan
"Balance of Power" - Chris Crawford
"Game Design Workshop" - Tracy Fullerton
"A Gamut of Games" - Sid Sackson
"Dice Games Properly Explained" - Reiner Knizia
"Card Games Properly Explained" - Arnold Marks

Class Schedule

Jan 24	Paper Conversion
Jan 27	The Path
Jan 31	Luck, Skill, Pattern II
Feb 3	Chance / Probability, Betting Games
Feb 7	Category Dice Games, Dice Project Assigned
Feb 10	Finishing Dice - Sid Sackson to the Rescue
Feb 14	Dice Project Prototype Day
Feb 17	Whist / Spades, Dice Project Due
Feb 21	Fluxx, Loco, Magic: the Gathering
Feb 24	Social Dilemmas
Feb 28	Mechanics of Social Games
Mar 2	Focus
Mar 6	Asymmetric games, Origins of World War I
Mar 9	New Eleusis
Mar 20	Network, Piecepack Assigned
Mar 23	The Bullwhip Effect
Mar 27	Piecepack I
Mar 30	Piecepack II
Apr 3	Piecepack III
Apr 6	Piecepack IV
Apr 10	Iterative Tuning - Us vs. It
Apr 13	System Dynamics, Final Project Assigned
Apr 20	Balance
Apr 24	Virtual Sensation - Introduction, Model Human Processor
Apr 27	Virtual Sensation - Input Metrics, ADSR Envelopes
May 1	Virtual Sensation - Super Mario Brothers, SMB64
May 4	Pygame review
May 8	Final Project Studio
May 9, 10	Zero Hour, 10AM-4PM
May 11th, 23:59:59	Final Project submitted to LMS

Homework Assignments

Paper Conversion, due Jan 27

• Give a recap of your teams’ design evolution
• What aesthetics survived?
• What aesthetics cannot be prototyped in paper form?

The Path, due Jan 31

• 2-3 paragraph summary of the process you used to design your game
  
• Whether you started with a theme and developed mechanics, or the other way around, describe how you think the thought process would be different if you operated in the other direction

Pattern II, due 2/3

• List as many games that use inductive reasoning as you can think of
  
• Critique/Analysis:
  
  • For what kind of player is this game intended?
    
  • Discuss the virtues and flaws of the scoring system (including the “giving up” penalty)

Dice I, due 2/7

• Boston - how would the game aesthetics change if each round was worth 1 point?
  
• Why does Liar's Dice start each player with 5 dice? How would other numbers change the dynamics?
  
• How does the difficulty of Liar's Dice change as players lose dice? Does this mechanic improve the game?

Dice II (optional), due 2/10

• Prove the dealer’s cut on a “Miss” or a “Don’t Come” bet is ~1.4% (Remember - boxcars don’t count on first roll!)

Dice Project

• Design and develop a game featuring the use of one or more dice. The game may have other components, but the dice should be center stage
  
• Your game must have significant intrinsic value, meaning it will not rely on wagering of real money to make it interesting.
  
• Demonstrates triangularity (risk/reward balance) via probability
  
• You should evaluate your game based on how long it holds the players’ attention.
  
• Things to consider: Should your game have a theme? Who is your audience? Is your game understandable? Is it fun? Why is it fun?
• Due 2/14:
  • A working prototype that has been through at least two iterations of testing and revision. Bring it to class for group playtesting
• Due 2/17:
  • A finished game prototype (use a Ziploc bag or other secure container for pieces). Don’t bother with d6’s
    
  • Notes from your brainstorming, or whatever process you used to get to your initial idea
    
  • The initial set of rules
    
  • Written analysis of each of the playtests you conducted (note dates and times, and who played – even if it is just you), and the revisions you made
    
  • A final set of rules
    
  • An estimate of what this game would sell for in retail, if it were mass produced. Explain what you base this on.
    
  • Anything else you feel is relevant

Dice III, due 2/14

• Describe different strategies you employed in playing Solitaire Dice
  
• Are the number of spaces in each row of Can't Stop "proper"?
  
• Which game do you think came first? Why?

Cards I, due 2/21

• How did you take your partner’s bid into account when making your bid?
  
• How did you take your opponent’s bid into account when making your bid?
  
• Does the current score affect your bid? How?
  
• When would you intentionally let the other team win tricks?
  
• Describe how your play would change if your partner bid “Nil”

Modern Cards, due 2/28

• Compare and Contrast Set, Fluxx, Loco, Geschenkt!, and Magic in terms of:
  
  • Elegance
    
  • Character
    
• You can decide for yourself what these terms mean, but let me know what you’re going with

Origins of World War I, due 3/9

• In asymmetric games, how do you balance out power? Is it advantageous to have more PFs than other nations? How does this affect how other players treat you?
  
• Is there another country you would rather have played? Why?
  
• Should alliances be permanent? (Dunnigan says no, but Sackson thinks that makes alliances meaningless) Discuss realism vs. meaningfulness
  
• The “map” could have been as intricately detailed as a budget would allow. Would this make the game more fun?

Network, due 3/23

• What was your balance of offense vs. defense moves, percentage-wise?
  
• Player 1 has the advantage. What “privileges” can be given to player 2 to make the game more fair?
  
• Come up with a scoring system, such that the highest cumulative score after n games is the winner

Piecepack Project

You don’t have to use all the pieces, but you may not use any other pieces. You may not alter the pieces in any way
Create a Euro-style game using only the Piecepack game bits:

• 2, 3, or 4 players
  
• Playable in 20-30 minutes (a single game)
  
• Short setup time
  
• Simple rules, short learning curve
  
• At least as much cooperation as confrontation
  
• Contains strategic decision making along with measured randomness
  
• Minimal player downtime

Playtesting will happen on 3/27, 3/30, 4/3 and 4/6
Hand-ins due 4/13:

• Final ruleset (this comes first!)
  
• Initial ruleset
  
• A description of the evolution of the design, including suggestions you incorporated (and why) and suggestions you rejected (and why)
  
• Strategies and dynamics featured in gameplay that you found interesting

Beer Distribution, due 3/27

• Did you feel yourself controlled by forces in the system from time to time?
  
• Did you find yourself blaming the person next to you for your problems?
  
• What accounts for the dramatic fluctuations in the inventory levels?
  
• How might these fluctuations be mitigated?
  
• How did you try to outsmart the system?

Us vs. It, due 4/13

• How does the drama manifest?
  
• What creates the uncertainty and the inevitability?
  
• Compare and contrast your initial and final designs for the robot
  
• When does the climax occur?
  
• What is the role of the Self-Destruct mechanic?
  
• What aesthetic goals can AI serve?

Orisinal, due 4/27

• Play the following games at Orisinal:
  • The Hatchlings
    
  • Sunny Day Sky
    
  • Winterbells
    
  • High Delivery
    
  • Starry Night
    
  • The Pond
    
  • Fishball
    
  • The Snowrider
    
  • What Comes Around
    
  • Bauns
    
  • Pocketfull of Stars
    
  • Snowbowling
    
  • The Three Monkeys
    
  • Swordsman
    
  • Hold the Rope
    
  • Apple Season
• For each game, answer the following:
  • Describe how the game “feels.” Did it feel right or wrong? If wrong, why?
• In addition:
  • Were there any games where you felt compelled to reach the high score list? Why that particular game? (“Because I was good at it” is not a valid response)
    
  • Did the “cutesy” themes enhance or detract from the experience? Out of the Orisinal games, would any themes/mechanics be better if switched with another in the group?

Order of Control, due 5/1

• Draw a graph representing the displacement of a controller over time to get a 3rd-order system to travel from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible
  • 0th order – step input
  • 1st order – pulse input
  • 2nd order – bang-bang
  • 3rd order – ?

Asteroids

Super Scarfman

Jewel of Draconis source code

Python cheat sheet

Pygame cheat sheet