Department of Cognitive Science

Game Design

44828 COGS 2520-01 Tuesdays, Fridays 10:00AM - 11:50AM
44926 COGS 2520-02 Tuesdays, Fridays 2:00PM - 3:50PM

Sage 2510

Instructor: Marc Destefano
Office: Sage 3204
Phone: 276-3738
Email: destem [at] rpi [dot] edu
Office Hours: Mondays 1-3

Book: The Art of Game Design, by Jesse Schell

Course Description: Topics include game theory, logic, human frailty, role playing, artificial intelligence, kinesics, theater, system dynamics, and human-computer interaction. We will look at video games from the viewpoint of the user and the psychology it entails, as well as from the designer as they attempt to make their game engaging.

Objective: My objective is to teach the fundamentals of game design, but also to serve as a practical primer to anyone interested in entering the gaming industry. In the beginning, topics will center around mathematical abstractions of games, and will progress toward actual games - role playing, board, and electronic. We will spend time dealing with game design as it is done in the real world, with big-budget games. Game design and construction is a huge topic, requiring many fields of knowledge. Besides programming skills, it is important to understand how to get the reaction you want from the end user, how to make an interface as transparent as possible, and how to look ahead in solving the difficult problems of the future, especially those involving AI.

Course Policies

Preparation and Attendance: This is largely a lecture course, but there will be a great deal of discussion. Attendance is mandatory, as there will be material covered in class that is not found in the course book. Comments and questions relevant to the course material are encouraged.

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 defined 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: The graded assignments for this class will include five homework assignments, each of which will be a 2-page-long paper or a short design project. There will be one test, which will consist of multiple choice, short answer, and short essays (1 to 2 paragraphs). You will run one two-hour roleplaying adventure for three of your classmates, as well as participate in three other roleplaying adventures. The final project will be a 10-12 page Game Design Document accompanied by a pitch-style presentation. All papers should be typed in 10-point font, with 1-inch margins and spacing of one-and-a-half. Your final grade is determined as follows:

Assignment	Percentage of Grade
Participation	10%
Homework 1	10%
Homework 2	10%
Homework 3	10%
Homework 4	10%
Homework 5	10%
Test	10%
Roleplaying Assignment	15%
Final Project	15%

Schedule

Week #	Dates	Topic
1	Sept 1, 4	Orientation, Towards a Formal Understanding
2	Sept 8, 11	People, Frameworks, Worlds
3	Sept 15, 18	Puzzles, User Interface
4	Sept 22, 25	Balancing, Level Design
5	Sept 29, Oct 2	Dollar Auction, Biggest Number, Social Dilemmas
6	Oct 6, 9	Bluffing, Competing for the Common Good, Test
7	Oct 16	Storytelling
8	Oct. 20, 23	Character, Meaningful Play
9	Oct. 27, 29	Roleplaying
10	Nov 3, 6	Roleplaying
11	Nov 10, 13	System Dynamics
12	Nov 17, 20	Economies, Models, Process
13	Nov 24	Daikatana
14	Dec 1, 4	Spaces, The Pitch
15	Dec. 8, 11	Final Presentations

A date in blue indicates a test.

Course notes

Additional Readings:

Formal Abstract Design Tools - Doug Church
Games and Design Patterns - Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen
Game Analysis: Centipede - Richard Rouse III

Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier - Edward Castronova
The Design Evolution of Magic: The Gathering - Richard Garfield

Adventure as a Video Game: Adventure for the Atari 2600 - Warren Robinett
Eastern Front - Chris Crawford

The Lessons of Lucasfilm’s Habitat - F. Randall Farmer and Chip Morningstar
The Cabal: Valve’s Design Process for Creating Half-Life - Ken Birdwell

Intuition and Intellect: Desonstructing the Design of Oasis - Marc LeBlanc

The Point - Brian Moriarty

Games Need You - Jonathan Blow

Selected readings from Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth

Recommended Feeds:

• Lost Garden
• Yehuda
• Board Games with Scott
• Only a Game
• Game Tycoon
• Steve Swink