COMP150 Game Design

LESSON #1: Intro to Courseand Brainstorming Mechanics

College Instruction:

Animation and Workshops

Game Design and Production

Game Design: New Ways To Think

Game Design: New Ways To Think

Jesse Schell & Jane McGonigal

Solved Problems

Flow & Fieroblissful productivity victory over huge odds

Game Class Projects

• First month: weekly game design exercises, new teams each week.

• Week 4: choose final digital game concepts and teams, 2 weeks of preproduction

• 8 weeks of production, two weeks of final touches and marketing materials

First Month: Board, Card, and Spacial Games

Who Is Your Audience?

Kids games are just like adult games, right?

Nope: kids touch differently: BELOW the target

Nope: kids comprehend differently:No breakout menus!

Early concepts for “DinoTrucks”

by Yaya Play Games

Kids game with only overlay menus:

Final concepts iPad game for kids “DinoTrucks” by Yaya Play Games

Week 1: The Audience is You

• Trust your own sense of fun to start.• LISTEN to your colleagues, your testers, and

yourself

What is a Game?

Jesse Schell:• Game design is creating play experiences.• Game design is about decision making.– Fun is pleasure + surprises– Play is manipulation to satisfy curiosity– A toy is an object you play with– A good to is fun to play with.– A game is a problem-solving activity, approached with

a playful attitude

Play ExperiencesWhat is under our design control, and what is not?

Penny Arcade comic by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik

What is a Game?

Jane McGonigal• Voluntary engagement with unnecessary

obstacles

Optional Class Game: Siggy Search“SIGGY SEARCH” is a game for the first three weeks of classTO PLAY: Get the initials of every student in this course, under their names. The first five students to get all 32 signatures by the start of the fourth week of class will be crowned Rulers of Shmooze.TO GET A SIGNATURE: Outside of classtime, ask a classmate one of the following four questions, and receive an answer of about 2-3 minutes in length. There are no wrong answers, as long as they are thoughtful.1. What was one of your best game experiences? Tell the story!2. For whom in your life do you most want to make a game? Why? What kind of

interactivity do you think they would enjoy?3. What is a problem/source of misery in your schools, your homes, your

communities, the United States, or the larger world that you wish could be improved with a game? What would it be like if it was improved?

4. What is one of the most interesting things you have learned at Tufts, in a class or out, prior to this semester?

Optional Class Game: Siggy Search

• What are the unnecessary obstacles?

• How would playing this game help you in this course, if you choose to play it?

METHOD 1: Brainstorming Mechanics With Toys

story-driven design:

mechanic-driven design:

METHOD 1: Brainstorming Mechanics With Toys

story-driven design:

Immersion, flavor, directs attention to elements

mechanic-driven design:

How you play: how you move, collect assets, and achieve a goal

METHOD 1: Brainstorming Mechanics With Toys

story-driven design: when it is bad, it’s BAD

mechanic-driven design:

METHOD 1: Brainstorming Mechanics With Toys

story-driven design: good

mechanic-driven design:

METHOD 1: Brainstorming Mechanics With Toys

story-driven design:

mechanic-driven design: GREAT

Story vs Mechanic example:

What is the Story?

What is the Mechanic?

Portal’s start: Narbacular Drop

Originally a very different story, same basic mechanic

Example #2: What is the Mechanic?

Why a Square Path?

“Circular” path = continuous play

In Monopoly, players change the board with every turn around it.

Change theme and tweak mechanic

EXAMPLE: Players are infiltrating a villain’s volcano lair, and the path is precarious series of stones which have a tendency to flip over when a player jumps way from

them, revealing lava. This every turn changes the board. Don’t touch the… etc.

Now for the Exercise: Teams of 3, 3 boards and a bag per team

BOARD GAME EXERCISE: Toy Mechanic Brainstorming• INTRO (10 minutes): Everyone gets into teams of 3-4 people. Introduce yourselves.

Where are you from? What are some of your favorite games? This can be board games, video games, sports--any kind of game.

• CHOOSE BOARD (5 minutes): As a team, choose one of the boards. Do not worry about the choice. Just choose one.

• MECHANIC DESIGN (30 minutes): Open your bag of pieces, and think about how those pieces could be used on your board. Do you want player pieces? If so, how will they move? What assets will you collect, and what do they do for the player when the player gets them? How might the player interact with other players? What is the goal of the game, and what are different ways of achieving it?

• INITIAL RULES (30 minutes): As a team experiment with ideas until you have a starting system of player movement, asset collection, and goals. Practice “Yes, And” with your team—do not dismiss any ideas—write them down, and discuss which set of ideas you want to try and test first!

• TESTING (20 minutes): PLAY THE GAME. Discuss what is fun and what could be more fun. Adjust the parameters (rules) of the game. PLAY AGAIN. Discuss and adjust again. PLAY AGAIN.

• THEME (15 minutes): Come up with a theme for the game: a story to immerse your players and focus attention to mechanics.

Game Example: Trolls and TrufflesMade in Paul Schuytema’s workshop, GDC 2003

MECHANIC: All players start in one circle. Roll to move, lines = # roll to cross. Land on pig’s circle to collect chip and roll to move pig. Land on opponent’s circle to steal chips and send back to

start. When all chips collected, player with the most chips wins THEME: Sibling Trolls chase a pig around the forest to collect

truffles to feed Father Troll and win his inheritance.

Due Next WeekHOMEWORK #1: As a team, revise the design from class or create a new board game that is playable in 10-15 minutes. Play the game multiple times to find ways to tweak the rules for more surprises, more “Flow” (productivity) and “Fiero” (victory against odds) Type up the final rules, clean up the board/ token materials, and bring the game to class ready to play.ALSO: Read Schell’s Art of Game Design Chapters 4-6 (pp40-74) on Game Elements.

Have a Great Week!

And don’t forget to email us with questions:

Instructor: JASON WISERJason.Wiser@Tufts.edu

Available an hour after class and daily email.

TA: MIKE SHAHMichael.Shah@Tufts.edu

Lab hours: Wednesdays 4:30-5:45