Course Outline
- Professor: Jonathan Lessard (jonathan.lessard@concordia.ca)
- Write for an appointment (a few days in advance!)
- Location: EV 5.635
- Schedule: Wednesdays 13h30-17h30 from September 3rd to November 27th
This course introduces students to experimental game design, especially through the creation of their own unconventional and expressive digital games. A theoretical and critical understanding of play and games is established through lectures, discussion, game playing, game making and critiques. Students make multiple prototype games in order to better understand relationships between design, technology and the resulting player experience.
- Consolidating foundational game design knowledge
- Flexing the game design muscle
- Broadening game literacy and exemplar repertoire
- Instilling reflexivity in the design process
- Sensitizing to social, cultural and material factors in game design.
- Increasing fluency with digital game making tools
- Improving game idea communication and critique
- Possibly other collateral outcomes.
- 45% In-class project updates
- 20% Genre analysis presentation
- 20% Project documentation and report
- 15% Project demo
This class is first an opportunity for students to conceive and develop a self-initiated game (or generally playful interactive piece) project with the support and mentorship of a professor and peers. In contrast to typical project-based courses, this studio acknowledges that all projects mature at different paces and not all fit nicely in the usual 13-week university semester format. This is why the focus of this assignment is on the design process and the evaluation is mostly made on progress made. There will be opportunities in class to iterate at the ideation level and prototype aspects of the project without necessarily reaching a finalized state by the end of the semester. The finale deliverable is a "demo" that can take many forms but must communicate the game idea and current state of progress in the most effective way.
This assignment can be either individual or team-based.
Every four weeks (3 times in the semester), students will have to report on their progress. This will take the form of a prepared public 5 minute presentation that will communicate the project's current design and development states. It will be accompanied by sketched, mock-ups, videos of implemented behaviors, charts, reference material, and whatever is necessary to convey the creator's current thinking on the piece.
These updates will have to show evidence of the student's response to the professor's personalized requests. Depending on the proposition, students might be asked to prototype some aspect of their concept, design visual maquettes, research and analyze a number of games, etc.
These presentations will be followed by comments from the professor and peers, as well as requests for the next iteration.
Each presentation will be worth 15% of the final grade and evaluated on the basis of these criteria:
- Quality of presentation
- Evidence of effort and progress
- Satisfaction of specific requests
- Sensitivity to game design issues
At the end of the semester, students will deliver a report documenting and reflecting on the whole design process up to date.
To facilitate the documentation and tracking of development, students are required to use source control (git or other) from the onset and make the repository available to the professor.
The final report is an editable text document of ~5 pages single space reflecting on the design process of the project. This should minimally cover three "moments" (the project updates), discussing the evolution of general design objectives, how these changed or not (and why) while "conversing with the situation"; the design methods used to progress (documents, pitches, diagrams, sketches, mockups, prototypes, etc.) and how they informed design changes; and a final evaluation of the state of the design, an appreciation of its value and future developments (justified).
Evaluation criteria are:
- Clarity of expression
- Sensibility to game design
The project's final deliverable is a "demo" showcasing the game project in the most efficient way given the current state of development. The required format is a single page web site inspired of Kickstarter campaigns. Depending on the material available this can make use of videos (actual gameplay capture, mockup or inspirational montage), images (screen captures, sketches, explanatory diagrams, etc), animated GIFs (to illustrate dynamic behaviors), links to a playable prototype, and a series of efficient text sections. The page can cover (not exhaustively: focus on what is relevant and impactful for your project): main concept, world-building and narrative trajectory, characters, visual signature, gameplay concepts, "like these other games but", list of features, etc.
Evaluation criteria are:
- Clarity (we get it easily and quickly)
- Appeal (the presentation makes the project attractive)
In-class activities will be structured around the discovery and analysis of a number of genres (or subgenres) well suited to small teams of game makers. The objective is to complement the freeform game project assignment with a series of constrained design exercises. The notion of game genre itself will be problematized and discussed in class. These might include (not exhaustively):
- Minimalist games
- Art games
- Autobiographical games
- Metaphorical games
- Newsgames
- Socially engaged games
- VR games
- AR games
- Deep simulations
- Interactive theater / improv
- Board games
- Escape rooms
- Idle games
- Interactive fiction
- etc.
To add substance to the discussion, teams of students will be assembled and assigned a genre to study and analyze. This will entail researching the games brought together by the label, playing a number of them, reading what the press, players and possibly scholars are writing on them, and communicating this to the class. A number of obligatory games and papers will be assigned by the professor. The objective is to try to grasp and convey the formal, cultural, technical and/or social continuities that make these categories meaningful.
These presentations will be made by groups of 2-3 students, will have a duration of 20 minutes, and will be accompanied by a slide presentation (to be submitted). They will be evaluated against these criteria:
- Quality of presentation
- Quality of research
- Understanding of the formal and aesthetic parameters of the genre
Nothing like playing games together to "get" them, and analyze. As much as possible (considering the genre of games under scrutiny), games will be played and discussed in class.
When in-class game playing will not be possible, students might be asked to get acquainted with specific games outside the class.
The analyses of game genres will lead to in-class exercises of quick game design sessions. In teams, students will have to come up with a game concept that both meaningfully engages with a genre's typical parameters while also trying to add something fresh. These concepts will be "pitched" to the class through quickly put-together presentations making use of sketches, references, etc.
Most classes will have a buffer of free studio time during which students will be able to work on their project and discuss with the professor and peers. This will also be an opportunity for punctual technical workshops with game making tools when relevant to the given projects.
- The compulsory per semester departmental fee ($50) covering lab maintenance, workshops, and equipment borrowing privileges from the depot
- Students who plan to use the lab computers will need a CDA Account (45$) to access the lab and equipment
- Some research will entail buying or finding access to commercial games though the price range will remain reasonable.
- Basic familiarity with digital game making tools.
- Basic familiarity with game design concepts and practices.
Can be found here.
Specfic references or technical resources will be provided contextually in class. Students looking for additional material only have to ask the professor to find themselves immediately submerged in reading suggestions.
For more information on departmental course information and requirements (including fees, academic code of conduct, grading references) refer to the standardized syllabus