This module enables students to understand, critique, and create engaging entertainment and applied game designs as part of their research. It is organised into two components, Game Design Principles and Applied Game Design Research, each assessed separately. Game Design Principles uses rapid experimental making and critiquing of analogue games to introduce key concepts, components, and methods of game design and train creative skills. Applied Game Design Research combines lectures, discussion, and an applied game design sprint to engage students in critical reflection on how games affect change in desired and undesired ways, and introduces them to the use of applied game design frameworks to develop an applied game for a societal issue.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Autumn Term 2022-23 to Spring Term 2022-23 |
To develop a grounded understanding of when, why, and how games research can usefully inform practice by becoming literate in key concepts, aspects, and methods of entertainment and applied game design and gaining a first-hand appreciation for the complexity, diversity, and reality of game design
To enable students to make games as part of conducting or communicating their research
To develop and practise creative and critical skills in game-making
To learn to independently and collaboratively produce entertainment and applied game prototypes and deliverables communicating design decisions
To foster a critical awareness of how game design impacts individuals and society, enabling students to conduct responsible innovation in games
Subject Content
Apply key game design concepts in discussing game designs
Apply key frameworks and theories to reason about potential individual and societal effects of a given game design
Develop, select, and revise fitting game design ideas for a target briefing
Create concise, useful, usable game design documentation
Independently choose and perform key game design methods such as play testing to advance a game concept
Independently create and iterate playable game prototypes
Critically assess the utility of a given knowledge formalisation or tool against personal game design practice
Academic and Graduate Skills
Effectively collaborate with diverse team members in a design process
Communicate and justify design ideas and decisions to specialist and non-specialist audiences
Critique designs and how different design aspects contribute to their overall experience
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Students should receive feedback within twenty working days. Working days exclude University closure days (‘customary leave’ days between Christmas and New Year and public holidays/statutory holidays.’)
Schell, J. (2019). The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. 3rd ed. AK Peters/CRC Press.
Fullerton, T. (2018). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. 4th ed. CRC Press.
Culyba, S. H. (2018). The Transformational Framework. A Process Tool for the Development of Transformational Games. ETC Press.