Assignment Brief

MODULE:

Design Masterclass

RATIONALE:

This module will provide an opportunity for students to work on a game related design brief supplied by a commercial company. The module serves as an opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge gained so far on the degree to a commercial brief and to achieve innovative and sophisticated outcomes. The type of design brief may vary from year to year. For example, a brief requiring a game to be designed within very specific constraints (for example, limited colours or screen size) or an abstract brief requiring students to design a physical game or a brief to design an Alternate Reality Game. For the last three academic years a design brief has been supplied by Sony Cambridge. 

AIMS:

• To provide an opportunity to apply relevant skills to a specific design brief.
• To provide an opportunity for students to work within an iterative design process.
• To enable students to present their designs in a professional and engaging manner.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Be able to evaluate the requirements of a commercial design brief.
• Be able to construct a relevant and innovative design based on the requirements of a design brief.
• Be able to revise designs based on feedback from multiple sources.
• Be able to present their work efficiently and professionally, in a manner which engages the audience.

OVERVIEW:

We are delighted that once again Sony Cambridge have agreed to supply a Non-Digital game making brief for the students of UCS. The brief will be at Anglia Polytechnic University, early in 2012.  The Master class will end with those students (number to be determined) who, in the opinion of the module tutors, fulfill the brief most successfully, being given the opportunity to present their work to Sony at a date to be determined.

Games design students should be able to demonstrate an excellent working knowledge of game mechanics and the dynamics and aesthetic outcomes they give rise to. One of the best ways that this can be demonstrated is through the development of a fully working non digital game produced to a very high standard of finish. This brief will allow students to undertake further background reading and research into the development of a non digital games that builds on the work they have undertaken in their first two years of study and to iterate an appropriate response.

INDICATIVE CONTENT:-

The responsibilities of the games designer, the iterative design process revisited, game matching, game sorting, game seeking, game managing, game balancing, rule writing, craftsmanship,

Learning and Teaching Strategies

The module will be taught in a series of workshop sessions. Each week there are readings that students are required to complete, these have been uploaded onto Wolsey and each reading is accompanied by a question for discussion. Each pre Christmas session will begin with a review of the reading and the contribution it can make to our understanding of the design of non digital games. This will be followed a by a practical game making workshop. The workshops in the early part of the semester are designed to orient students to the practical components of non digital design and to prepare them to undertake the design brief.

ASSIGNMENT HAND OUT DATE: Tuesday 1^st November 2011

PRESENTATION DATE: Friday 16th March 2012 at 1.30pm

For this assignment you will demonstrate the physical game you have created based on the brief from SCEE.  The demonstration should be planned for twenty minutes. You must include the following elements:- 

• You need to introduce the audience to the core game play mechanics which are being replicated in the physical game.
• You should also provide an overview of how the physical game has been iterated over the course of the project.
• You can present this in the form of a powerpoint and supplementary assets such as a concept/design document
• Your presentations should also include a demonstration of the game, including giving members of the panel the opportunity to play your game, either from the start, or from a point in the game that best illustrates the mechanics / dynamics / aesthetics you wish to highlight.
•  The game will be presented to a high standard please see. Schrieber ‘The Final Iteration’ http://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/level-18-the-final-iteration/
• You will then submit your deliverables.

DELIVERABLES WILL INCLUDE:-

• Powerpoint Presentation.
• Game with full rule set.
• Supplementary Assets.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

• Evidence of ability to assess the requirements of a design brief.
• Prioritisation of tasks which have been identified from a design brief.
• Formulation of a appropriately detailed design document which meets the requirements of a design brief.
•  Evidence of ability to apply user feedback into an iterative design strategy.
• Presentation of the artefact in an effective, professional and engaging manner. See the following advice.

KEY TEXT:

Gregory Trefry, 2010 Casual Game Design : Designing Play For The Gamer In All Of Us.  (IGDA Morgan Kaufmann)

ADDITIONAL READING:

Brenda Braithwaite & Ian Schreiber., 2009 Challenges For Games Designers : Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers. Charles River Media

Craig Brannon (2009) ‘Come Out Come Out, Where Ever You Are’ : The Secret To Creating a Great Hidden Object Game’ in Casual Connect (Fall 2009 36-38)

Ed Bryne (2005) ‘Building a Simple Level’ Game Level Design. (Charles River Media)

Jacob Davenport Writing Game Rules  Accessed 7/9/11

http://www.playagaingames.com/games/writing_rules/

Scott Kim (2003) The Puzzle Makers Survival Kit

http://www.scottkim.com/thinkinggames/GDC03/index.html

Scott Kim (2008) ‘What Is A Puzzle?’ in T.Fullerton,  Game Design Workshop : A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games 35-39 (Morgan Kaufmann)

Dave Perry & Rusel DeMaria (2009) ‘Puzzles’ chpt 27 ‘Game Design A Brainstorming Toolbox’  (Cengage)John Rose (2008) Fewer Mechanics, Better Games Gamasutra  http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3621/fewer_mechanics_better_game.php

Jesse Schell (2008)  'Game Mechanics Support Puzzles'  in The Art of Game Design : A Book of Lenses  pge 207ff (Morgan Kaufmann)

Ian Schreiber (2009) Game Design Concepts: An Experiment In Games Design and Teaching Level 16 & 18 Available From

http://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/level-18-the-final-iteration/

J.Seigel (2007) How To Write Rules Without Confusing People http://numberless.net/blog/2007/04/09/how-to-write-rules-without-confusing-people/

Emily Short (2008) Opinion: Why Time-Management Games Ought To Be Great At Story-telling (And Why They Mostly Aren't) Gamasutra

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/18769/Opinion_Why_TimeManagement_Games_Ought_To_Be_Great_At_Storytelling_And_Why_They_Mostly_Arent.php

Mike Stout (2010)  Evaluating Game Mechanics For Depth Gamasutra

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5901/evaluating_game_mechanics_for_depth.php

'Mike Wabshall (2009)   'Seeking and Finding a Quirky Fun Game: Discoveries Along The Way To Making Picureka Museum Mayhem' in Casual Connect Magazine (Fall 2009)

Eric Zimmerman, Play as Research: The Iterative Design Process
Final Draft: July 8, 2003

Available at: http://www.ericzimmerman.com/texts/Iterative_Design.html