General description

This study module introduces students to the nature of game design methods and processes. The study module presents skills and practices needed in understanding game development and games as designed artefacts.

Learning outcomes

After completing the study module, the student is able to:
- understand the game industry ecosystem and outline the special issues in game development
- identify different forms and practices in commercial and non-commercial game development
- understand the importance of iteration for game development
- generate, concretize, transform, develop, test and document game ideas in a short time period
- act as part of production team and understand different production roles
- understand the role and relevance of creativity and ideas for game development
- identify and apply the basics elements of usability, playability and user experience within the context of game development
- to use models, tools and methods for design and evaluation in game development

Contents

Game industry ecosystem; game production roles; game design goals and practices; game genres and design conventions; games as systems; game experience; innovation and creativity in game design; game ideation; game ideation methods and the role of ideas for the production; conceptualization techniques for games; iteration in game development; prototyping; game testing; evaluation methods; usability and playability in games; usability and playability heuristics in games; documentation in game design process.

Teaching methods

Teaching method	Contact	Online
Lectures
Exercises

Teaching language

English

Evaluation

Numeric 1-5.

Further information

Literature:
- Fullerton, T. (2014) Game Design Workshop. 3rd Edition. Morgan & Kaufmann.
- Anthropy, A. & Clark, N. (2014) A Game Design Vocabulary. Exploring the Foundational Principles Behind Good Game Design.
- A Selection of Articles

Belongs to following study modules