UC Berkeley Department of Film Studies > Film Studies 181
GAME DESIGN METHODS
Course Information
Introductory Game Development production course, teamwork required. Meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 PM to 4 PM in Kroeber Hall 295. Instructor: Greg Niemeyer, Course Assistant: Nathan Finney
Course Requirements
Lab fee is has increased to $100.00 for access to hardware, software and course servers, working knowledge of OS X computer operating system and passing grade in prerequisite courses Art 23 AC or FS 25.
Learning Goals
In this studio course, students apply analytical tools of critical theory and tools of creative invention to game design, in particular electronic games. Beyond the framework of games as an audio-visual media experience, students analyze games as loci of performance, complete with performers, texts, media assets, and audiences. Course texts range from Schiller, F. and Piaget, J. to Juul, J. and offer a basis for research. In the second half of the semester. students will apply theoretical principles of game studies to practical game design. Methods used include extensive game modification, abstract game design, iterative game design and game-based learning, and will culminate in implementations of student game designs. These final projects may involve casual electronic games, using simple programming languages and electronic circuits, board games, or alternate reality, mixed world games.
Students explore the performative aspects of games first through intense theoretical and historical work, then through some emulation work as we rebuild versions of the classic video game Pong, and finally by designing our own, digital or analog game for a specific audience. The course concludes with a game show final. All work in the first phase of the course will be published online for easy mutual review and linking. During the second phase of the course, the Pong emulation, they will learn the basic elements of planning and developing a very simple video game. In the final, most creative phase, we each build our own game from scratch, applying both the theoretical and practical aspects of what they learned so far to implement our own game ideas for other people to perform.
Teaching Methods
This course focuses on teaching through action. Rather than getting the assignment "right", students engage with materials on a personal level, and evaluate course materials against their own experiences with games. Experimentation, exploration and of course play are the main vectors of learning. Instead of leaving the body behind, students will often questinon games from an embodiment perspective. Consequently, assignments are primarily graded for the degree of completion of the work, not for the nature of the content.
Course Materials
Students will read three main texts in this course. They will also study manuals for the programming/scripting language Processing (similar to Javascript, very easy), and for some electronics work, including minimal soldering. The course fee includes an Arduino board for each student. The three main texts are:
These texts need to be ordered online, there are no pre-orderde copies at the bookstore. All electronics will be ordered by the course assistant in time for phase 2 of our course.
Grading
All assignments are graded as pass/fail. Passing assignments are delivered on time and fullfill all the parameters of the assignment. The final grade is A multiplied by the ratio of passed assignments to given assignments (4.0 *(Passed/Given) = A).