Syllabus

Readings

Required Texts:
The required texts for the course are below. Additional readings will be provided as links or PDFs, or are available online through the NYU Library.

Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
Play Matters, Miguel Sicart
Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies, Mark J.P. Wolf (Editor) and Bernard Perron (Editor)
Gameworlds: Virtual Media and Children’s Everyday Play, Seth Giddings
 
SCHEDULE
The semester is divided into five modules:

Module 1: Play (Week 1 – 2)
Module 2: Technological (Week 3 – 5)
Module 3: Spatial (Week 6 – 9)
Module 4: Social (Week 10 – 11)
Module 5: Expressive (Week 12 – 14)

Module 1: Play

This module introduces theoretical definitions for play and games, the building blocks for designing playable experiences, and four modes of structuring play toward a meaningful direction.
 

Week 1: Play

09/04 – 09/06

Class Introduction

  • Student Introductions
  • Class Overview
  • Course Themes
    • Structuring Play: Technological, Spatial, Social, Expressive
    • In-class Game Exercise
  • Assignments:
    • Mini-Project Part 1: “Play”,  DUE in class Thursday 09/06
      • Think of an everyday play experience that you have engaged in at some point. What was it? Where did it take place? What makes it “play” as opposed to some other kind of activity? Be ready to share and discuss the play experience in Thursday’s class.

Overview of Play

  • Class Details
    • Schedule, Class Logistics, Documenting Projects
  • Lecture: What is Play? Part 1
  • Aspects of Play
    • In-class Analysis: Discussion of Mini-Projects Part 1
  • Assignments:

Week 2: Structures for Play

09/011 – 09/12 (Tues/Wed due to holiday)

The Study of Play

Fundamental Elements of Games

Module 2: Technological

This module reiterates the abstract principles behind structuring a play experience and considers how practical aspects of a technological platform impact both the design of a game and the modes of play within it. The module covers a brief history of digital games and introduces a theoretical foundation for understanding digital games as both technological and cultural artifacts.

Week 3: Technology as a Game Platform

09/18 – 09/20

Nature of the Digital Platform

  • Lecture: Theoretical Models of Play on the Digital Platform
    • Rules and Systems
    • Game Mechanics
    • Interface and Interaction
  • In-Class Exercise
    • Designing Gameplay Mechanics
  • Assignments:
    • Writing Analysis: Technological, DUE before class on Tuesday 09/25
      • Part 2: Write a one-page analysis of the digital game that describes what you perceive the game is about, how the gameplay supports and engages this premise or argument. Consider how fundamental design elements are captured within the technological system, and where there is room for play within the structure of the game’s goals and objectives.
    • Readings for Next Class:
      • Ian Bogost, How to Talk About Videogames, “Introduction” (available in NYU online library as eBook)
      • Ian Bogost, How To Do Things With Videogames, “Media Microecology” (available in NYU online library as eBook)

Workshop: Javascript, p5.js and play.js

Week 4: Digital Play Experiences

09/25 – 09/27

Digital Games and Play

  • DUE: Writing Analysis: Technological
    • Class Discussion
  • Coding Workshop Part 1
    • p5.js / play.js
    • simple animation and navigation
  • Assignments:
    • Project: Technological, DUE Thursday 10/04
      • Brainstorming session: as a class come up with a one-word theme for the project
      • Using p5.js / play.js design a simple game based on the theme
      • Post a project proposal by the end of the week
    • Readings for Next Class:
      • The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies, Part I: Technological Aspects, Chapter 1: “Artifact” (available in NYU online library as eBook)

Workshop: More p5.js and play.js

  • Lecture: A Brief History of Digital Games (Early Years)
  • Class Discussion: Games as Artifacts
  • Making a Prototype: Paper to Digital
    • Defining Rules for Play
    • Gameplay Mechanics
    • Playtesting prototypes
  • Coding Workshop Part 2
    • p5.js / play.js
    • Working with gameplay mechanics
    • Considerations for the Game Interface
  • Assignments:
    • Project Work:
      • Prepare a paper prototype of your game; playtest the game
      • Document both the prototype and the playtest session and add it your project proposal
      • Get started on the digital form of your game
    • Readings for Next Class: None

Week 5: Digital Game Project

10/02 – 10/04

Playtest Sessions and Project Work

  • Project Work (first half of class)
  • Playtest Sessions (second half of class)
  • Assignments:
    • Finish up Project: Technological
    • Readings for Next Class: None

Project Presentations

  • DUE Project: Technological
  • Present Projects and Group Critique
  • Assignments:
    • Project Documentation, DUE Thursday 10/04 by Midnight
      • Post completed project documentation and link to game files (share folder via email if necessary)
    • Readings for Next Class:
      • Seth Giddings, Gameworlds “Introduction” and Chapter 1: “Virtual and Actual Worlds” (available in NYU online library as eBook)
      • Sicart, Play Matters, Chapter on “Playgrounds” (available in NYU online library as eBook)

 

Module 3: Spatial

The focus of this module is on games as systems for meaning, and approaches the topic through a comparison of actual and virtual play spaces as visual representations of fictional worlds.

Week 6: Playworlds and Meaningful Play

10/09 – 10/11

Spaces for Play: Virtual and Actual

  • Lecture: Comparing Spaces for Play
    • Space as Systems of Meaning
    • Case Studies: Analog Games and Screen-based Games
  • In-Class Exercise
    • Translating Between Worlds
  • Assignments:
    • Writing Analysis: Spatial,  DUE Thursday 10/18
      • Choose a 2D or 3D digital game to analyze. Make sure you you are able to play it for at least 3-4 hours. In your analysis, consider how games are understood in terms of time and space and then examine the digital space of the chosen game for how effectively it presents a fictional world that generates its own version of reality. How does it draw from the lived world and what does it alter or introduce to create a space that challenges our expectations? How does the design of the space impact gameplay and narrative?
    • Readings for Next Class:
      • The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies, Part II Formal Aspects: “Dimensionality”, John Sharp (available in NYU online library as eBook)

Workshop: Unity

  • Discussion: Screen Space and Dimensionality
  • Unity Workshop
    • Intro to Unity
    • Navigating the Development Environment
    • Working with Art Assets
    • Working with Properties of the Game Space
  • Assignments:
    • Continue working on writing analysis
    • Readings for Next Class:
      • The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies, Part II Formal Aspects: “Perspective”, p 107-116, John Sharp (available in NYU online library as eBook)
      • Henry Jenkins, “Games as Narrative Architecture”
      • Video Game Spaces, “Games as Moving Images”, Michael Nitsche, p.69-78 (available in NYU online library as eBook)

Week 7: Navigating Worlds: Movement, View, Perspective, Interface

10/16 – 10/18

Gameworlds and Visual Representation

Workshop: Unity

  • DUE: Writing Analysis: Spatial
    • Class Discussion
  • Unity Workshop
    • Navigation in the Game Space
    • Properties of the Game Space
    • Creating an Interface
  • Assignments:
    • Project: Spatial, DUE Thursday 11/08
      • Assign project teams
      • In teams of 2, choose from one of the following formats: 2D platformer / 2D side-scroller, 3D FPS, 3D walking simulator. Create or compile art assets, and either alter properties of existing game behaviors (scripts) or add new game behavior to produce a navigable digital space that presents a consistent and cohesive fictional world. Incorporate rules for the world’s behavior that breaks, contradicts or reconstructs some expectation or assumption of the lived world. The goal is to create a digital world that generates its own version of reality and in doing so offers its own framework for narrative and gameplay.
      • Post a *brief* project proposal by end of class Thursday
      • Plan to bring in a working prototype (paper, digital, or both) to discuss on Tuesday 10/30.
    • Readings for Tuesday 10/30:

**FALL BREAK**

Week 8: Space as Cultural Contexts

10/30 – 11/01

Defining Cultural Contexts

  • Lecture: What Do We Mean By Culture?
    • Reflecting Culture
    • Transforming Culture
    • Cultural Models and Rhetoric
    • Case Studies
  • In-Class Exercise
    • Group discussion of cultural references and models in Class Projects in progress
  • Assignments:
    • Work on Projects
    • Readings for Next Class: None

Project Workshop

  • Review and Playtest Project Prototypes
  • Unity Workshop
    • Working with JS/C#
    • Scripting behaviors of the game world
  • Assignments:
    • Work on Projects
    • Readings for Next Class: None

Week 9: Spatial Game Project

11/06 – 11/08

Playtest Sessions and Project Work

  • Project Work
  • Assignments:
    • Finish up Project: Spatial
    • Readings for Next Class: None

Project Presentations

Module 4: Social

This module steps back from digital worlds to explore the social aspect of games and play. The two weeks of the module coincide with the Arts Center Exhibition “Tangle” organized by the Polyglot Theater Company as a contemporary arts experience built through play.

Week 10: Social Play / Visiting Artist

11/13 – 11/15

Play as Social / Art Experience

  • Visiting Artist: Polyglot Theatre Company
    • Interactive and participatory theater
    • Engaging the Community in Play, Play Space
  • In Class, Outside Exercise / Workshop
  • Assignments:
    • Writing Analysis: Social,  DUE Thursday 11/22
    • Readings for Next Class:

Social Play: Material and Immaterial

  • Review Polyglot Workshop
  • Concept / Design of Play
  • Virtual and Actual Spaces & their Rules
  • Assignments:
    • Attend “Tangle” Exhibitions (if you haven’t already)
    • Continue work on writing analysis
    • Considerations for Final Project: think about a possible theme – we’ll brainstorm and choose one next class
    • Readings for Next Class: None

 

Module 5: Expressive

This module deepens the dialogue about what constitutes games and play within contemporary culture, and how their relationship exposes questions about games as a vast and varied medium for expression.

Week 11: Expressive Play

11/20 – 11/22

In-class Play Session

  • Revisit Game Design Fundamentals
  • More on Social Play
  • Assignments:
    • Final Project: Expressive,  DUE Tuesday 12/11
      • As a group students will choose the theme for the project and apply it to an aesthetic, experiential, artistic, or rhetorical experience that uses play as the mechanism for generating meaning. The play experience can be analog, digital, or a hybrid of analog and digital components, producing some kind of cultural artifact. The goal is a simple interactive piece with conceptual depth and social significance. Students may work individually or in teams. Each student is expected to submit individual documentation.
    • Prepare Project Idea for Tuesday to share in class
    • Readings for Next Class: None

Discussion of “Tangle” Exhibit

  • DUE Writing Analysis: Social
    • Class Discussion
    • Review of Exhibit
  • Play and Analyze:
    • In-Class Play and Review Sessions with Museum Games, AR Games, and Role-Playing Games
  • Assignments:
    • Readings for Next Class:
      • Ian Bogost, How To Do Things with Videogames, “Chapter 1: Art” (in NYU eBook library)
      • Ian Bogost,How To Do Things with Videogames, “Chapter 2: Empathy” (in NYU eBook library)
      • Ian Bogost, How To Talk About Videogames, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Game Studio” (in NYU eBook library)
      • Ian Bogost, How To Talk About Videogames, “Shaking the Holocaust Train” (in NYU eBook library)

Week 12: Play as a Medium for Expression

11/27 – 11/29

Modes of Expression

  • Lecture: Modes of Expression
    • Art and Aesthetics
    • Experiential Games
    • Procedural Rhetoric
    • Case Studies
  • Play and Analyze: expressive games
  • Assignments:
    • Bring to Next Class:
      • Title and links to a game (or the actual version) that you feel is particularly expressive. Be prepared to describe the game and share your perspective.
    • Readings for Next Class:
      • John Sharp,Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art, Chapter 5: Games as a Medium (in NYU eBook library)

Project Work

  • Project Work:
    • Playtesting Prototypes
    • Discuss Games (from homework)
  • Assignments:
    • Continue working on projects
    • Readings for Next Class: None

Week 13: Review Structures for Play

12/04 – 12/06

Play and Games

  • Playtest Sessions and Project Work
  • IM Show Locations and Setup
  • Assignments:
    • Work on Projects

Playtest Sessions and Project Work

  • Playtest Sessions and Project Work
  • Assignments:
    • Finish up Final Project

Week 14: Final Projects and IM Show

12/11 – 12/13

Project Presentations

  • DUE Final Project: Expressive
  • Present Projects and Group Critique
  • Prep for IM Show

Prep for IM Show

  • Prep for IM Show

12/14: IM Show [tentative]