Introduction to Game Design

Catalog description

Design of games as aesthetic objects and cultural artifacts that people find meaningful and entertaining. In his 2007 book Persuasive Games, Professor Ian Bogost writes about the power of digital games in social, political, artistic, and psychological meaning-making through what he calls 'procedural rhetoric'. 'Procedural rhetoric entails persuasion - to change opinion or action - to convey ideas effectively.' Procedural rhetoric is a subdomain of procedural authorship; it's arguments are made not through the construction of worlds or images, but through the authorship of rules and behavior, the construction of dynamic models.' (Bogost 2007, 29). As games become cultural objects with artistic value, achieving orchestral performances in the opera houses of the world, permanent exhibits in the Smithsonian, and having numerous charitable organizations entirely devoted to the appreciation of games, their art, and their rhetoric it behooves educators to enable the next generation of students to become literate in this new and emerging form of expression. This course will provide students with an introduction to game design. It will focus on the design of games as aesthetic objects, both inasmuch as video games have significant aesthetic properties (lighting, narrative, animation, sound design) but also, more generally, inasmuch as games are cultural artifacts that people find meaningful and entertaining. Because GAME 220 takes this broad perspective, students will learn design principles that are used not only in video game design but in traditional "pen-and-paper" games, such as board games, card games, role playing games, and so forth. The course will teach students how to design artful, creative games in general.