Serious Games (CSC 495 & CSC 591)
Dr. Tiffany Barnes, NC State University, EBII 3280
(tel. 919-515-5764)
CSC 495/591 Section 006, Spring Semester, 2013
Tuesday/Thursday 12:50 – 2:05 pm. Place: EBII Rm 1021
SUMMARY
Project-based Computer Science (CS) interdisciplinary course, open to students in all departments. This course will take students with varying talents, backgrounds, and perspectives and put them together to do what none of them could do alone: to implement a serious game aimed at being applied in a real-world setting (educational, social, professional, etc.). Assignments for this course are commissioned by real-world clients (companies/ end-users). All students work in interdisciplinary teams, under the supervision of the respective client to whom the team will be reporting throughout. The emphasis is on sensibly deploying whatever game technology is adequate to constructively fulfilling the game requirements. Therefore, a predominant focus is on solving the various, possibly conflicting, technical challenges.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the project, CS students will demonstrate proficiency in:
· identifying, selecting and deploying the most adequate game technology for a given serious game application, with a special emphasis on user interaction and media aspects;
· deepening programming skills while building a complex software system in an agile context.
Additionally, at the end of the project, all students will demonstrate proficiency in:
· adapting with flexibility to the requirements of a complex external assignment, in order to translate them into strong serious game concepts;
· identifying and developing the soft skills necessary to work in interdisciplinary teams;
· interacting within a team, valuing and integrating its members' varying talents and expertise;
· translating feedback received into proactive personal development steps.
PREREQUISITES
For CS students: programming experience with some object-oriented language; some knowledgeof graphics, modelling or AI is certainly welcome.
For all students: though not compulsory, it is very advisable to have taken a course on game design, analysis, or development.
TEXTBOOKS
Agile Game Development with Scrum (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Cohn))
Author: Clinton Keith Publication Date: June 2, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0321618521
For processes.
Required.
The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses
Author: Jessie Schell Publication Date: August 1, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0123694965
For thinking about game design from several different perspectives.
Required.
Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences
Author: Stephen P. Anderson Publication Date: June 25, 2011 | ISBN-10: 0321725522
Required.
For user experience design.
READINGS
Selected readings from peer-reviewed journals and conferences on serious games research (such as those from ACM Foundations of Digital Games, Games, Learning, and Society, Games for Change, Meaningful Play, and others) will be used to help understand the context and evaluation of serious games. Pages from popular game development websites such as gamasutra.com, gamedev.com will also sometimes be discussed.
SOFTWARE
Required: a project management system, such as git, Trac, Mantiss, Assembla, or Codendi. Free downloads of GameMaker are required for initial prototypes. Students may program serious games in any software approved by the instructor. Spreadsheets (e.g. Excel) will be needed for data analysis, and statistical software may also be needed. Students will also need to set up a method for people to sign up to test their games, such as genbook.com for setting up times for participants to sign up.
GRADING
Approximately 3-5 assignments emphasize learning the basic elements of serious game development and evaluation, while weekly forums and 2-4 quizzes assess reading of course reading materials. A course midterm and final may be given. The project, a team implementation of a complete serious video game prototype, includes evaluation of the game as well as biweekly presentations in the course of the game design. Project assessment will be based on a combination of a product grade (unique for the whole group), a process grade (individual) and peer evaluation. The company/end-user will be involved both as advisor and as assessor.
Attendance and participation are required in class. For each absence beyond the first absence, 5 points may be deducted from a student's overall grade.
A standard 10-point grading scale will be used for the class (A: 90-100, B: 80-90, ...).
For credit in the graduate version of the course, graduate students must: 1) complete all assignments, 2) prepare and lead one class discussion, 3) demonstrate leadership on their project team, and 4) incorporate and demonstrate a significant portion of original scripting or programming in the final project. Assignments will also include additional exercises required for graduate students.
Below is presented the weight of the different course components toward your final grade.
Component / WeightAssignments/Quizzes/Tests / 25%
Serious Game Evaluation / 25%
Project / 50%
TOPICS
-1. Critique of serious games and research
-1. Designing studies to evaluate serious games
-1. Design of serious games
-1. Gathering requirements for serious games
-1. Rapid prototyping
-1. Project management
-1. User experience / Human computer interaction for serious games
-1. Game log design
-1. Human subjects research & Internal Review
-1. Performing User Studies
-1. Data Collection and Analysis