Third Year Fall

Design of Prototypes in a Game Development Curriculum

Deborah Warren

Okanagan College
Department of Computer Science
Kelowna, British Columbia
1-250-762-5445

My questions:

1) Game design versus game development – does this course give sufficient coverage of design?

- YES

2) Simple sets of rules lead to rich interactive experiences – how quickly would students ‘get the religion’ ?

- BY WEEK 5

3) Was it necessary to provide a 3 D tool in lab?

- NO

4) Was it possible to avoid creating original animations for 3D lab?

- YES

5) Can this course be taught by someone with no industry experience as a designer?

- YES

6) Can this course be taught by someone who is not an avid gamer?

- MAYBE, BUT I RECOMMEND THAT THE COURSE BE TAUGHT BY GAME ENTHUSIASTS

Course offered Fall 2006:

COSC 419– Special Topics in Game Design

- 3 hour lecture

- 2 hour lab

- 4 hours of project work

Required Text: Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman (2004)

Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Optional Reading: Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman (2006)

The Game Design Reader. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Crawford, C. (2003) Chris Crawford on Game Design Publisher: New Riders Games; 1st edition (June 18, 2003)

Lab tools: FunEditor from DigiPen...2 D graphics

Virtools...... 3 D graphics

- both tools provided basic collision detection and navigation

- students were familiar with C++ programming

Deliverables:

- one gameplay analysis ...... due week 3

- one 2 D prototype ...... due week 5

- one 3 D prototype ...... due week 10

- Draft of design document ...... due week 11

- Final prototype with design document ...due last week of exams

*** There were no exams in this course..

My discoveries:

1) These students want to program. They prefer to program collision detection in OpenGL, rather than use a tool like Virtools.

2) Students do not embrace the tutorial materials that accompany the tools. Some students actively resist using tutorials. Several students then claim that there is no ‘documentation’ that accompanies the tools.

3) Students should have HCI course before design course as major design emphasis is iterative playtesting with end-users … they need prior knowledge of how to work with users.

Future modifications:

1) No Virtools or any other 3 D tool … learning curve too high for 4 lab sessions.

2) A final exam may involve the group playtesting two ‘broken’ games, then have 30 minutes after each playtest session to suggest a design change and document their analysis using concepts presented in the course.

Conclusion:

Students would probably enter our program without any prior study of game design. This design course would be offered in the first semester of their third-year. The lectures provide a survey of design vocabulary and concepts, whereas the building of prototypes in the lab sets the stage for the three portfolio courses that follow.

Given the potential for math-intensity in a game development curriculum, the experience in this course suggests that it is necessary to include at least one course in design, especially if the graduates are expected to exit the curriculum with a portfolio of game prototypes.

This course does not attempt to convert computer science students into designers, but rather give them a common vocabulary to work with designers in the future.

Summary of final prototype submissions:

Timbits Go Home – Kelsey and Yanez

The holes in the doughnuts are trying to get home, let’s help them (Tool: OpenGL)

Design Concept: Pleasure and sensation

Gravity is my friend ... momentum the enemy – Marc

As you navigate your ship through space, you must learn to account for momentum, especially when

firing the weapon. Be careful or the missile you just fired will hit you. (Tool: OpenGL)

Design concept: positive and negative feedback, also emergence

REC (extended version) – Josh

International drug dealer trading simulation. (Tool: VB.NET).

Design Concept: Complexity

Brain Swap (extended version) – Gus

Each super-hero has a special ability. Their brains take turns controlling the environment to reach the rocket ship (Tool: Virtools)

Design Concept: Semiotics & Signs

Stunned Pong – Alex

Your spaceship can kill the enemy or stun it, but be sure to avoid attacks. (Tool: FunEditor)

Design Concept: Emergence

Colony 139 – Riley

Tents in Space – a simulation of building residences on a space station (Tool: Flash).

Design concept: Semiotics and Complexity

BEAM – Liam

Get your spies to position mirrors in the labyrinth, so that a laser beam can hit the target (Tool:

FunEditor).

Design Concept: Pleasure and Reinforcement schedules

*** Honourable Mention: Liam’s first prototype was a cellular automata simulation of Tetris shapes that bred with each other, to create new shapes with emergent behaviours (Tool: FunEditor)

Your maze on drugs – Cole

Solve a puzzle by navigating a 3D maze (Tool: OpenGL)

Design Concept: Meaning and Representation

Student Survey: COSC 419 - Game Design …. Post MortemDec 2006

Please take a few minutes to complete:

NOYESDon’t Know

1)I am a second year CIS/BCIS student. 

2)I am a third year BCIS / BSc student. 6

3)I am a fourth year BCIS / BSc student. 3 

Strongly SomewhatSomewhatStronglyDon’t

AgreeAgreeDisagreeDisagreeKnow

4)I am most interested in …

- the programming aspect of game design54

- creating the design of a digital game621

- creating animations for a digital game2331

5)This course met my expectations.621

6) This course exceeded my expectations. 1521

7)This course was too easy.711

8)This course was too difficult.711

9)This course has prepared me to work in the

game development industry.5211

10)The lectures provided important information about

game design.531

I would suggest the lecture content be modified in the following way:

-90% of what I learned in this course I learned by playing Half Life 2 with comments on + lost cost [Developer Commentary - Lost Coast]. You might want to add them to the curriculum.

-More example games

-You can show some sample of the game and talk about it more often

-More focus on the actual creation of games (from art to programming)

-Scrap Virtools for something with documentation & possibly an attached graphics creation program.

-Too many powerpoints is NOT a good thing!

11)The 2D tool, Fun Editor, was useful for the lab exercises.171

12)The 3D tool, Virtools, was useful for the lab exercises.234

13)I prefer to have access to the lab tools using my computer

at home.45

I would suggest the lab content be modified in the following way:

-Stick either to FunEditor or Virtools

-Better 3D tool or at least no VMware

-Use different programs for game creating

-I think for the lab content because we are beginners, we should use simple tools. FunEditor is OK but Virtools is too complex.

-Use other tools such as the torque game engine (2D and 3D versions) or other powerful tools like Valve’s Source SDK.

-Scrap Virtools for something with documentation & an attached graphics editor. [student is referring Maya or equivalent].

-More tool options instead of just one program.

Thank you for participating in this survey.