Introduction to Game Design Class - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 110

class, all but one or two freshmen, knew who he was, and debated
whether the video of his exploits was real or staged.

Some students at IU could draw from a wide range of skills necessary
to the production of video games. Others had none. This meant I could
not ask each guild in a class of juniors

n

— no matter how balanced I tried

to make them — to build a playable portion of a game at the end of the

semester.
n All students at RPI entered the GSAS program with high math and
science scores, as well as skills such as programming and art and
writing already developing. These students were on a much more equal
level of knowledge even as freshmen coming in. This, in turn, meant that
guild balancing was simpler, and I did not need to tailor class content to
the same wide range of abilities as I had at IU.

Another difference was the addition of Marie-Pierre Huguet and her team, who
documented the class with video. The stills on this level, and on Level 10, have
been grabbed from Flip video, shot by several people, including yours truly. The
quality reflects the videographer holding the camera at the time.

“

Other differences will become apparent as we study how the Introduction to

Game Design � class played out. First, take a look at the new game board.

Here we have an entirely different classroom arrangement: square tables each
designed to accommodate four students, and each anchored in place by cables
from the floor leading to electrical outlets on the tables for laptops (see Figure 8.2).
Every incoming freshman is required to have a laptop.

This room shared the advantage that the Ballantine classroom enjoyed: easy to
divide the guilds. Each table was an easily identifiable zone. However, the
flexibility ended there since the tables could not be moved more than a few
inches from the power cables.

Since 25 students had enrolled in the class, it made sense to divide them into five
equal-sized guilds of five players each. The main issue here was that the tables
were only designed for four students each. Seating five at a table was a bit
cramped, but we made do, as shown in Figure 8.3.