Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
balancing and levels of difficulty, and the addition of new content, are all
designed and tested in advance of implementation.
Thanks to the Skeleton Chase games, I
d also had experience with alternate
reality games. Designing and running ARGs in real-time in the real world taught
me that a level of flexibility and speed of implementation resembling improv-
isation worthy of Evelyn Salt, McGyver, or comedy troupes such as the Dinner
Detective franchise, might be required.
'
In real life, stuff happens. Keep this in mind, if you intend to design your class as
a game. As Robert Burns memorably reminded us in his poem
“
To a Mouse
�
:
“
The best teachers think
on their feet. But others may not want to venture into the wilderness that lies
beyond the safety of the same notes, quips, and PowerPoints they
The best laid schemes o
'
Mice an
'
Men, gang aft agley.
�
'
ve been
leaning on for the past decade or more.
Having chosen the type of game I wanted to turn the class into, I next had
a look at the syllabus I
'
d used in the fall of 2008. Here it is, as shown in
Figure 3.1.
Pretty straightforward. Students rely on syllabi. While it may not be the
contract some of them think it is, it should still give them their first detailed
look at how they would be spending their time, and what would be expected of
them.
Class Overview
After a brief description, I gave a broad overview of the class. The students
would be divided into teams to write a game design proposal (also called a
concept document ) that in 30 pages would outline in some detail a game they
would design as the class progressed. This would be their final project as well as
a significant portion of their overall grade.
I listed the topics to be covered and laid out how many points each assign-
ment would be worth on a 1,000-point scale. I matched that scale to the
university
'
s standard percentages for achieving the letter grades they would be
awarded.
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