Theory and Practice of Game Design Syllabi - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 25

The first three assignments in the list created the structure for the class and
determined who would be placed on what team. All students were required to
write a short pitch of a game they would like to make and then present it to the
rest of the class. The class would then vote on their favorites. The top six vote
getters would become the games for which the class created proposals.
Students whose games did not win listed the top three games they would
like to work on, and the roles they would like to play, again in order of
preference.

The roles were chosen from the major team leads at a game development
company.

n Designer: Usually the student whose idea had won.
n Writer: Responsible for organizing and editing the document as well as
writing the story of the game.
n Producer: Responsible for arranging meeting times outside of class, see-
ing to it that the project progressed through the semester, and research-
ing game development, budgets, and so on.
n Tech Lead: Responsible for the game

s technical issues.
n Art Lead: Responsible for the images that would illustrate the
document

'

s text.
n Marketing : Responsible for working up a marketing plan, researching
the competition, chances for success, and so on.

'

The students did not need to be proficient in any of these roles. If one of the
students was an artist, fine. If not, they could find art on the Internet that
most closely matched the style and substance of the game. The tech lead did
not have to be a programmer, but rather would research game engines or
decide if they would propose building one from scratch. In fact, all team
members were encouraged to offer opinions and help in any other area. While
they were each expected to write their section of the proposal, all were
encouraged to read it in its entirety, both to offer suggestions and to help copy
edit the text.

The syllabus concluded with a few lines about attendance and conduct. That was
followed by the required text and a suggested reading list.