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The Mechanics of Magic

The Mechanics of Magic

Game Design Writings by Students at Stanford taking 247G and 377G

  • Library
    • CS247G Community Game Design Resources
    • Game Design Resources
    • Graphic Design for Game Designers
    • Graphic Design Resources
    • Chapter 11 from Game Balance
  • Read Write Play
    • Hollow Knight: RWP 4 2023
    • Mystic Messenger: RWP 6 2023
    • Undertale: RWP 3 2023
    • What Remains of Edith Finch: RWP 5 2023
    • Catan: RWP1 2023
    • 80 Days: RWP 2 2023
  • 247G Syllabus
    • The Formal Elements of Game Design
    • Design for Play | Week One | Lecture A
    • Design for Play | Week One | Lecture B
    • Design for Play | Week Two | Lecture A
    • Design for Play | Week Two | Lecture B
    • Design for Play | Week Three | Lecture A
    • Design for Play | Week Three | Lecture B
    • Design For Play | Week Four | Section A
    • Design For Play | Week Four | Section B
    • Design for Play | Week Five | Class A
    • Design for Play | Week 5 | Class B
    • Design for Play | Week 6 | Class A (no class)
    • Design for Play | Week 6 | Class B
    • Design for Play | Week 7 | Class A
    • Design for Play | Week 7 | Class B
    • Design for Play | Week 8 | Class A
    • Design for Play | Week 8 | Lecture B
  • Serious Play Study Group Overview
    • Study Group Week by Week Breakdown
      • Formal Elements of Games
      • Final Reflection Essay
    • [Optional Material] What is fun?
    • Project 1: Those Who Play, Teach
      • READING Visual Design of Board Games
      • Pitch Your Teaching Game
      • Sketchnote: Playtesting Boardgames
      • Sketchnote: Erin Hoffman // Wind, Not Sand: Mapping Dynamic Emotion Across a Product Landscape
      • SketchNote: MDAO
      • Critical Play: Write up your game of FLUXX
      • [Optional Material] Playtesting
      • OPTIONAL Board Game Usability
    • P2: The Future We Deserve
      • Critical Play: A Mechanic and a Story to Tell
      • Interactive Fiction: Tiny Playable Prototype
      • Introducing Interactive Fiction
      • Map and Premise
      • Critical Play: Story AND Storytelling games
      • Essay or Sketchnote: Rise of the Video Game Zinesters
      • Sketchnote: Art of game design- Story
      • [Optional Material] Emergence and Progression
      • Essay or Sketchnote: Rise of the Video Game Zinesters
      • Project 2 Reflection Essay
      • Share what you Learned: Writing Excuses Podcast
      • Values at Play & P2 Peer Grading
    • P3: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
      • P3 Concept Doc
      • Playable prototype
      • Working With System Dynamics (mindmap the reading, apply it to your game)
      • Mapping Systems
      • Sketchnote/Response for Rules & Tutorials
      • Project 3 Check-in
      • Project 3 Reflection Essay
    • P4: Refine a game
      • Sketchnote/Response for Playtesting with Strangers
      • Read: Mechanic is the Magic
  • On Sketchnotes
  • Printing at Stanford

P2: The Empathy Machine – Angela Mao

October 31, 2025

Link to Game The game I chose to create for the assignment is called The Miraculous Journey of Bowser. I would like you to…

P2: Wild Space (Reflection)

October 31, 2025

Wild Space: A Reflection Before starting Wild Space, I thought the idea of designing an interactive fiction game was relatively simple. … I was…

P2: Wild Space

October 31, 2025

An isolationist shoots themself into space… Wild Space (playable here) is an interactive fiction video game published on Itch.io, that explores the loneliness of…

Read and Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games_Marielle Zheng

October 28, 2025

PT1: Notes on The Rhetoric of Video Games by Ian Bogost What is procedural rhetoric? Procedural rhetoric = persuasion through rules and processes Games…

Read and Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games

October 28, 2025

Reading Notes: Rhetoric Of Video Games – Leytht   I think The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe‘s intended audience is people interested in the more…

Read & Play: Rhetoric of Video Games

October 28, 2025

Notes Animal Crossing and Economic Simulation Animal Crossing is an “animal village simulator” where players engage in everyday life—working, trading, and customizing homes. Central…

Read & Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games – Angela Mao

October 28, 2025

Part 1: The Rhetoric of Video Games Notes The author gives an example of Animal Crossing, and how it represents debt/the materialistic drive for…

Read and Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games

October 28, 2025

Reading Game Response For this read and play, I played three games: Adventures with Anxiety! (35 minutes, finished), We Become What We Behold (~5…

Rhetoric of Video Games

October 28, 2025

Rhetoric of Video Games – Games use rhetoric differently than books – Using procedures (like rules and systems) instead of words – “procedural rhetoric”…

Read & Play: Rhetoric of Video Games [ryloo]

October 28, 2025

This War of Mine is an indie survival game on Steam, created by 11 bit studios, that strips away the glorification of war, uncovering…

Read & Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games

October 28, 2025

Part 1: Notes on “The Rhetoric of Video Games” by Ian Bogost   Animal crossing Game about everyday life in small town (“Animal village…

“Buddy Simulator 1984” Game Analysis

October 28, 2025

Basic Game Information Game Name: Buddy Simulator 1984 Creator: Not a Sailor Studios Platform: PC (Steam) Target Audience: Players who like retro terminal style,…

P2 Refined Prototype_Marielle Zheng

October 27, 2025

1. Here’s a link to my game in progress on twine: https://twinery.org/2/#/stories/3bdb254b-c42a-4d8c-8e72-2485a2f03b93 2. Questions you’d like our feedback on: My game is quite text…

P2 Refined Prototype – Krystal Li

October 27, 2025

Link to Renpy files for download: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zvM0WZl4F9cp1wAqo8TsF3MCM2NrvD04?usp=sharing In this new iteration, I added character sprites and backgrounds to bring more visual depth to the…

P2: Refined prototype – Angela Mao

October 27, 2025

You can find the link to my digital game here. Questions I’d Like Feedback On I feel like the design of the game doesn’t…

P2: “Blank Canvas” Playtest 10/27

October 27, 2025

Since I am a bit behind due to a busy weekend, I do not have a playable link where the game is published, but…

P2 Refined Prototype

October 27, 2025

Link to Twine game: file:///Users/evelynhur/Downloads/Lab%20Notes.html (Best on 200% zoom) Playtest 3 (with Version 3) Feedback / Issue Changes to be Made Felt one of…

Giant Steps: Refined Prototype

October 27, 2025

Title: Giant Steps: Chapter 1 – Autumn in New York (inform/parser prototype)Link: https://www.sebastianblue.github.io/giantstepsWhat changed since studio: tightened the professor letter; clarified directions (“GO TO…

P2: Refined Prototype

October 27, 2025

This writeup documents two playtests: one with Krystal in class 5B, and one with Brian over the weekend. Link to the newest twine prototype…

P2: ‘Anchor’ Refined Prototype [Ryan Loo]

October 27, 2025

Playable Prototype Notes & Questions: I made the final pivot. Away from pigeons, interrogations, and clowns. Now I’ve moved to something a bit more…

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Welcome to the Stanford HCI Game Design Blog.

Currently this blog holds two formal classes being taught by Christina Wodtke as well as Independent Study Work. In winter of 2022, cs377g was cancelled because of covid-19 uncertainty, and became a study group. You can follow along by looking at the SGSG syllabus and weekly break down.

CS 247G: Design for Play(SYMSYS 195G)

A project-based course that builds on the introduction to design in CS147 by focusing on advanced methods and tools for research, prototyping, and user interface design. Studio based format with intensive coaching and iteration to prepare students for tackling real world design problems. This course takes place entirely in studios; please plan on attending every studio to take this class. The focus of CS247g is an introduction to theory and practice of the design of games. We will make digital and paper games, do rapid iteration and run user research studies appropriate to game design. This class has multiple short projects, allowing us to cover a variety of genres, from narrative to pure strategy. Prerequisites: 147 or equivalent background.

CS 377G: Designing Serious Games

Over the last few years we have seen the rise of "serious games" to promote understanding of complex social and ecological challenges, and to create passion for solving them. This project-based course provides an introduction to game design principals while applying them to games that teach. Run as a hands-on studio class, students will design and prototype games for social change and civic engagement. We will learn the fundamentals of games design via lecture and extensive reading in order to make effective games to explore issues facing society today. The course culminates in an end-of- quarter open house to showcase our games. Prerequisite: CS147 or equivalent. 247G recommended, but not required.

SGSG: Serious Games Study Group

  • Library
    • CS247G Community Game Design Resources
    • Game Design Resources
    • Graphic Design for Game Designers
    • Graphic Design Resources
    • Chapter 11 from Game Balance
  • Read Write Play
    • Hollow Knight: RWP 4 2023
    • Mystic Messenger: RWP 6 2023
    • Undertale: RWP 3 2023
    • What Remains of Edith Finch: RWP 5 2023
    • Catan: RWP1 2023
    • 80 Days: RWP 2 2023
  • 247G Syllabus
    • The Formal Elements of Game Design
    • Design for Play | Week One | Lecture A
    • Design for Play | Week One | Lecture B
    • Design for Play | Week Two | Lecture A
    • Design for Play | Week Two | Lecture B
    • Design for Play | Week Three | Lecture A
    • Design for Play | Week Three | Lecture B
    • Design For Play | Week Four | Section A
    • Design For Play | Week Four | Section B
    • Design for Play | Week Five | Class A
    • Design for Play | Week 5 | Class B
    • Design for Play | Week 6 | Class A (no class)
    • Design for Play | Week 6 | Class B
    • Design for Play | Week 7 | Class A
    • Design for Play | Week 7 | Class B
    • Design for Play | Week 8 | Class A
    • Design for Play | Week 8 | Lecture B
  • Serious Play Study Group Overview
    • Study Group Week by Week Breakdown
      • Formal Elements of Games
      • Final Reflection Essay
    • [Optional Material] What is fun?
    • Project 1: Those Who Play, Teach
      • READING Visual Design of Board Games
      • Pitch Your Teaching Game
      • Sketchnote: Playtesting Boardgames
      • Sketchnote: Erin Hoffman // Wind, Not Sand: Mapping Dynamic Emotion Across a Product Landscape
      • SketchNote: MDAO
      • Critical Play: Write up your game of FLUXX
      • [Optional Material] Playtesting
      • OPTIONAL Board Game Usability
    • P2: The Future We Deserve
      • Critical Play: A Mechanic and a Story to Tell
      • Interactive Fiction: Tiny Playable Prototype
      • Introducing Interactive Fiction
      • Map and Premise
      • Critical Play: Story AND Storytelling games
      • Essay or Sketchnote: Rise of the Video Game Zinesters
      • Sketchnote: Art of game design- Story
      • [Optional Material] Emergence and Progression
      • Essay or Sketchnote: Rise of the Video Game Zinesters
      • Project 2 Reflection Essay
      • Share what you Learned: Writing Excuses Podcast
      • Values at Play & P2 Peer Grading
    • P3: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
      • P3 Concept Doc
      • Playable prototype
      • Working With System Dynamics (mindmap the reading, apply it to your game)
      • Mapping Systems
      • Sketchnote/Response for Rules & Tutorials
      • Project 3 Check-in
      • Project 3 Reflection Essay
    • P4: Refine a game
      • Sketchnote/Response for Playtesting with Strangers
      • Read: Mechanic is the Magic
  • On Sketchnotes
  • Printing at Stanford

Archives

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Recent Posts

  • P2: The Empathy Machine – Angela Mao
  • P2: Wild Space (Reflection)
  • P2: Wild Space
  • Read and Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games_Marielle Zheng
  • Read and Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games

Recent Comments

  • Unlocking New Levels: Challenges in Dress-Up Games - Outfits Game on Pixel Runway — Or, What Games Teach Fashion‑Tech About Joyful Retention
  • Christina Wodtke on Sketchnote 1 — amaru
  • Christina Wodtke on Sketchnotes: MDAO by Ngoc
  • Among Us Features Gameplay Download Guide | GridBox on Among Us: Critical Play of Social Deduction
  • Hollow Knight and Silksong: Redefining Game Narrative - FizzClick.com | Your Source for Business, Technology & Entertainment News on Hollow Knight, Metroidvanias, and Storytelling

Categories

  • P2: The Empathy Machine
  • Featured
  • Project One
  • milestone
  • P2: The Future We Deserve
  • mindmap
  • P1: Social Games
  • CS247G
  • Assignments
  • P1: those who play, teach
  • Lectures
  • P2: Games In Space
  • Critical Play
  • P3: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
  • Project Two
  • Project Four REFINE
  • P4: Refine a Game
  • Sketchnotes
  • Project Two: The Future We Deserve
  • From the Instructor
  • Project Three: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
  • ReadWritePlay
  • 377G: Serious Games
  • SGSG

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