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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 Reflection – Jeffery

October 31, 2026

Before I started making an interactive fiction, I was not a fan of them in the slightest. I usually play video-games in a breadth-first…

Silicon Crossroads – Own Your Every Decision

October 30, 2026

Play the game Play Silicon Crossroads on itch.io I’d love for you to play it before reading the rest of this post. It takes…

P2: The Empathy Machine (Emma Wong)

October 30, 2026

Embed or link to your game: Feeling Batty (link): https://emkewong.itch.io/feeling-batty Passcode: CS377G Branching Choice Map:                 Overview:…

Aiden P2 Final Deliverable

October 30, 2026

P2 Final Deliverable Game Title: April 14, 1912 Link to game: https://aidenpin.itch.io/april-14-1912   Branching Choice Map: Overview: When having the opportunity to make a…

P2: The Empathy Machine – Alienis Oculis

October 30, 2026

Overview Agonies are one of my changes of garments,I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person,My…

P2: The Empathy Machine – Saharat “Game” Laksanasut (สหรัฐ ลักษณะสุต)

October 30, 2026

“The Road Beyond the Village” PLAY THE GAME FIRST (10-15 minutes): Link Content note: Financial hardship, family conflict and estrangement, uncertainty about educational opportunities,…

P2: Final Deliverable – What I Meant to Say – Judy

October 30, 2026

Final Deliverable  Embed or link to your game: Consider the placement of your IF link or embedding – do you want us to play…

The Making of Sento with Baachan

October 30, 2026

You’re back home from college, and you want to spend some good, peaceful moments with baachan, your grandma, before you leave again. It’s been…

P2: Reflection_Paprika

October 30, 2026

1. Rethinking IF: The Problem and Promise of Parser Fiction Before this class, I mostly played Japanese-style visual novels, so I assumed most IF…

P2: The Empathy Machine-Paprika

October 30, 2026

Overview How Do I Remember You is a visual interactive novel, made in Ren’Py, that takes about 20-30 minutes to play. It’s based on…

P2: Reflection – Rachel Zhao

October 29, 2026

Before this project, I thought interactive fiction was mostly writing. I expected to write a good story and connect its parts with a few…

P2: The Empathy Machine – Rachel

October 29, 2026

1. Play first Play The Fox: rachelzhao.itch.io/the-fox I recommend playing before reading. The rest of this post explains how the game was made, and…

P2: Reflection: Jessica

October 29, 2026

Before this course, I had a fairly narrow idea of what video games are. I am only willing to enroll on the condition thatI…

Read & Play: Working With System Dynamics: Jessica

October 29, 2026

Factorio is a factory-building game created and published by Wube Software Ltd. The demo is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux and is designed…

P2: Expect the Unexpected (Jessica)

October 29, 2026

Game Overview and Initial Concept Expect the Unexpected is an interactive fiction game that explores the joys, challenges, and everyday decisions involved in raising…

Read&Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games – Judy He

October 28, 2026

Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ws0Kt9_NJY4uXVTp681TmokBkKK9RB8HFwTQ3Kc8UVM/edit?usp=sharing 2. I played We Become What We Behold and Adventures with Anxiety. We Become What We Behold The game’s target audience could…

P2: Refined Prototype

October 28, 2026

Playable Link: https://syenko.itch.io/p2 Password: nicole In class, I playtested with Emma. Emma would likely be in my target audience, but had written a very…

P2: Playtest Prototype

October 27, 2026

After difficulty finding a strong voice for my characters (among other things), I pivoted to a new idea, based on themes from La La…

Read & Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games – Adventures with Anxiety!

October 27, 2026

Sketchnote Sketchnote PDF link (Stanford email) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bbk4y31kXYfZoU7r8sKNmxYrnpLOl-3S/view?usp=sharing Writeup Overview The game that I played was Adventures with Anxiety by Nicky Case. The game is available…

Read & Play: The Rhetoric of Video Games – Sabrina

October 27, 2026

Notes on The Rhetoric of Video Games can be found here. For this Read & Play, I played Spent and and It’s Just a…

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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 Reflection – Jeffery
  • Silicon Crossroads – Own Your Every Decision
  • P2: The Empathy Machine (Emma Wong)
  • Aiden P2 Final Deliverable
  • P2: The Empathy Machine – Alienis Oculis

Recent Comments

  • @SEO_LINKKK in Telegram | הימורי ספין בפוקר ובמכונות: מדריך טכני לשחקן הישראלי – Quin Creative on Critical Play: Luigi’s Picture Poker
  • Jeffery Cai on P2: Playtest Prototype – Noe Chicas-Aranda
  • dkkoba on Critical Play: Blood on the Clocktower (Bluffing, Judging, and Getting Vulnerable) – Sabrina
  • Jeffery Cai on P1: Cave Talk
  • syenko on P1: Cave Talk

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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