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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

Final Reflection

June 6, 2026

Before 247G, I thought about games solely from the perspective of a player. I often described games to my friends as either a definate…

P2: RECURSED

June 6, 2026

RECURSED Team Bandicoot Members:  Elline Harrison, Jay Li, Kevin Nguyen, Kalu Obasi, Shuci Zhang Artist’s Statement: RECURSED is a single-player 2D platformer where you…

Final Reflection – Leo Sui

June 6, 2026

I started getting into game design this past winter with a solo game dev project. I told myself the reason I decided to work…

ENTITEA – P2 PHOTOS

June 6, 2026

(Posting this late, so this is not part of our official submission! @TAs/Noe, there are spoilers in the photos that change the experience of…

Final Class Reflection – Hunaida Elhassan

June 6, 2026

Before this class, I thought about games mostly as something people played for fun. I obviously knew that games took a lot of work…

ENTITEA – P2

June 5, 2026

 

Mayowa – Final Class Reflection

June 5, 2026

When I was younger, I used to love playing games: I found so much connection from forcing my friends to text me on Pictochat…

Ryan Li, Final Class Reflection

June 5, 2026

Like most people, I grew up around games. Some of my earliest memories are playing Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga in my living…

P2: Level Design and Architecture

June 5, 2026

AXE BACK Tagline: Marcus has been missing for four days. The Stanford Prison Experiment never ended. Team: Bathyergus — Agam, Graham, Ji Qi, Luca…

Final Class Reflection — Sabrina Y

June 5, 2026

247G has been a class I knew I wanted to take since I came to Stanford. Before this class, I knew I loved making…

Team Mink: City of Vice

June 5, 2026

by JP Aguilar, Reyna Duffy, Ananya Navale, Jessica Yauney Artist Statement City of Vice is a hybrid analog-digital 4-player game that invites gamers to…

[Extra Credit] Sketchnote or Mindmap: Cursed Problems

June 5, 2026

Final Reflection

June 5, 2026

CS247G is a class I originally intended on taking my Junior year, but I got scared out of HCI after taking CS147 that same…

Final Class Reflection – Tray

June 5, 2026

Before this class, I thought about play in an abstract way and couldn’t really formalize why a game felt “good” or “bad” to play….

Final Class Reflection – Trini Rogando

June 5, 2026

Before this class, I thought about play as something that was a bit inaccessible to me. I’m not a big platform or control-oriented gamer,…

myodyssey title screen

Myodyssey (P2: Level Design and Architecture)

June 5, 2026

Some light reading music. Myodyssey Mayowa Adesina, Fiona Han, Violet Crow, Hunaida Elhassan, Addis Adam Artists’ Statement Myodyssey is a fully playable MVP that…

Final Reflection – Jeffery Cai

June 5, 2026

Throughout my life, games have been a central part of who I am as a person. When I was young, I learned how to…

Midnight Concoctions – a minimum-wage night of wacky potions and hot gorgons.

June 5, 2026

Playable Version! By Tray, Ryan, Akary, Leo Artists Statement: Midnight Concoctions is a raunchy yet heartfelt game set in an alternate fantasy universe version…

Final Class Reflection—Akary Buenrostro

June 5, 2026

What 247G Taught Me (The only CS class I’ve ever taken—breaking my freshman year vow to never take a CS class at Stanford. Spoiler:…

ReelLife – P2 Team Reithrodon

June 5, 2026

Brooke Ballhaus, Lily (Xinrui) Li, Jeffery Cai, Jinhyo Huh, Sabrina Yen-Ko Artist’s Statement Have you ever found your entire day has been wasted doomscrolling…

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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

  • June 2026
  • May 2026
  • April 2026
  • March 2026
  • December 2025
  • November 2025
  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • February 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • September 2020
  • February 2017

Recent Posts

  • Final Reflection
  • P2: RECURSED
  • Final Reflection – Leo Sui
  • ENTITEA – P2 PHOTOS
  • Final Class Reflection – Hunaida Elhassan

Recent Comments

  • shaotz on Final Class Reflection – Justin Hall
  • Kelvin Niu on ENTITEA – P2 PHOTOS
  • Akary on Final Class Reflection – Justin Hall
  • syenko on Brooke Ballhaus: Final Class Reflection
  • syenko on Jinhyo – Final Class Reflection

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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