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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

Lily – Critical Play: Competitive Analysis

April 16, 2026

The Resistance is a social deduction game designed by Don Eskridge for 5–10 players with a duration of around 30 minutes. The game targets…

Critical Play: The Chameleon – Jinpu

April 16, 2026

The game I selected is The Chameleon, designed by Rikki Tahta and published by Big Potato Games for tabletop play. It is a party…

Critical Play: Don’t Get Got

April 16, 2026

Game Analyzed: Don’t Get Got Creator: Big Potato Games Platform: Physical party card game (in-person) Target Audience: Social/party game players (ages 14+), medium-to-large groups…

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis – Akary Buenrostro

April 16, 2026

Game / Platform: One Night Ultimate Werewolf (ONUW) / Tabletop Analog Game Creator: Though there’s an official game developed at Bézier Games by Tes Alspach…

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis

April 16, 2026

Game: Secret Hitler by Mike Boxleiter, Tommy Maranges, Max Temkin Specs: Board game; I played it online at secret-hitler.online Target Audience: 5–10 players age…

Game cover image for Incan Gold

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis – Tray

April 16, 2026

This week I chose to write about Incan Gold, a luck-based multiplayer card game designed by Alan R. Moon and Bruno Faidutti and published…

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis (Priorities and Dealbreakers)

April 16, 2026

The audience of Priorities is young adults, and is recommended for ages 14+. I played the game with two of my friends (for a…

Game set for Secret Hitler

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis – Secret Hitler

April 16, 2026

My group’s concept is a role-based social deduction game where players have the option to exchange voting power for private investigations on others. To…

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis

April 15, 2026

My group’s game, Rock-it, centers on resource distribution, roles, and bluffing. For that reason, I chose to play Saboteur. Created by designer Frederic Moyersoen…

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis

April 15, 2026

  Codenames is already one of my favorite games. It is a team-based word association game designed by Vlaada Chvátil. The way people perceive…

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis Pandemic

April 15, 2026

The game I chose is Pandemic, by Matt Leacock. It is a cooperative board game where players work together to stop global disease. The…

Mindmap for Narrative Architecture Paper

Mindmap: Narrative Architecture- Jessica

April 15, 2026

I apologize but one of my major take aways is that I DO NOT play games where narrative is a part of the game….

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis

April 15, 2026

Prior to taking this class, I hadn’t played physical storytelling games. I enjoy many narrative storytelling digital games, so exploring this genre of games…

Critical Play 2: Competitive Analysis

April 15, 2026

Game name: Cloverpit Target Audience: Singleplayer, 13+ Platform: PC/Mobile Creator: Panik Arcade   Our team’s idea for P1 as it stands is a gambling-based…

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis

April 15, 2026

What I love most about social deduction games like Mafia, Avalon, or Among us, is cooperating with others to figure out missing information. In…

Critical Play Competitive Analysis

April 15, 2026

Catan: Cities and Knights vs The Collective Catan: Cities & Knights is an expansion to Klaus Teuber’s Catan, originally published by Kosmos in Germany…

Moral Responsibility as a Function of Agency — In the Real World and Games Alike

April 15, 2026

While I already knew I felt deeply for fictional characters — as demonstrated by my uncontrollable crying during Inside Out — I did not…

Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendship

April 15, 2026

Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships

April 15, 2026

Reyna’s Sketch Notes – Patterns for Building Friendship

April 15, 2026

Sketch notes

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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

  • Lily – Critical Play: Competitive Analysis
  • Critical Play: The Chameleon – Jinpu
  • Critical Play: Don’t Get Got
  • Critical Play: Competitive Analysis – Akary Buenrostro
  • Critical Play: Competitive Analysis

Recent Comments

  • Cristofer Acosta on Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendship
  • ban on You Will Always Be at the Mercy of the Author’s Ghost (RWP)
  • Jeffery Cai on Critical Play: Bluffing, Judging and Getting Vulnerable…
  • Trini Rogando on Honkai: Star Rail – MDA & 8 Kinds of Fun
  • EvvrryyDDY2 on Critical Play: BABBDI

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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