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.
One game that I enjoyed playing was Flappy Bird. The appeal mainly relied on an arc where a player would tap the screen in order to make sure a bird flew through barriers. By trying and failing multiple times, the player slowly learns the timing of the taps in order to fly the bird through the barriers.