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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

Month: May 2023

P2 Group Checkpoint 1 for Team 6

May 9, 2023

Characters: Distinct characters with different interests/personalities specific to stanford tropes Plot: Overarching storyline regarding a murder in lake lag Overall aesthetic:  humorous, satirical Synopsis …

Concept Doc – Christina

May 9, 2023

For my mood board, I took the emotions of excitement and adventure which are feelings we want to evoke for our scavenger hunt themed…

Critical Play: Mysteries – gone home

May 9, 2023

gone home is a first-person mystery walking simulator where you play as college student Katie who comes home from studying abroad only to find…

Checkpoint 1 Concept Doc (Team)

May 9, 2023

Working Title: A Sea of Spells Synopsis & Setting:  The year is 1602. Witches are real, but are seen as inherently wicked. While the…

Individual Portion for Team Checkpoint

May 9, 2023

Alex’s Moodboard: Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3M3AtuzuwsercuQZxKpnGO?si=3001278376e44b4e 3 Directions for the game: Super memey – just light hearted fun that’s poking fun at stanford students absolutely…

P2 3 directions

May 9, 2023

Moodboard https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0NOLeJoJHWloaYijQiWXCn?si=7aff59cd2df84cda Crypto treasure Premise Stanford CS prof who is also a crypto billionaire passed away, sends out a school announcement that whoever can…

Checkpoint 1

May 9, 2023

Synopsis Our protagonist, Violet, is an 18-year-old freshman that attends St. Belfry University, one of the most prestigious colleges in the world. Ever since…

Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc (Individual)

May 9, 2023

Emotion 1: contemplative. Emotion 2: serene.  Emotion 3: Serendipitous Direction 1: Premise: You awake from an eternal slumber in the middle of a forest….

Critical Play: Life is Strange – Jiwon

May 9, 2023

Life is Strange is a single-player graphic adventure game published by Square Enix and created by Dontnod Entertainment for almost every platform. The premise…

P2 Concept Doc Individual Deliverables – Jake

May 9, 2023

Mindmap: Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/11odcVoDSFDp80W4ZYfLhZ?si=31b76b9711f043dc Directions for the Game: Together we agreed that the game would revolve around a group of students trying to free…

Team 7: Checkpoint 1 Concept Doc

May 9, 2023

Descriptions of Our Game  Story In the game, the player spawns on an abandoned yacht, anchored within view of the shore. The yacht is…

Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc (Individual)

May 9, 2023

Emotions Tense, Pressured, Eerie Moodboard Spotify Playlist Directions

Sketchnote: Game Architecture

May 9, 2023

Sketchnote One game I enjoy is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game contains various interaction loops and arcs. Whenever a player…

Critical Play: Mysteries — Outer Wilds

May 9, 2023

Title: Outer Wilds Creator: Mobius Digital Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows Outer…

Individual Team Member Deliverables

May 9, 2023

Moodboard Playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/51p2o1goClRvRF7WWIeImA?si=9cbc75b2ecce4a66 Emotions Mystery Suspense Plot ideas Berkeley has a powerful cult that helps them turn over Stanford students and receive all the…

Individual Deliverables – P2 (amoore5)

May 9, 2023

I’d like to evoke moments of confusion/frustration, flow state/happiness, and feeling understood. Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22YkNYPk0OmX6xbnIddrYc?si=1f5fiqGPSP-fslZ77udvJg I’d really like the players to move around campus,…

Critical Play: Mysteries

May 9, 2023

The game I played was HerStory by Sam Barlow, available on steam for PC, Mac, as well as on mobile. The game is listed…

Concept Doc Individual Contribution

May 9, 2023

Emotions: Focused, under pressure   Moodboard:   Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/concept-doc/pl.u-GgA5epaCZ8eq7WJ   Directions: Puzzles are scattered throughout campus, with one in each neighborhood. This is less…

Sketchnote: Designer’s Notebook: The Role of Architecture in Videogames

May 9, 2023

Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc

May 9, 2023

Emotions: Cuteness (well, perceiving something cute? attraction/affection? not sure the specific term for this) Sentimental (at the end of the game, when you’ve returned…

Posts pagination

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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

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Recent Posts

  • Rise of the Video Game Zinesters
  • Narrative Exploration Response: Five Short Games About Hard Conversations
  • Two Timelines Reflection
  • Two Timelines: a game about the AI race.
  • P2: Map, Premise, Project Plan – Sabrina

Recent Comments

  • 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
  • snoopy on Games, Design and Play: Elements – Noe Chicas-Aranda

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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