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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

P1 – Individual Deliverables

May 8, 2023

The types of fun I would like to incorporate in the game, for any of the directions given are: Challenge, Narrative, Discovery, and -perhaps-…

Concept Doc

May 8, 2023

Moodboard: Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5WiPNl1FG5rdu6qySVsxiV?si=30aac71052544fe8 The emotions I want to evoke in this game are intriguing, foreboding, and mild terror. I want the players to feel…

P2 Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc

May 8, 2023

For this game, my team and I’s ideas all surrounded the concept of exploring an abandoned town where something has gone wrong, but the…

Checkpoint 1 Individual Deliverables

May 8, 2023

3 Emotions: mystical, evocative, boundless, evocative Moodboard: Spotify:   Direction 1: Premise: You open your eyes and find yourself in a forest. “Where is…

Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc IC

May 8, 2023

For all 3 of my ideas, as well as the mood board and soundtrack, I focused on themes of adventure, discovery, mystery, and suspense….

P2: Concept Doc Individual Deliverables (Julia Rose)

May 8, 2023

Potential Directions During last class, we practiced the “diverge-converge” method of brainstorming, where we each did our own brainstorming for a few minutes to…

Checkpoint 1 P2: Concept Doc

May 8, 2023

Moodboard For my moodboard, I wanted to cultivate a mysterious, scarce, and apocalyptic mood, yet still emphasize natural beauty and triumph. I have always…

Critical Play: Mysteries – Life is Strange

May 8, 2023

Game: Life is Strange Creator: Dontnod Entertainment Platform: PC Target Audience Teens / young people Types of fun: fantasy, narrative, discovery In Life is…

Critical Play: Mysteries – Her Story

May 8, 2023

Her Story is a famous mystery game by Sam Barlow. The game revolves around the fictional story of a woman accused of her husband’s…

Critical Play: Her Story – Defne

May 8, 2023

Game Title: Her Story Creator: Sam Barlow Platform: iOS, PC, Mac, Android Intro: In Her Story, the player takes on the role of a…

Critical Play: Mysteries – Life Is Strange

May 8, 2023

About the Game This week I played the mobile app version of Life Is Strange, a game published by Square Enix’s External Studios and…

Critical Play: Her Story

May 8, 2023

Critical Play: Her Story     Her Story, an engaging mystery game created by Sam Barlow, skillfully integrates a captivating narrative with the central…

Critical Play: Mysteries

May 8, 2023

For this week’s mystery critical play, I played Year Walk on iPad. Year Walk is a mobile game (iPhone, iPad, only iOS) made in…

Team 20, Checkpoint 1: Ghost Train!

May 8, 2023

Check out our rough Ghost Train Concept Doc! Appendix: Noor Casey Sharon Tom Hyunseok

Critical Play: Mysteries (uphatak)

May 8, 2023

I am analyzing the game “Inside” today, which is a walking sim / puzzle game. The game’s narrative is tightly woven into its architecture…

Checkpoint 1: Incan Empire (Individual)

May 8, 2023

Emotions: Awe: The game’s immersive setting, inspired by the rich history and mythology of the Incan Empire, is likely to inspire feelings of awe…

the role of architecture in video games sketchnote

May 8, 2023

The role of architecture in video games

Sketchnote: Game Architecture

May 8, 2023

Checkpoint 1: Individual Deliverables – Pannisy

May 8, 2023

Mood Board Spotify Playlist Click here to access the Spotify playlist! Game Directions Battle Among Siblings: This would be a multiplayer board game where…

Checkpoint 1 Individual: Concept Doc

May 8, 2023

Moodboard fantasyland moodboard (other way to view) Playlist  p2 soundboard Game Directions (3) The most popular camper at summer camp goes missing one night,…

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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