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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: June 2023

Sketchnote: Addiction by Design

June 6, 2023

P2 – Quest for Compound X

June 6, 2023

Project 2: Quest for Compound X Team: Sebastian James, Joseph Ngo, Kaitlin Peng, Dylan Ly    Artist’s Statement During our first meeting as a…

Critical Play: Play Like a Feminist

June 6, 2023

Shira Chess states several ways feminist ideals are pushed in video games, such as strong agency and player hegemony, especially playing as a female-identifying…

Project 2 Group 8: Pacficka (Simran, Ore, Wesley, Adaeze)

June 6, 2023

This is the writeup for our digital game Pacificka, you can play it in your browser here: https://cpreo.github.io/pacificka Made by: Simran Tandon, Wesley Rojas,…

Final reflection: Raagavi

June 6, 2023

Before this class I thought games were kind of dumb. While I’ve loved word games, card games and such my entire life, I never…

P2: Riddleton’s Treasure – Team 14

June 6, 2023

Riddleton’s Treasure: A Family Quest Team 14 Members: Julia Chin, Cyrus Darcy, Albert Hwang, Elysia Smyers, Pannisy Zhao About Riddleton’s Treasure Riddleton’s Treasure is…

Final Class Reflection – uphatak

June 6, 2023

Before taking this class, my understanding of play and game design was limited. I really enjoyed board games (Catan, Ticket to Ride, cards –…

Critical Play: Puzzles

June 6, 2023

Superliminal is a surreal puzzle video game released in 2019 that heavily employs optical illusions, depth perception, and forced perspective as the main mechanics…

Critical Play – Playing SSBU under a feminist lens

June 6, 2023

For this week’s Critical Play I played Super Smash Brother’s Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch – playing as the two characters Palutena and Peach…

Team 6 P2 Final Report

June 6, 2023

Link to play our game: itch.io [Please don’t play in incognito mode!] Artist’s statement redFlag is a fun, memey dating simulator in which the…

Group 1 P2 Deliverable

June 6, 2023

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nhvmllGzbPfjpzbNoOgaAC6YXQLtCmqNlMGtFl-xsJE/edit?usp=sharing

Final Class Reflection

June 6, 2023

Coming into this class, I thought games mainly fell into two categories: family-friendly board games and male-oriented video games. I had a mental image…

Escaping Stanford Elementary Final Writeup

June 6, 2023

Team Sreya Guha Lisette Malacon Jaylene Martinez Jasmine Rodríguez Jasmine Shih Documentation Artist’s Statement Escaping Stanford Elementary is an immersive escape room experience where players assume…

P2 Team 15 Games in Space Project: Escape ResX

June 6, 2023

  Escape ResX CS247G – Games in Space Project Group Members Sasha Moore Uma Phatak Jake Restaino Drew Silva Melanie Zhou Artist’s Statement As…

Final Reflection

June 6, 2023

I didn’t really understand why my friends liked playing games before. I think I’ve always been more of a serious person who gets satisfaction…

Escape ResX Print and Play

June 6, 2023

Final Narrative Letter with Blacklight Example: Final Birds Puzzle Final Diary Puzzle Final Cipher Puzzle​​ Final Crossword Puzzle Final Dining Hall Menu Puzzle Final…

Final Class Reflection

June 6, 2023

Before I took this class, I did not play any games really. My boyfriend is an avid gamer and I would always see him…

Critical Play: Puzzles

June 6, 2023

In Monument Valley, the mechanics of the puzzles heavily influence the narrative. With level names such as “In which Ida learns a new way…

Critical Play: Games of Chance

June 6, 2023

For this critical play, I played poker online. I have played poker a lot in person, but this was my first time playing online….

Competitive Analysis

June 6, 2023

Cards against Humanity is a judging game that’s like an X-rated mix of Apples to Apples and Mad Libs. Play goes exactly as it does…

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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

  • Final CS247G Reflection
  • Critical Play on WorldBuilding: Cyberpunk’s Night City Doesn’t Have Races — It Has Lifepaths
  • Critical Play: Puzzles — EXIT: The House of Riddles
  • Critical Play: Mysteries & Escape Rooms — Cube Escape: Paradox
  • Protected: Independent Study Final Reflection

Recent Comments

  • Christina Wodtke on Personal Reflection
  • Christina Wodtke on Final Class Reflection – Nicholai K.
  • Christina Wodtke on 247G Final Class Reflection
  • Christina Wodtke on Final Class Reflection – Joseph Gu
  • Christina Wodtke on 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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