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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: April 2024

Critical Play – We’re Not Really Strangers [Sophie Jin]

April 23, 2024

For my critical play, I played “We’re Not Really Strangers”, the Couples Edition, with my partner. The game consists of different cards with questions…

Critical Play: Judging Game – Ethan Foster

April 23, 2024

For my critical play, I chose the game Quiplash 2 from Jackbox Party Pack 3, an online collection of games developed by Jackbox Games….

Critical Play: Judging

April 23, 2024

“Cards Against Humanity,” known for its edgy and often risqué content, serves as an intriguing case study in the use of humor to forge…

Critical Play – Jackbox Party Pack 2

April 23, 2024

This past week, I played Quiplash, one of the games featured on the Jackbox Party Pack 2 (created by Jackbox Games and available for…

Critical Play – Quiplash

April 23, 2024

For this critical play, I focused on the party game Quiplash, a minigame from the Jackbox Party Pack series of games. Released by game…

Critical Play: Judging – Valerie

April 23, 2024

Quiplash was originally created by and available to play on Jackbox Games. Its target audience is both adults and children above 12, and suitability…

Critical Play on Judgement Games — Quiplash!

April 23, 2024

Quiplash is an online judgment game where players type in their best response to a prompt and then are pitted against each other as…

Critical Play: Judging and Getting Vulnerable… Cards Against Humanity

April 23, 2024

“Cards Against Humanity” has been a staple game from my teenage years onward across many different friend groups, and I was excited for the…

Critical Play: Judging and Getting Vulnerable…(Trumped Up Cards) – Oluseyi Ogundipe

April 23, 2024

Trumped Up Cards is a satirical card game developed by Reid Hoffman. The game mainly functions the same as Cards Against Humanity, but is…

For the Girls!

April 23, 2024

“For the Girls” is not just a card game; it’s an emotional journey that invites players to delve into vulnerability while fostering deep connections…

Critical Play – Skribbl.io

April 23, 2024

Skribbl.io In the playful digital expanse where friends and strangers gather to decode scribbles, Skribbl.io stands out as a multiplayer drawing and guessing game….

Critical Play: Judging and Getting Vulnerable

April 23, 2024

Skribbl.io Skribbl.io is an online drawing game that is meant to be played with friends. You can play with anybody, but it is much…

Critical Play: Skribbl.io – Blain Engeda

April 23, 2024

Skribbl.io is an online pictionary game created by ticedev and available online. The game is for people of all ages, and can be played…

Critical Play – Fakin It

April 23, 2024

“Fakin’ It” is more than just a fun party game—it’s a real test of your judgment skills and how you handle suspicion and trust…

Critical Play: Judging and Getting Vulnerable

April 23, 2024

Name of the Game: Skribbl.io Target Audience: Gamers of all ages with a focus on those enjoying casual and social gaming experiences. Game’s Creator:…

Critical Play: Quiplash

April 23, 2024

Quiplash is a party game created by the studio Jackbox, and is played using a TV and smartphones. The target audience of this game…

Critical Play – Quiplash

April 23, 2024

This past weekend I played Quiplash with a group of six friends – three guys and three girls! Created by Jackbox Games, a Chicago-based…

Critical Play – Judging Games

April 23, 2024

Target audience: 9+ Name of the game: Apples to Apples Game’s creator: Matt Kirby Platform of the game: Card Game “Apples to Apples” is a fascinating example…

Critical Play: Judging and Getting Vulnerable…

April 23, 2024

  The game I chose is Cards Against Humanity (CAH), which is a judging card game targeting 18+ audiences. It allows for 2-30 players,…

Judging and Getting Vulnerable Critical Play

April 23, 2024

Cards Against Humanity is an analogous card game, created by eight Highland Park Highschool alumni- Josh Dillon, Daniel Dranove, Eli Halpern, Ben Hantoot, David…

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

  • Mindmap: Narrative Architecture
  • Interaction Loops sketchnotes
  • Loops & Arcs – Yan Chen
  • Babbdi: All you do is walk, until you don’t
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Recent Comments

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  • Christina Wodtke on Short Exercise: Learning to Play Closely – Fruit Ninja
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Categories

  • P2: The Empathy Machine
  • Featured
  • Project One
  • milestone
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  • mindmap
  • P1: Social Games
  • CS247G
  • Assignments
  • P1: those who play, teach
  • Lectures
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  • P3: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
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  • Project Four REFINE
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