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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 2024

P2 Checkpoint 1 – Casey

May 6, 2024

Moodboard Playlist 3 Narrative Directions: Mystery of the Missing Manuscript A significant antique manuscript that represents the union of two academic researchers disappears at…

[Critical Play] Sanabi

May 6, 2024

The game that I chose for this critical play is Sanabi, an action-platformer game with an amazing narrative and mystery component. This game was…

Checkpoint 1: Individual Contribution, Emily Macias

May 6, 2024

Moodboard: Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2bcE9XVGcBBMsT0KFoSUiQ?si=6Uhx4GUBT-um9ESBOw4zmg&pi=u-5fAdkl5fSW-a&pt=475a6566ca7cea20f642555b514f7e4f As the World Caves In – Matt Maltese Gilded Lily – Cuts What Falling in Love Feels Like – Julius…

Moodboard – Bryson Ochieng

May 6, 2024

Emotions I want to evoke: Tension Anxiety Frustration   Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5cWx2xP9UqpRkhfq3h06RZ?si=946e2dee14724fcf Mystery-Thriller adventure Concept: Players take on the role of a detective with…

P2 Checkpoint 1 – Individual Concept

May 6, 2024

Synopsis: A shape-shifting teenage alien runs away from home and lands on Earth. In an effort to find a new community, they transform into…

[Moodboard] Collin J

May 6, 2024

The three ideas I wanted to evoke with my mood board were cozy, exploration, and growth. Here is my Spotify playlist: Direction 1:You are an explorer…

Critical Play – Gone Home – Caleb Liu

May 6, 2024

Gone Home, a mystery game created by Steve Gaynor of Fullbright Company, stood out to me not just for its innovative storytelling but its…

Critical Play: Mysteries

May 6, 2024

Introduction Year Walk is a point-and-click mystery game developed by the Swedish indie studio Simogo. Originally designed for mobile play, Year Walk has also…

P2 Individual Brainstorm – Oumnia Chellah

May 6, 2024

Game: After the Fire is a game about grief, hope and connection. It gives players the ability to build a forest back after a…

P2 Checkpoint 1 Individual — Ryan Suh

May 6, 2024

Moodboard: Spotify Playlist: The three emotions we hope to evoke are: tension, urgency, and determination.  Direction 1: Defusing the Past You are James Bond,…

P2 Group Checkpoint 1: Spiraling (Team 25)

May 6, 2024

Intro For years, nothing changed at Erevere Hospital. Day blended into identical day. But today, something is different. Your cell door, always locked, is…

P2 Individual Checkpoint 1 — Ian

May 6, 2024

Moodboard: Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7ptD7lwWdsZDm8t2efipax?si=0b96e5a51ddc439a   Premise: You are in a mental hospital, surrounded by nothing but other patients that you can’t see, and with no way…

P2 Individual Brainstorm – Arnav Krishnamoorthi

May 6, 2024

From your time in the psych ward, you’ve been treated your whole life as a psycho. No one’s believed you when you claim you…

Critical Play: Mysteries – Life is Strange

May 6, 2024

Life is Strange is an episodic adventure and mystery game, where players uncover mysteries and use their ability to manipulate time to create different…

Individual Concept Doc P2

May 6, 2024

  Individual Concept Doc – Haven Whitney Moodboard   Playlist   Narrative Directions Direction 1 – Platformer Our initial idea for the game was…

SketchNote: Formal Elements

May 5, 2024

Critical Play: Gone Home

May 5, 2024

Gone home is a walking simulator video game made by the studio Fullbright. The game is available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox, iOS, Steam,…

Individual Team Member Deliverables – Ethan Foster

May 5, 2024

Emotions: curious, spooked Moodboard: Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2weNQFsIEGEhD8ExL3VT3T?si=890e6c3fa5a04b16 Directions: Analog escape room where the (ghost) player is stuck in her own bedroom, trying to discover…

SketchNote: What Games Are and Aren’t

May 5, 2024

Critical Play: Life Is Strange

May 5, 2024

For my critical play, I played Episode 1 of Life is Strange on Steam, a 17+ video game created by Deck Nine Games and…

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

  • Read & Play: Working With System Dynamics – Patchwork
  • Read & Play: Working With System Dynamics – snoopy
  • Read & Play: Working With System Dynamics_Paprika
  • Read & Play: Working With System Dynamics – Saharat “Game” Laksanasut (สหรัฐ ลักษณะสุต)
  • Sketchnote: Playtesting formally: Jessica

Recent Comments

  • @SEO_LINKKK in Telegram | הימורי ספין בפוקר ובמכונות: מדריך טכני לשחקן הישראלי – Quin Creative on Critical Play: Luigi’s Picture Poker
  • 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

Categories

  • P2: The Empathy Machine
  • Featured
  • Project One
  • milestone
  • P2: The Future We Deserve
  • mindmap
  • P1: Social Games
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  • Assignments
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  • Lectures
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  • Critical Play
  • P3: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
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  • Project Four REFINE
  • P4: Refine a Game
  • Sketchnotes
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