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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 2024

RWP Essay – Emergent Narrative in Kenshi

June 14, 2024

Content Warning: Kenshi is a post-apocalyptic setting and does not shy away from genre tropes, such as brutal violence, cannibalism, slavery, and death. There…

RWP Hades

June 14, 2024

Hades is a gorgeous, well voice acted, super fun isometric 2D game from the studio that is very good at making gorgeous super fun…

RWP Slay The Princess

June 14, 2024

Sorry to say, but I’m a Slay the Princess hipster. I played the game before it was cool. I think I saw a random…

RWP Unpacking

June 14, 2024

Unpacking is a meditative puzzle game where players unpack and organize household items into a new living space, following a female protagonist as she…

RWP 2024 Final Paper — Slay the Author (If You Don’t, It Will Be The End of the Game): Interpretation as Truth in Slay the Princess (Jasmine Steele)

June 14, 2024

[This article contains illustrated gore, body horror, and plot spoilers for Slay the Princess.] Chapter I: The Hero and the Princess Slay the Princess…

RWP 2024 – Hades, Unpacking, and TFT (Ember Fu)

June 14, 2024

Hades, Unpacking, and TFT have all been games that I’ve touched a bit upon in the past and/or long had on my radar. As…

RWP Final Paper: The Allure of Simulation Games: Exploring Control, Escapism, Progression, and Comfort

June 14, 2024

Introduction One of my favorite genres of games has always been simulation games. When I was younger, I was addicted to Roblox because it…

RWP (2024) – Hades

June 13, 2024

We played Hades this quarter for RWP! I went into this game pretty blind as I have heard raves about it but have not…

RWP 2024 – Final Paper: What’s in the cards? (Ember Fu)

June 13, 2024

Overview I’ve always loved cards. This has persisted to my love for both tabletop and digital games today, but I think a lot of…

Slay the Princess: Review

June 13, 2024

I was hopeful going into this game, thinking that it may not be another horror game for us to play, but I was unfortunately…

Inscryption Review

June 13, 2024

Inscryption is a rougelike deck-building game developed by Daniel Mullins Games. However, it further blends turn-based strategy, escape room like puzzles, and an adventure-style…

Teamfight Tactics Review

June 13, 2024

Teamfight Tactics (TFT) is an auto battler game created by Riot Games as part of the League of Legends franchise. Based on Dota Auto…

Slay the Princess Review

June 13, 2024

Slay the Princess is a psychological horror visual novel developed by indie studio Black Tabby Games. The game’s premise plays on a cruel twist…

RWP Final Paper – Why Sandbox Games are so Successful

June 13, 2024

Introduction Sandbox games have carved out a significant niche in the gaming industry, captivating millions of players worldwide. Their success can be attributed to…

Slay the Princess

June 13, 2024

I only played the demo so Idk what was supposed to happen, but the demo was disappointing for me. The core loop was really…

Inscryption

June 13, 2024

I watched Markiplier’s gameplay of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxW84qnvZEc The art style is really cool. The cards are dark and inky, minimal, and illustrative. The colors…

Final reflection

June 13, 2024

Before this class, I thought game design was much more about the functionality than the design itself. This is because personally, when playing a…

RWP 2024 — Hades (Jasmine Steele)

June 13, 2024

Despite hearing its praises sung from every corner of my social circle the year it came out (and ever since), I avoided playing Hades…

RWP 2024 – Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (Jasmine Steele)

June 13, 2024

At first, I was terrified to pick up Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising because I knew it was the sort of game you were supposed…

RWP 2024 — Inscryption (Jasmine Steele)

June 13, 2024

The atmosphere of this game hit me full-force the moment I first opened it, saw that the New Game option was greyed out 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

  • Sketchnote: Loops & Arcs
  • Sketchnote: Loops & Arcs
  • Sketchnote: Loops & Arcs
  • Sketchnote: Addiction by Design – Ilaria
  • Loops and Arcs – Mai Mostafa

Recent Comments

  • amaru on Critical Play: Mysteries & Escape Rooms – Amelia Chen
  • suyeshen on Critical Play: Bluffing, Judging and Getting Vulnerable – Sue Shen
  • Izzy on P2: AI Judgment Day
  • Izzy on P2: The Future We Deserve – The Broadcast
  • Izzy on P2: Pokemon The Next Adventure

Categories

  • Featured
  • Project One
  • P2: The Future We Deserve
  • milestone
  • 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
  • Sketchnotes
  • P4: Refine a Game
  • Project Two: The Future We Deserve
  • From the Instructor
  • Project Three: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
  • ReadWritePlay
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