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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

Author: Jin-Hee

Final Class Reflection

June 1, 2022

First day of class: make a version of Tic-Tac-Toe that would be engaging for Stanford students. Go. This is what I came up with….

Critical Play: Theme Only Games

May 30, 2022

My first reaction is that I just played Cat Condo for 2 hours straight and have no idea why. But I’ll do my best…

Sketchnotey-Mindmap: Terror in Subnautica

May 30, 2022

This week, we learned about terror, which is distinct from horror, as employed in the game Subnautica. Here is a sketch-supplemented mindmap for this…

Critical Play: Balance in Sushi Go!

May 26, 2022

After reading this article on game balance, I wanted to write about the card game Sushi Go!, designed by Phil Walker-Harding and published by…

Sketchnote: Onboarding in Plants vs Zombies

May 23, 2022

Below are my sketchnotes for “How I Got My Mom to Play Through Plants vs. Zombies.” This week’s challenge was to use a different…

Critical Play: Puzzles – ROOOM

May 19, 2022

For my puzzle game, I played Neko Donut’s ROOOM. Immediately, the simple graphics with the primary-colored rooms, my cute little character, and quirky graphics…

Sketchnotey-Mindmap: Puzzles x Games

May 17, 2022

This week, we’re diving into puzzles and games! Below is a hybrid of sketchnote and mindmap for the readings:

Critical Play: Mysteries – Creepy Basement

May 12, 2022

About the Game To experience mystery, I played Creepy Basement Escape on MouseCity — I couldn’t find the name of the specific creator, and…

Sketchnote: The Role of Architecture in Videogames

May 10, 2022

Below is my sketchnote for Ernest Adams’ “Designer’s Notebook: The Role of Architecture in Videogames.”

Critical Play: Walking Sim – Dear Esther

May 4, 2022

About the Game Wow. What an experience. I played the iOS mobile version of Dear Esther by The Chinese Room and Robert Briscoe. From…

Sketchnote: Game Architecture

May 3, 2022

Below is my sketchnote on Dan Cook’s “Interaction Loops and Arcs.” This week’s challenge was to try grouping the information in a different way,…

Mindmap: Narrative Architecture

May 1, 2022

Below is my mindmap for the narrative architecture of a game. As a unique form of media, games tell stories in a different way….

P2 – Individual Concept Map

May 1, 2022

Initial Mood Board Thinking, imagining, visualizing! Here are my individual initial ideas for our game, focused on space and environment. Below is a mood…

Sketchnote: Balancing Games – Chance and Skill

April 25, 2022

It’s sketchnote time! Below is my sketchnote for my reading on the chapter “Chance and Skill: Finding the Balance.” This week’s drawing challenge? Trying…

Critical Play: Judgement in Charty Party

April 20, 2022

About the Game Who doesn’t love judging? There’s plenty of judgement to go around (literally) in the card game Charty Party by Evan Katz and…

Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships

April 19, 2022

Friendship! Who wouldn’t want it? This week, I sketchnoted on the topic of designing to encourage friendship. I constrained myself to using B&W in…

Visual Design of Games

April 19, 2022

Cheese or Font? Playing Cheese or Font was… a more infuriating experience than I expected it to be. How could I not know the…

Critical Play: Exploding Kittens

April 13, 2022

For my competitive analysis, I chose to play Exploding Kittens, a game from which my team drew inspiration. I forced kindly asked some of the…

What do prototypes prototype?

April 12, 2022

Questions Relating to Some Hypothetical Prototype: 1. Does the theme of the game come across as relevant? (Is it too excessive, too subtle, or…

MDA: Heads Up!

April 11, 2022

This last weekend, I went to Great America with some friends and screamed my face off on some roller coasters. Amusement parks are great,…

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

Archives

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Recent Posts

  • Critical Play – Puzzles – The Room
  • Critical Play: Puzzles – Amelia Chen
  • Critical Play: Puzzles – Factory Balls – Mateus
  • Sketchnote: Puzzles in Games, Puzzles as Games
  • Critical Play: Puzzles – Myan

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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  • SGSG

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