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The Mechanics of Magic

The Mechanics of Magic

Game Design Writings by Students at Stanford taking 247G and 377G

  • 247G Syllabus
    • 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
  • The How and Why of Sketchnotes
  • Graphic Design Resources

Author: Twang

Final Class Reflection – Tristan Wang

May 31, 2022

Before Coming into class, I’ve played my share of games, be it video games, board games, or physical games. I most often thought of…

Project 2: Ma Nasa / “Weird Place” (Peter Gofen, Qiantan Hong, Emily Hsu, Neha Vinjapuri, Tristan Wang)

May 31, 2022

Artist’s Statement Ma Nasa (Weird Place) is an escape room built around authenticity and immersion. While we quickly made the decision to hone in…

Terror in Subnautica (Mindmap) – Tristan Wang

May 25, 2022

Critical Play: Is This Game Balanced? (Polytopia) – Tristan Wang

May 22, 2022

Basic information Name: The Battle of Polytopia Creator: Midjiwan AB Platform: Android & iOS. I usually play on my iPad. Target audience: People who…

Onboarding in Plants vs Zombies (Sketchnote) – Tristan Wang

May 21, 2022

Critical Play: Puzzles (Monument Valley) – Tristan Wang

May 12, 2022

Basic information Name: Monument Valley Creator: Ustwo Games Platform: The game is designed for mobile devices. I played on an iPad. Target audience: The…

Puzzles In Games, Puzzles As Games (Mindmap) – Tristan Wang

May 10, 2022

Critical Play: Mysteries (Year Walk) – Tristan Wang

May 4, 2022

Basic information Name: Year Walk Creator: Simogo Platform: I played the game on an iPad. Target audience: People who enjoy games involving puzzles, exploration,…

The Role of Architecture in Videogames (Sketchnote) – Tristan Wang

May 4, 2022

Critical Play: Walking Simulators (Journey) – Tristan Wang

April 29, 2022

Basic information Name: Journey Creator: Thatgamecompany & Santa Monica Studio (co-developers), Sony Computer Entertainment (publisher), Jenova Chen (director). Platform: Originally released for PS3. I…

P2 Moodboard, Playlist & Directions – Tristan Wang

April 27, 2022

Emotions Tense, uneasy, intrigued. Moodboard Playlist Sketches Directions & approaches Narrative Exploring, escaping, or hijacking alien spacecraft? Features Disoriented, trapped in a dark room…

Game Architecture (Sketchnote) – Tristan Wang

April 27, 2022

Narrative Architecture (Mindmap) – Tristan Wang

April 27, 2022

Project 1: Mutually Assured Destruction (Qiantan Hong, Emily Hsu, Neha Vinjapuri, Tristan Wang)

April 21, 2022

Artist’s Statement We were all initially brought together by our love for social deduction games. Spyfall, Mafia, Secret Hitler – all of these games…

Balancing Games: Chance and Skill – Tristan Wang

April 20, 2022

Critical Play: Bluffing, Judging, and Getting Vulnerable (skribbl.io) – Tristan Wang

April 15, 2022

Introduction For my critical play, I played skribbl.io with some friends. Skribbl.io is an online Pictionary-like judging game. Players take turns drawing a prompt…

Visual Design of Games – Tristan Wang

April 14, 2022

Elements of Cheese or Font Core: Name of cheese or font Core: Player response (e.g. input field) Core: Navigation (e.g. previous & next buttons)…

Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships – Tristan Wang

April 13, 2022

Critical Play: Competitive Analysis (Coup) – Tristan Wang

April 12, 2022

INTRODUCTION One game similar to our concept is Coup (designed by Rikki Tahta, published by Indie Boards & Cards). Players of Coup start off…

What Do Prototypes Prototype – Tristan Wang

April 9, 2022

How many teams should there be (2, 3 or more than 3)? This is important because it affects the dynamics of the game. Having…

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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

  • 247G Syllabus
    • 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
  • The How and Why of Sketchnotes
  • Graphic Design Resources

Archives

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  • January 2022
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • September 2020
  • February 2017

Recent Posts

  • Jasmine Steele – P3 Reflection (Clout Chasers)
  • The Mechanic is the Message – Charlotte Feng
  • P4: Refine a Game – Lost Voices – Charlotte Feng
  • P4: Black Friday Baking (Yasmine Mitchell and Grace Zhang)
  • P4 | Accelerate

Recent Comments

  • Christina Wodtke on P2 – Barrier or Bridge?
  • Christina Wodtke on P2 – Split
  • Christina Wodtke on P2: The Last Moment of Sun
  • Christina Wodtke on P2: Zauberkurg Kartoffel Farm
  • Christina Wodtke on P2: The Future We Deserve https://mechanicsofmagic.com/?p=13253&preview=true

Categories

  • mindmap
  • 377G: Serious Games
  • P2: The Future We Deserve
  • P4: Refine a Game
  • CS247G
  • Project One
  • milestone
  • P2: Games In Space
  • Critical Play
  • Lectures
  • Sketchnotes
  • Project Two
  • From the Instructor
  • Project Four REFINE
  • Assignments
  • Project Two: The Future We Deserve
  • ReadWritePlay
  • Project Three: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
  • SGSG

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