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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

Category: P2: Games In Space

Checkpoint 0: Team 7

May 2, 2024

Team norms: Be there at the time of meeting or before. If you can’t be there on time, send a message to inform other…

Checkpoint 0: Team 14

May 2, 2024

Team 14 Norms: Group chat outside of Slack Open and fast responsiveness Proactiveness: work towards our north star, be willing to step up without being told what…

[Checkpoint 0] Team #23 Norms

May 2, 2024

Lucia Langaney, Hannah Cha, Collin Jung, Sophie Jin, Adrian Rivas Team Norms: Maintaining good communication with each other Being respectful of everyone’s time Create…

P2 Team 25 Norms

May 2, 2024

P2 Team 25 Norms Make sure to be responsive! Both on Slack and over message Try to be on time as possible. And if…

P2-Team22 Norms

May 2, 2024

Team22: Jailia Y, Shuvi J, Jasmine N, Ben H Communication Communicate through text Frequent communication Keep it action-oriented (Ex: Include when a task will…

P2 Team 10 Norms

May 2, 2024

Be vocal and open to disagreements. Have frequent check-ins to see how we can improve. Uphold open communication and honesty. Direct, constructive, and understanding…

Critical Play: Walking Simulator — What Remains of Edith Finch

April 30, 2024

For my critical play, I played What Remains of Edith Finch, developed by Annapurna Interactive, on the iPhone. This is an adventure walking simulator…

P2 Norms! by Team 16

April 30, 2024

As Team 16, we proudly entrust our team members will follow the norms listed below, to ensure the safety of our team dynamic and…

Final Class Reflection

June 8, 2023

I have always considered myself as a casual gamer. This class has really demystified gaming and gamer culture to me. I used to believe…

P2 Writeup: Keeper’s Memoriam

June 7, 2023

Created by Isabelle Lee, Jonathan Kula, Frankie Sperka,  Annabelle Wang, Anthony Xie Keeper’s Memoriam: https://keepers-memoriam.vercel.app/ Artist Statement  Keeper’s Memoriam is a digital 2D puzzle…

Final Writeup | Dreamscape CS247G

June 7, 2023

Matthew Ayoob, Tara Jones, Emily Redmond, Angel Rivera  CS 247G, Games in Space Final Project Dreamscape Game Video  Full Playtest Walkthrough Godot File Artist…

Team 17 P2: aMIdST

June 6, 2023

Artist Statement aMIdST is a puzzle mystery game about uncovering the main character’s identity through narrative and exploration. In order to create an experience…

Escaping Stanford Elementary Final Writeup

June 6, 2023

Team Sreya Guha Lisette Malacon Jaylene Martinez Jasmine Rodríguez Jasmine Shih Documentation Artist’s Statement Escaping Stanford Elementary is an immersive escape room experience where players assume…

Sketchnote: Addiction by Design

June 4, 2023

P2, Team 13: Concept Doc

May 9, 2023

Synopsis Stanford professor Who is secretly Satoshi Nakamoto(The Mysterious Inventor of Bitcoin), he disappeared/passed away. He sends out a school wide email to announce…

P2 Checkpoint 1 Team 15

May 9, 2023

Concept: Escape Your Neighborhood! By Alexandra Moore, Drew Silva, Jake Restaino, Melanie Zhou, and Uma Phatak Intro (Premise, like 2 sentences): After another lonely…

P2 3 directions

May 9, 2023

Moodboard https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0NOLeJoJHWloaYijQiWXCn?si=7aff59cd2df84cda Crypto treasure Premise Stanford CS prof who is also a crypto billionaire passed away, sends out a school announcement that whoever can…

Team 7: Checkpoint 1 Concept Doc

May 9, 2023

Descriptions of Our Game  Story In the game, the player spawns on an abandoned yacht, anchored within view of the shore. The yacht is…

P2 Group Checkpoint 1: Daikon Boy

May 9, 2023

Individual Concept Docs https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2023/05/09/p2-individual-checkpoint-1-daikon-boy-at-the-supermarket/ https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2023/05/08/p2-individual-checkpoint-1-jeong/ https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2023/05/08/individual-concept-doc-kaitlyn/ https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2023/05/08/p2checkpoint1/ https://mechanicsofmagic.com/2023/05/08/checkpoint-1-individual-deliverables/

P2 Individual Checkpoint 1: Daikon Boy at the Supermarket

May 9, 2023

From our ideation on Tuesday, we really liked the premise of an anthropomorphic daikon radish set in the supermarket. However, anything beyond that was…

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
  • Mindmap–Narrative Architecture
  • Mindmap: Narrative Architecture
  • Mind map of stories in games – Lebriz
  • Mindmap: Narrative Architecture – Marcus Polson

Recent Comments

  • jasonzz on Mooney Ranch
  • Sizhe Wu on Introduce Yourself – Carl
  • Christina Wodtke on Short Exercise: Learning to Play closely
  • Christina Wodtke on Short Exercise: Learning to Play Closely – Fruit Ninja
  • Aksel Kolasinski on Hi! I’m Mathias

Categories

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

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