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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: CS247G

Sketchnote: Game Architecture — Alex Tsai

May 4, 2022

One game I enjoy is Nintendo Super Mario Bros. The game consists of several loops that lead to mastery of several different skills, and…

Project 2 Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc

May 4, 2022

Individual Concept Docs Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc Project 2 Checkpoint 1: Individual Concept Doc Concept Doc- Noel Sarduy

P2 Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc

May 3, 2022

Ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrEsNI0aCPk  Narrative game where the narrator is schizophrenic and has to listen to audio Synesthesia, inter-related senses, connecting colors with sounds Haunting sounds…

P2 – Moodboard

May 3, 2022

Moodboard: Directions: 2-D game such as “line rider” focussed on audio elements controlling the main game play. 2-D platformer where players have to climb…

Sketchnote Loop

May 3, 2022

Critical Play: Walking Simulators

May 3, 2022

Hi! For this week’s critical play, I chose to play Dear Esther which was created by the developers The Chinese Room. Over time, the…

Individual Concept Document

May 3, 2022

Moodboard: Three Directions: A character exploring a piece of black-and-white sheet music, playing it like a platformer by jumping on the notes. As you…

Project 2: Concept Document

May 3, 2022

Three different concept sketches for an audio-based game that evokes a sense of wistfulness, haunting, and endearment are below. A moodboard and Spotify playlist for the game are…

Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc – Secrets of Stanford

May 3, 2022

By Ecy King, Ulo Freitas, Stanford Stickney, and Fernanda Kramer Our game, Secrets of Stanford, will focus on the life and death of Jane…

P2 Concept Doc: Alex Hurtado, Ciera Okere, Christina Ding, Will Osborn

May 3, 2022

Our concept document is in presentation format, view the Figma file here. Individual Concept Doc Links: Will Alex Christina Ciera

Mindmap: Narrative Architecture

May 3, 2022

Evocative Spaces: Tamriel Rebuilt is a mod for Morrowind which builds out an entire continent. It has relatively few quests, but a lot of…

P2 Moodboard (Individual)

May 3, 2022

Moodboard Emotions to evoke 1. Fear 2. Suspense 3. Accomplishment   3 Directions for this game 1. Competition 1: two teams get the same…

Individual Post: Concept Doc P2

May 3, 2022

Moodboard: https://pin.it/71umRr8 Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6wM5egoXdtrpWng7ylmOV2?si=75763bc5b9bb447e  Directions for the Game: Kinds of Fun (for all ideas): Discovery: exploration of the game as a 2d side…

Concept Doc – David Ryan

May 3, 2022

The core dilemma at the heart of our game is choosing whether or not to allow the current world – in steady ecological decline…

Game Architecture SN

May 3, 2022

Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc – Ji Hong Ni (Individual)

May 3, 2022

Setting: A Room Theme: Time travel Emotion: Confusion Mechanics: Opening items   3 directions for the game to be: You stumble across an old…

Checkpoint 1: Individual Concept Doc

May 3, 2022

Moodboard:   Directions: (Mainly for the twist) The protagonist is actually sentient and as the game progresses, they start to break the 4th wall…

Checkpoint 1: Concept Doc

May 3, 2022

Moodboard: Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5YNFRyKvHGyXSJjhcjAcKc?si=43547ca8ee0e44ca Ideas for direction of game: Incorporation of a character meant to add humour and brings a less technical perspective to…

Narrative Architecture Sketchnote

May 3, 2022

Evocative Spaces: Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Hidden Staircase (DSI) Enacting Stories: Candy Box 2 Embedded Narratives: Super Mario Brothers Emergent Narratives:…

P2 Checkpoint 1 – Individual Concept

May 3, 2022

Concept 1: Narrative: The players are deserted on a sinking island and must work collectively to escape the hour within 1 hour before being…

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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: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships
  • Critical Play: Competitive Analysis
  • Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships – Rohan Gonzalez
  • Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendships – Clare 070626
  • Sketchnote: Game Design Patterns for Building Friendship

Recent Comments

  • 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
  • Aksel Kolasinski on Self Introduction – Cameron H

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
  • Project Two: The Future We Deserve
  • From the Instructor
  • Project Three: The Game of Unexpected Consequences
  • ReadWritePlay
  • 377G: Serious Games
  • SGSG

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