The Acagamic
User Experience Research & Design in Games
This course introduces you to the basic concepts of game design. The course is taught at the University of Waterloo with minor modifications by Professor Nacke and includes the creation of several non-digital games. Topics that we will cover are: a game designer’s role in the development team, formal and dramatic game elements, narrative design, system dynamics, skill and chance, conceptualizing and communicating game design ideas, social play, games as culture, economic systems in games, level design, functionality and balance of games, simple playtesting and quality assurance.
Welcome to week seven in the course: Basic Introduction to Game Design. Make sure to read the syllabus and course information before you continue. In this post, we discuss communication and game design documentation. While most textbooks discuss creating game design documents in some way, I feel that, given the scope of a game design class, no truly …
Welcome to week six in the course: Basic Introduction to Game Design. Make sure to read the syllabus and course information before you continue. In this post, we will discuss the conceptualization process in game design. This text follows closely from our textbook (Game Design Workshop, Chapter 6). After having discussed game systems, and the roles that skill, …
Welcome to the fifth week of class in the course: Basic Introduction to Game Design. Make sure to read the syllabus and course information before you continue. Today, we are going to discuss chance and skill in game design. This text follows closely from our textbook (Challenges for Game Designers, Chapter 5 and 8). I …
Welcome to the fourth week of class in the course: Basic Introduction to Game Design. Thanks for coming over from GameCareerGuide if you read my guest post there. Make sure to read the syllabus and course information before you continue. Today, we are going to discuss system dynamics in games. This text follows closely from our …
In week 3 of the introduction to game design course, we discuss narrative design, elements of a story and dramatic elements of games in general.
In the second week of my Basic Introduction to Game Design, we talk about games as systems, their formal structure and the elements that make games games.
Today, we are going to discuss the role of a game designer when completing a game and find out a little more about what game design actually is. Game designers craft the core mechanics of a game. This means that they are responsible for deciding how games work.
Welcome to the class: Basic Introduction to Game Design. My name is Dr. Lennart Nacke. I help people understand how to design and evaluate games. I am teaching this class in the Fall 2014 at UOIT (INFR 1330). Today, I am going to show you how this course works and how you are going to benefit from the …
