Honors Seminar in Computer Science, Spring 2009
Week by week calendar
January 20th
Week 1: Introduction and Overview
January 27th: What is a Game?
Required reading
Greg Costikyan, I have no words & I must design
(html version)
Understanding Games (requires Flash 9)
Required playing
Crayon Physics Deluxe (Windows. Complete the demo)
Puzzle Quest Galactrix (Flash. Play the demo)
Further reading
Chapter 1: What is a Game?
Chris Crawford, The Art of Game Design
(html version)
February 3rd: Game Design Analysis
Required reading
Hunicke et al., MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research
Doug Church, Formal Abstract Design Tools
(html version)
Required playing
Auditorium (Flash. Play at least 6 levels)
Dino Run (Flash. Try to play at least 5 levels)
Samorost (Flash. Play as far as you get…)
February 10th: Game Feel
Required reading
Steve Swink, Principles of Virtual Sensation
(html version)
Steve Swink, Game Feel: The Secret Ingredient
(html version)
Required playing
Strange Attractors 1 (Windows. Play at least 5 levels)
Osmos (Windows. Play the demo)
Ski Stunt Simulator (Windows. Play as much as you like). Vista users: check the instructions at the bottom of this page
Precision (Windows. Play as much as you like)
February 17th
No class meeting (out of office).
February 24th: Flow Theory + Difficulty in Games
Required reading
Jenova Chen, Flow in Games
(html version)
Jesper Juul, Fear of Failing? The Many Meanings of Difficulty in Video Games
(html version)
Required playing
flOw (Flash. Play a few levels/layers)
Flywrench (Windows. Play as far as you get)
Nicewrench (Windows. Play as far as you like)
Further reading
Ian Bogost, Persuasive Games: Video Game Zen
Nicole Lazzaro, Why We Play Games: 4 Keys to More Emotion Without Story
Further playing
Messhof Games (Punishment, Flywrench, etc.)
March 3rd: Visual Abstraction and Interaction Abstraction
Required reading
Jesper Juul, A Certain Level of Abstraction
(html version)
Scott McCloud, The Vocabulary of Comics
(requires Sakai login and CS 195 membership)
Required playing
The Marriage (Windows. Play to completion)
Passage (Windows/Linux/Mac. Play to completion twice)
Zork (Browser. Play current stable release as far as you like)
Further playing
March 10th: Narrative in Games
Required reading
Jesse Schell, One Kind of Experience is the Story
(requires Sakai login and CS 195 membership)
Michael Abbott, Narrative Manifesto. Read first three pages. Reading the comments is optional.
(html version)
Required playing
Majesty of Colors (Flash. Find a few endings)
I wish I were the Moon (Flash. Find a few endings)
Pathways (Windows. Play as far as you like)
The Graveyard (PC/Mac. Play to completion)
Gravity Bone (Windows. Play to completion)
Further playing
Further reading
March 31st: Games as Miniature Gardens
Required reading
Chaim Gingold, Miniature Gardens and Magic Crayons: Games, Spaces & Worlds
(read chapters I and II, up to page 51)
Required playing
Knytt Stories (Windows. Play to completion). Local download (requires Sakai login)
Closure (Flash. Play as far as you get)
Further playing
Cave Story (Windows/Mac/Linux). Local download (Windows version. Requires Sakai login)
Jumpman (Windows/Mac)
konjak.org (Noitu Love, Legend of Princess, etc.)
The Linear RPG (Flash)
Further reading
April 7th: Game Prototyping
Required reading/listening
Chris Hecker and Chaim Gingold, Advanced Prototyping
(listen to mp3 and watch slides in parallel)
Required playing
World of Goo (Windows/Mac/Linux. Play demo to completion).
The world (of goo) wasn’t built in a day (Play the four early prototypes and read the blog posts)
Further reading
Maxis SIGGRAPH talks (including Rigblocks)
Further playing
Games from CMU's experimental gameplay workshop
Free demo of the Spore creature creator
April 14th: Conflicts in Story and Game Design
Required reading/listening
Jonathan Blow, Fundamental Conflicts in
Contemporary Game Design (listen to mp3 and watch slides in parallel)
Jason Rohrer's statement on Gravitation
Required playing
Gravitation (Windows/Mac/Linux. Play a few times).
Aether (Flash. Play to completion)
Coil (Flash. Play to completion)
Psychosomnium (Windows. Play to completion)
Don't look back (Flash. Play as far as you get)
Further reading
Jason Rohrer's statement on Passage
April 21st: Indie Prototyping
Required reading/listening
Jonathan Blow, Prototyping for Indies
(watch the talk)
Derek Yu, What is Independent Gaming?
Required playing
Braid (Windows. Play the demo to completion)
Narbacular Drop (Windows. Play a level).
Portal (Windows. Play the demo)
Further playing
April 28th: Free Form
Required playing
Further playing