This section presents readings by session after a complete list of citations, as well as additional readings for the course.
Assigned Readings
Bateman, Chris, and Richard Boon. 21st Century Game Design. Boston, MA: Charles River Media, 2005. ISBN: 9781584504290.
Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780252070334.
Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop. 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann, 2008. ISBN: 9780240809748.
Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons and Dragons. Lake Geneva, WI: Tactical Studies Rules, 1974.
Hunicke, Robin, Marc LeBlanc, and Robert Zubek. “MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research.” In Proceedings of the Challenges in Game AI Workshop at the 19th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence. San Jose, CA: AAAI Press, 2004. (PDF)
Juul, Jesper. “Swap Adjacent Gems to Make Sets of Three: A History of Matching Tile Games.” Artifact 1 (2007): 205-216.
———. “The Open and the Closed: Games of Emergence and Games of Progression.” In Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings. Edited by Frans Mäyrä. Tampere, Finland: Tampere University Press, 2002, pp. 323-329.
Mezrich, Ben. “Hacking Las Vegas.” Wired, no. 10.09 (September 2002).
Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780192129987.
———. A History of Card Games. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780192829054.
Piccione, Peter A. “In Search of the Meaning of Senet.” Archaeology 33 (July/August 1980): 55-58.
Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780262240451.
———. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780262195362.
Wells, H. G. Little Wars. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2004. ISBN: 9781419130908.
Zimmerman, Eric. “Play as Research: The Iterative Design Process.” In Design Research: Methods and Perspectives. Edited by Brenda Laurel. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003, p. 176. ISBN: 9780262122634.
Readings by Session
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Lecture: class and syllabus introduction What games and sports do the students/instructors play? Introduction to first reading, syllabus, writing expectations. [PT] |
|
| 2 | Lecture: design [JJ] |
Rules of Play, Ch. 3. Zimmerman, Eric. “Play as Research: The Iterative Design Process.” |
| 3 | Workshop: introduction to playtesting [DR] |
Fullerton, Tracy. Game Design Workshop, Ch. 8. Wells, H. G. Little Wars. |
| 4 | Lecture: types of fun and game history [JJ] |
Hunicke, LeBlanc, and Zubek. “MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research.” (PDF) Juul, Jesper. “Swap Adjacent Gems to Make Sets of Three: A History of Matching Tile Games.” |
| 5 | Lecture: game design patterns and twenty formal game questions [DR, CFV] | Björk, and Holopainen. “Games and Design Patterns.” Game Design Reader, p. 410. |
| 6 | Guest workshop, Scot Osterweil: playtesting exercise – poker variants | Rules of Play, Ch. 11 and 12. |
| 7 | Guest lecture, Barry Kudrowitz: toys | Background Reading: Rules of Play, Ch. 5, 7, 9, and 10. |
| 8 | Workshop: fortunetelling, games of chance and dice (Roulette, Bingo, Tarot) [CFV] |
Parlett, David. A History of Card Games, Ch. 1-2 and 18. ———. Oxford History of Board Games, Ch. 2. |
| 9 | Lecture: competition and chance [PT] |
Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games, Ch. 8. Rules of Play, Ch. 15. |
| 10 | Lecture: the player [CFV] |
Bartle, Richard. “Players Who Suit MUDs.” Bateman, Chris, and Boon, Richard. 21st Century Game Design, Ch. 3. |
| 11 | Workshop: Doris’ 1000 blank cards [DR] | Rules of Play, Ch. 14. |
| 12 | Lecture: card and guessing games [PT] | (none) |
| 13 | Lecture: information [PT] | Rules of Play, Ch. 16 and 17. |
| 14 | Workshop: initial presentation poker deck game, playtest to get feedback, and suggest changes [all] | Parlett, David. A History of Card Games, Ch. 3-4 and 6. |
| 15 | Workshop: racing games (Parcheesi, Life, Goose, Mille Bournes) [CFV] | Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games, Ch. 1. |
| 16 | Lecture: racing games [CFV] | Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games, Ch. 3 and 5. |
| 17 | Guest lecture, Dennis Loo: gambling and probability | Mezrich, Ben. “Hacking Las Vegas.” |
| 18 | Lecture: space games [CFV] | Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games, Ch. 11, 12, and 16. |
| 19 | Guest lecture, Denis Dyack | (none) |
| 20 | Workshop: Go, Chess, Xiangqi, Hasami Shogi, Draughts [PT] | (none) |
| 21 | Lecture: possibility space [PT] |
Rules of Play, Ch. 19. Poundstone, William. “Game Theory.” Game Design Reader, p. 382. |
| 22 | Lecture: feedback and emergence [JJ] |
Rules of Play, Ch. 18. Juul, Jesper. “The Open and the Closed: Games of Emergence and Games of Progression.” |
| 23 | Workshop: board game playtest | (none) |
| 24 | Lecture: bending and breaking [JJ] |
Rules of Play, Ch. 21. Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games, Ch. 4. Sniderman, Stephen. “Unwritten Rules,” and DeKoven, Bernard. “Changing the Game.” Game Design Reader, pp. 476 and 518. |
| 25 | Guest lecture, Marc LeBlanc | Piccione, Peter A. “In Search of the Meaning of Senet.” |
| 26 | Workshop: LAN party (conflict, competition, and cooperation) [PT] | Rules of Play, Ch. 20. |
| 27 | Lecture: digital games [JJ] |
Rules of Play, Ch. 8 and 13. |
| 28 | Lecture: abstraction and simulation [all] | Rules of Play, Ch. 27. |
| 29 | Lecture: social play [JJ] |
Rules of Play, Ch. 28. Callois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games, Ch. 3. |
| 30 | Workshop: narrative play (riddles, puzzles, and word games) [DR, CFV] |
Rules of Play, Ch. 26. OptionalGygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeon Master’s Guide, 1st ed. |
| 31 | Guest lecture, Sam Ford: wrestling, meaning, and symbols | Rules of Play, Ch. 25. |
| 32 | Guest lecture, Joshua Green: That’s Just Not Cricket! | (none) |
| 33 | Guest workshop, Stephen Balzac: live-action roleplaying game | (none) |
| 34 | Guest lecture, Stephen Balzac: exploiting the constraints | (none) |
| 35 | Guest lecture, Jason Haas: improv games | (none) |
| 36 | Workshop: playtest for the final project | (none) |
| 37 | Guest lecture, Chris Weaver | (none) |
| 38 | Lecture: course evaluations and postmortem [PT] | (none) |
Additional Readings
Church, Ben. “Formal Abstract Design Tools.” Game Developer 3 (August 1999): 28.
Halpern, Charna, et al. Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation. Colorado Springs, CO: Meriwether Publishing, 1994, pp. 59-63. ISBN: 9781566080033.
Kim, Scott. “What is a Puzzle?”
Orbanes, Philip E. “Learning the Game: 1898-1910.” Chapter 2 in The Game Makers: The Story of Parker Brothers, from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2003. ISBN: 9781591392699.
Stewart, Sean. “Alternate Reality Games.”
