CIS 5640 Introduction to Game Design / Spring 2025
Course Description
This course is a hands-on introduction to the craft of game design. Students will learn a variety of techniques to ideate, iterate and playtest and analyze games by breaking down the relationships between mechanics, themes and the powerful emotional experiences that games can create. Students will work on a variety of small in-class team-based projects to develop skills that translate directly into future real-world projects.
Course Objectives
This course will provide students with an introduction to the core creative principles, concepts, and game play structures underlying most games. This course will also focus on the game development process from a design point of view through hands-on design workshops and assignments.
The course will begin with a theoretical breakdown of the anatomy of games and how to analyze them systematically. Next, the course will focus on getting students familiar with the prototyping process. Finally, the course will cover some of the most common elements of games, including chance, economies and progression.
By the end of the course, students will be familiar with game development from an designer’s point of view, including prototyping, playtesting, iteration and game analysis.
Course Format
The course will consist mainly of lectures, in class workshop exercises, game design assignments and one final project. Each week, there will be one lecture, one workshop and one assignment, until the final project, for which students will be given three weeks to work on. Grading will be based as follows: 30% workshop exercises, 40% assignments and 30% final project.
Previous Offerings
The Archmage
Rui
