Section Topic: Game Writing
Coordinator:
Course Description:
In this course, students will have the opportunity to build skills in critical reading and thinking,
scholarly research, and collaborative writing within the discipline of game design.
People have been designing and playing games since before the earliest documented evidence of human
civilization. Archeologists have found dice that have been estimated to be 7000 years old. The pharaohs
of prehistoric Egypt were buried with game boards placed inside their tombs. Today, we play games on
dedicated consoles, on super-charged gaming PCs, and on our mobile phones. We play them on boards,
on cards, and on screens. We play them with our friends, with our families, and with ourselves. These
games, every last one of them, were created by game designers.
Game Writing will provide students with a foundational understanding of modern game design, and
will equip students with the tools they need to collaboratively develop a compelling game through the
iterative process of ideating, prototyping, playtesting, and refining their designs. The course begins
with a game analysis that will deepen students’ understanding of successful game design, and a research
project devised to bolster students’ existing strengths and interests as designers. Then, student-teams
will engage in a collaborative and iterative design process to take a game from concept to refined
analogue prototype. The final project for each team will be a presentation that showcases and pitches
their ultimate game designs for an authentic marketplace and playerbase.
