Welcome to Game Design as Art Practice

Game design allows artists to create meaningful play and interactive experience in any medium. This introductory course, which explores both digital and non-digital games, aims to provide you with a critical vocabulary and historical context for analyzing games as art, as well as the skills and techniques necessary to incorporate game design into your ongoing art practice.

Through a combination of theoretical readings, case studies, critical analysis and design exercises, we will explore together the expressive potential of games. You will learn how to identify, craft and manipulate core game elements such as player objectives, scale, duration, site-specific design, backstory, benchmarks, information flow, feedback structures, endgame scenarios, payoffs, meta-play, and competitive vs. cooperative dynamics.

As a final project, you will work toward the design, development and deployment of a game in any medium of your choice. While digitally-based projects are welcome, you may also choose to work entirely with non-digital media.

This course begins September 8, 2004. See you then!