Class Information

Over the last few years we have seen the rise of "serious games" to promote understanding of complex social and ecological challenges, and to create passion for solving them. Games are being made to create empathy for marginalized people, to reveal our complicity in economic inequality and to reveal the complexity of climate changes.

Run as a hands-on studio class, students collaborate in teams to design and prototype games for social change and civic engagement. Through readings, discussion, and presentations, we explore principles of game design and the social history of games. Course culminates in an end of semester open house to showcase our games.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand what games are, how they work and why they have potential for social good
  • Learn fundamentals of game design
  • Learn how to execute playtesting and do iterative development
  • Learn to balance social/learning goals with engagement and fun
  • Using different research and design tools
  • Reflecting and effectively communicating your own learning about serious games and desig

Class Schedule & Assignments

This class will be a series of relatively short (two week) class assignments. The last four weeks you will pick one game to refine and polish as your final project.

  • Week 1 Introduction to Game Design Fundamentals
  • Weeks 2-3 Those Who Can Do (games for learning) Tabletop game
  • Weeks 4-6 The Future We Deserve (persuasive games) Twine or Inform7
  • Weeks 7-8 The Game of Unintended Consequences (games that model complexity) Tabletop or Gamemaker/unity/etc
  • Weeks 9-10: Pick a game to refine: Your choice of medium

Guest Lecturers and Coaches

  • Chris Bennett, Founder/Director of Game Design Thinking
  • Matt Leacock, Game Designer known for Pandemic, Forbidden Island, and the ERA series of games
  • Stone Librande, Game Designer known for Mechs vs. Minions, SimCity, Diablo 3, Spore, The Simpsons Game, and MicroBot