A practical introduction to game design and game design concepts, emphasizing the basic tools of game design: paper and digital prototyping, design iteration, and user testing.
An introduction to the basic methods of game design. This course includes defining and analyzing games and their mechanics, and understanding how mechanics affect gameplay and player experiences. Practical assignments include creating both paper and digital prototypes, using user testing to find points of failure and iterative design processes to revise and improve overall gameplay.
Week 0 of this course is a ‘ramp-up’ week for participants to introduce themselves to one another and become familiar with the forums and other course platform features.
This course is part of the EdTechX series from the MIT Education Arcade. Check out the other course modules to further build your understanding of the use and design of technologies for learning.
Professor Klopfer’s research focuses on the development and use of computer games and simulations for building understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. He works on mobile and online games designed to build understanding of scientific practices and concepts as well as critical knowledge. In the realm of simulations, Klopfer’s work focuses on students’ understanding of complex systems, and connecting computer programming with scientific practice, critical thinking, and real-world issues. He is the co-author of the books Adventures in Modeling, The More we Know, and author of Augmented Learning. Klopfer is also the co-founder, past President, and Board Member of the non-profit Learning Games Network.
Philip has a S.B. and a S.M from MIT in Comparative Media Studies. As the Creative Director of the MIT Game Lab, Philip has been teaching students about game design at MIT since 2007. He has run intensive team based game development programs over the summer with the MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, and teaches courses on developing both board and video games. His research centers around best practices in digital and analog game design.
Sara works as research staff at the MIT Game Lab, and previously worked for about 10 years as a professional game developer. She ran the MIT GAMBIT Lab’s summer video game development program, and currently teaches a variety of game design courses at MIT.
Familiarity with board and video games; interest in designing and understanding how games work. Willing to learn and use a simple game programming language.