CIS 3000: Introduction to Computer Game Design

Design Workshop 1
What is Gameplay?

As with several of our design workshops, this will require that you prepare before class. You are expected to read the material and play the games before. You are not expected to play the games to completion, but you should play them long enough that you feel that you understand what is unique about them. In particular, if you should play that game long enough to complete the tutorial levels (e.g. whenever it is no longer trivially easy).

Preparation

For this workshop, you should read Chapters 1-4 in your textbook, Challenges for Game Designers. In addition, you should play the following flash games.

Straw Hat Samurai
An action game with an unusual interface. We will spend most of class time working with this game.
Shift 3
An extremely popular puzzle platformer that makes clever use of negative space.
Bloons Tower Defense 3
One of the more fun and fast-paced entries in the ever-growing "tower defense" genre.
Totem Destroyer
A puzzle game that makes extensive use of physics simulation.
Colour Pod 2
An interesting, but simple, fast paced shooter.
Finally, you should read the instructions to the pen & paper game Space Battle!. You do not have to play the game, but you have to understand how it is played.

Discussion

The following discussion will take place throughout class. Sometimes we will discuss as an entire class, and sometimes we will work in groups. The instructor will instruct you throughout the workshop. However, you should all be prepared to think about the following discussion questions.

  • What are the unique features of all of the games above.
  • What genre would you put each of the games above? What games are they each most like?
  • How do they differ from other games in their genre?
  • Compare the game mechanics in Straw Hat Samurai with those of Space Battle! In what ways are they the same? In what ways are they different?
  • Using ideas from Space Battle!, how would you model Straw Hat Samurai as a pen & paper game?
  • How would physically model (either with pen & paper, or other tools) any of the flash games above?