Playable Media, Spring 2017
CMPS 290J / DANM 250D
Meetings: T 9:50-11:25am (Seminar), F 9:50am-12:25pm (Workshop)
In Digital Arts Research Center Room 206
Website: https://cmpm290j-spring17-01.courses.soe.ucsc.edu
Books
A Game Design Vocabulary, by Anna Anthropy and Naomi Clark
Invisible Ink, by Brian McDonald
Computers as Theater, 2nd Ed, by Brenda Laurel
Hamlet on the Holodeck, Updated Edition, by Janet Murray
Cybertext, by Espen Aarseth
Expressive Processing, by Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Games
Betrayal at the House on the Hill, by Rob Daviau, Bruce Glassco, Bill McQuillan, Mike Selinker, and Teeuwynn Woodruffor
Undertale, by Toby Fox, Temmie Chang, et al.
Zork I, by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling
A Mind Forever Voyaging, by Steve Meretzky
Counterfeit Monkey, by Emily Short
De Profundis, by Michał Oracz
The Beginner's Guide, by Davey Wreden
Gone Home, by Steve Gaynor, Johnnemann Nordhagen, Karla Zimonja, Kate Craig, Emily Carroll, et al
The Ice-Bound Concordance by Aaron Reed, Jacob Garbe, and N.J. Apostol
The Secret World, by Ragnar Tørnquist, Anne Lise Waal, Martin Bruusgaard, Joel Bylos, Øystein Eftevaag, Christer Sveen, Dag Scheve, et al
General Course Notes
Course Structure:
Meeting types. We will meet twice a week. Once will be a workshop meeting and once will be a seminar meeting. During the workshop meeting we will critique prototypes, have check ins, and play games together (more on this below). Seminar meetings will be discussions of games and other playable experiences, texts in game studies, and related topics.
Grading. 40% of each student's grade is determined by participation in group critiques and discussions (including agenda items) while work on prototypes is worth 60%. Failure to fully participate in both elements of the class will make it impossible to pass.
Assignments:
Playable prototypes. Each student will either undertake a series of small prototypes or one big prototype.
Small prototypes will be presented during the third, sixth, and ninth week's workshop meetings. Each will respond to one of the two prompts for that week (which will be detailed on the schedule page). If possible, the prototype should have playtesting scheduled, outside of class, before it is due, at times that members of class can participate. Each person with a small prototype should bring 10 minutes of prepared presentation of the project. The project should at least be a fully-playable prototype, that has been playtested, and that responds fully to one of the prompts (if someone from the outside was asked what it was about, they should be likely to name the prompt, or something close to it — for example, the specific genre you are examining). The presentation should let us understand the project and how people experience it during play.
Large prototypes should be made available to the class for a week before critique, to give time for sustained engagement. Software should be distributed digitally. Other forms can be made available in other ways, for example making multiple copies of physical materials available in rooms to which class members have access. If the prototype's medium makes these kinds of availability impossible, other solutions can be found -- but please discuss beforehand.
Prototypes may be in any medium -- whatever is best for the ideas your prototype explores. This includes live actors and "Wizard of Oz" interfaces, software for desktop or handheld devices, interactive installations, or board/card game elements. But cross-platform software is the assumed default (other options should be discussed prior). Prototypes must engage an element of the course focus (e.g., narrative structure experienced through gameplay) meaningfully.
If your work on a large prototype is less effort than it would take for you to write a research paper, you need to do more before presenting it to the course. This could mean developing more elements, developing a series of prototypes, doing more playtesting and revision, etc. If doing three small prototypes, your work should add up to a similar level. Each student will present a significant revision of their large prototype or 2-3 of their small prototypes, responding meaningfully to group feedback, during the final meeting of the course.
In addition to a large prototype, each student pursuing this option will make progress presentations. These will be on the same days that small projects are critiqued. Each progress presentation will outline work on the project since the prior update, and include description of aspects of the work done so far that relate to the one of the small project prompts for that meeting.
Agenda items. At the beginning of each seminar meeting we will build an agenda, which will drive the discussion for the remainder of our meeting. Each student will bring at least one "agenda item" -- a particular idea they wish to discuss. This idea must be grounded in at least one specific page reference (to a reading for that week) or moment from a game (ideally with an illustrative screenshot to show), should be expressed in a few words during the agenda-building process, and should be expanded into a larger idea when it becomes the active topic in the seminar discussion. Agenda items form an important part of the participation requirement, while also broadening who determines what we will discuss.
Crits. Each student is expected to deeply engage the large projects being critiqued before the day they are critiqued. This includes writing a thoughtful, detailed response email to each person whose work is being critiqued, sent before the class meeting at which it is critiqued. (I appreciate it if students copy me on these messages, but I do not require it.) It also includes coming prepared with a short (one minute) summary of these thoughts, which each student will offer before the more general critique discussion.
Other:
UC Santa Cruz is committed to creating an academic environment that supports its diverse student body. If you are a student with a disability who requires accommodations to achieve equal access in this course, please submit your Accommodation Authorization Letter from the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to me privately during my office hours or by appointment, preferably within the first two weeks of the quarter. At this time, I would also like us to discuss ways we can ensure your full participation in the course. I encourage all students who may benefit from learning more about DRC services to contact DRC by phone at 831-459-2089, or by email at drc@ucsc.edu.