"Let my playing be my learning, and my learning be my playing."
–Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens
If you're a game-lover, if you're the type of person who “plays by her own rules,” if you've ever thought about how to combine Chess and Checkers to create a brand new game (Cheskers?), then this is a class for you!
In this hands-on workshop, we'll discuss the many kinds of games out there to be designed, prototype and test some games of our own, and then analyze our games to determine how we might take them to the next level. The class goes like this:
Taking some pages out of the SCVNGR game mechanics playbook (literally), we'll randomly impose some design constraints to focus the quick-and-dirty design of our game prototypes, and dive right into making simple, quick, and easy games.
We'll play each other's games, and take note of what works well and what doesn't (no prototype is perfect!).
With the help of game designer Jesse Schell's Deck of Lenses, we'll take a second (and third, and fourth) look at our new creations to examine how they can best fulfill the functions of great games.
No previous game design experience is necessary, just an open mind and a playful spirit. In fact, everyone will have previous game design experience, because life itself is a game. As Dutch social theorist Johan Huizinga wrote, way back in 1938, "We have to conclude that civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play like a baby detaching itself from the womb: it arises in and as play, and never leaves it."
After this class, you'll see new game opportunities everywhere–in the office, in traffic, on a trip, or on a date. Play on, players!
