Classroom

Tuesday

1. Presentations: Alec, Matthew
2. Work on Twine games

Thursday

1. Last day to turn in your Twine games
2. Anyone who worked on a Tabletop Simulator game is welcome to show it

Assignments

• Finish your Twine Game (and/or Tabletop Simulator game)

Classroom

Tuesday

1. Presentations: Alec, Matthew, Angelina
2. Article: Crunch Time
3. Evaluate Twine games
4. Work on games based on feedback.

Thursday

1. Presentations: Tanner, Ramon, Auggie
2. Article: Star Citizen: the 300 Million Dollar Game that May Never Ship
3.  Article: Constant Updates Push Game Industry to the Breaking Point
4. Work on Twine Game
5. If you so choose, work on importing your game to Tabletop Simulator
6. Tutorials for Tabletop Simulator

Assignments

• Finish your Twine Game (and/or Tabletop Simulator game)

Classroom

Tuesday

1. This is the last class period to work on your Twine games.
2. Your Twine games will be evaluated on Thursday.

Thursday

1. The next evaluation of Twine games has been moved to next Tuesday
2. The next assignment (for those who choose to do it – most of you chose to finish off your Twine games) is to  take the board game you developed this semester and make a digital version of it. In order to do this, you will need to buy the Tabletop Simulator software ($20 via Steam)
3. Note: this software will not run on the school computers, so you will need to bring in a laptop to work on it in class
4. Tutorials for Tabletop Simulator
5. Here’s one way to use Tabletop Simulator: 
   1.       Buy TS ($19.99): http://berserk-games.com/tabletop-simulator/
   2.       Download and install Steam on your computer
   3.       Run steam and click the button that allows you to play TS
   4.       Click “Create Game”
   5.       Set up a server name, and password,d and number of players  (write these down – it doesn’t matter what they are, except you should have at least 5 players)
   6.       When you get to the screen that shows types of games, choose “Classic”
   7.       On the next screen, choose “Custom”
   8.       Fill out the custom deck form:
   a.       Face = file that has card faces on it (browse to find the file that is the graphic). See my example files: back of card, front, game board
   b.       Back = back of cards (browse to find the file that is the graphic)
   c.       Width = how many cards across
   d.       Height = how many rows of cards
   e.       Number = how many cards total
   After you have filled out all of this information, click “Import”
   9.       For the screen where it will allow you to import a custom board, browse on your computer to find the graphic, and then click “Import”
   10.   Read the directions and watch the online tutorials to learn how to import other things like game pieces
   11.   Note: to turn cards over, hover over them with your mouse and hold down the ALT (OPTION) key and the SHIFT key

Assignments

• Finish your Twine Game (and/or Tabletop Simulator game)
• Work on final project

Classroom

Tuesday

1. Play and evaluate board games
2. Work on  improvements to your Twine games

Thursday

1. Presentation: Simone
2. Play and evaluate Twine games
3. Work on  improvements to your Twine games. Have them ready to test again next Thursday

Assignments

• Work on your Twine Game

Classroom

Tuesday

1. Presentation:
2. Consider going to Rincon this year
3. Examples of Sugarcube coding
4. Look at student ideas for Twine games
   
5. Here are the links to help you with Twine:
   1. Here’s How to Create Your First Twine Story
   2. Here is how to use the Harlowe formatting language
   3. Here is a Twine help page
   4. Here is a Beginner’s Tutorial
6. Work on  your Twine game as individuals

Thursday

1. Presentation: Max, Katheryn
2. Your board games have been produced and are on their way to us. We should have them next Thursday.
3. Some info from The Gamecrafter website
   1. Free game art resources
   2. Card templates
   3. RPG now
   4. Crowd sales
   5. Crowd funding
   6. Crowd funding campaigns
   7. Board game reviewers
   8. Art tests
   9. Crafter table sponsorship
   10. Sanity test
   11. Game conventions
   12. How The Gamecrafter was started
        
4. Article: Sony Clamps Down on Sexual Content in Games
5. Look at and discuss Twine drafts
6. Time to work on Twine games

Assignments

• Work on your Twine Game

Classroom

Tuesday

1. Presentation: Arthur, Nevin
2. Your board/card games have been ordered and are estimated to ship on April 11th, so assume we’ll have them a week or so after that date
3. Article: Why the Cool Kids Are Playing Dungeons & Dragons
4. Article: Game Design is Not a Dream Job
5. Some people have said you can save your Twine from a web browser, so let’s try it and see if that will work
6. Look at student ideas for Twine games
   
7. Here are the links to help you with Twine:
   1. Here’s How to Create Your First Twine Story
   2. Here is how to use the Harlowe formatting language
   3. Here is a Twine help page
   4. Here is a Beginner’s Tutorial
8. Work on  your Twine game as individuals

Thursday

1. Presentation: Emma
2. Look at and discuss Twine drafts
3. Time to work on Twine games

Assignments

• Work on your Twine Game

Classroom

Tuesday

1. Presentation: Zak
2. Article: Fortnight having dangerous real-life effects
3. I went to the Arizona Game Fair last weekend. Here are some pics
4. Finalize and upload your games to the Gamecrafter website
5. The next project is a text-based adventure game, created in Twine, which can be done solo or in a small team. If you work in a team, you still have to do an individual game. Working in a team means you can help each other out with your games, and/or link them together thematically
6. Discuss Twine. I suggest you download the program so you can work on it at home. Don’t try to make the game on the Pima computers, as you can’t edit them if you make them here
   
7. Examples of a couple of my Twine games. See if you can win them:
   1. The Rainbow Murder
   2. Twine
8. Here’s How to Create Your First Twine Story
9. Here is how to use the Harlowe formatting language
10. Here is a Twine help page
11. Here is a Beginner’s Tutorial
12. Create a Twine game as individuals. Bring in a draft of your game idea next class so your classmates can give you feedback.

Thursday

1. Article: Game Design is Not a Dream Job
2. Article: Realistic Game Characters
3. Look at and discuss Twine drafts
4. Time to work on Twine games

Assignments

• Work on your Twine Game

Classroom

Tuesday

1. Arizona Game Fair – this weekend in Mesa
2. Article: Comcast to Make $50 Million Gaming Arena
3. Check out: Apple Arcade
4. Demonstrate the process of creating a game on http://www.thegamecrafter.com, uploading, and proofing game art
5. Describe the next project, which can be done solo or in a small team. If you work in a team, you still have to do an individual game. Working in a team means you help each other out with your games
6. Work on your game

Thursday

1. Finish your game. Any games not fully uploaded and proofed by next Tuesday will not be produced.

Assignments

• Work on your game with your team – prepare to have it manufactured at  the Gamecrafters by the end of March

Classroom

Tuesday

• Article: Apex Legends is Primed to Be the Next Big E-sport
• Play test games – be ready to go at the start of class
• Fill out evaluations

Thursday

• Talk about recent game testing, what to do when team members let you down, being tactful with evaluations
• Presentation: Tyler Gomez
• Article: A Woman’s Board Game About Birds Takes Off
• Article: Queering Dungeons & Dragons
• Review the first part of chapter two
• Discuss these game design concepts:
  • ludology – the study of game rules and mechanisms
  • narratology – the study of player story lines and experiences
  • Marc LeBlanc wrote the game design book “Eight Kinds of Fun,” which are:
    • sensation
    • fantasy
    • narrative
    • challenge
    • fellowship
    • discovery
    • expression
    • submission
• Talk about deadline for current game  finish the games and send them to Gamecrafters by end of March)
• Your next project can be done solo or in a small team

Assignments

• Look at the next section in the textbook
• Work on your game with your team – prepare to have it manufactured at Gamecrafters

Classroom

Tuesday

• Presentations:  Chelsea
• Check out this article about toxicity in the video game industry
• Prep for quiz with this study guide
• Determine a date for the next round of play testing
• Work with team on game – have a plan for no shows on testing day
• Check out these pics of this cool old game I spotted at the Tucson Toy Expo

Thursday

• Presentation: Jesse
• Discuss grades
• Article: Higher refresh rates help gamers win games
• The original Diablo is now available on gog.com
• Check out this article
• Quiz on Chapter 1
• Get your games ready for play testing on Tuesday

Assignments

• Look at the next section in the textbook
• Work on your game with your team – prepare for play testing next Tuesday

Classroom

Tuesday

• Presentations: Eamonn, Cody
• Winners of the 1923 Game Jam
• Article: gamers with disabilities can now play more games
• Check out this article Game Design is Not for the Faint of Heart
• Play test games – fill out evaluations

Thursday

• Presentation: Wade
• Prep for quiz with this study guide
• Note: please don’t worry about when the quiz is happening. I will let you know and give you time to study for it.
• Discuss changes to be made to games from evaluation feedback

Assignments

• Look at the next section in the textbook

Classroom

Tuesday

• New article: gamers with disabilities can now play more games
• Presentation: Andrew
• Article: peak attention for gaming is declining
• Article: game devs must form union
• Question: is Monopoly a game or a game platform?
• Question: which is more important: game aesthetics, mechanics, or dynamics?
• Chapter 1: The Basics (Challenges) – prep for quiz
• Meet with team to create a playable mock up of your game – we’re going to play them next Tuesday (Thursday is a holiday)

Thursday

• No class – Rodeo Vacation

Assignments

• Work on getting your game to the next stage with your team
• Look at the next section in the textbook

Classroom

Tuesday

• • Look at photos below and discuss game art, adult and other genres of games
    
    

    

    

    

    
    

    

    

    

    

    
    

    

    

    

    

    
    

    

    

    

    

    
    

    
  • Continue to discuss Chapter 1: The Basics (Challenges). Prep for quiz
  • Meet with team to create a playable mock up of your game

Thursday

• Dungeon & Dragons – Stranger Things Edition
• Picture of Dorian Gray people – check out Velvet Buzzsaw on Netflix
• Show how to download templates from the Gamecrafters website to make things like playing cards, then lay them out to be cut
• Do Tinkercad demo. Look at Sculptris
• Continue to discuss Chapter 1: The Basics (Challenges)
• Look at more sample games that were created
• Work on creating mock ups for play testing your games

Assignments

• Work on getting your game to the next stage with your team
• Look at the next section in the textbook

Classroom

Tuesday

• Talk about the final games created for the game jam: are you happy with the results? What would you change?
• Continue to discuss Chapter 1: The Basics (Challenges)
• Take a look at thegamecrafter.com website. Talk about limitations (board sizes, available tokens, cards, production deadline, etc. and budget – $50, plus tax and shipping)
• Meet with team to discuss whether you will continue to work on the game you made, or create a new board game to be published

Thursday

• Game design presentation dates have been posted here
• Talk about game design mock ups and how they can be created for play testing (100 hours of play testing for a real game)
• Link to check out some game design conferences
• Here is the online free 3D design software I mentioned, Tinkercad
• Here’s where you can get free 3D models online, Thingiverse
• You can upload files you want printed at the service bureau to this folder (you will need to request access from me to use this folder)
• Remember to fill out a form from the service bureau for your print
• Continue to discuss Chapter 1: The Basics (Challenges)
• Look at more sample games that were created
• Work on creating mock ups for play testing your games

Assignments

• Work on getting your game to the next stage with your team
• Look at the next section in the textbook

Classroom

Tuesday

• Discuss Ludology and  Ludemes
• Take a look at Ludum Dare (note: Ludum Dare is Latin for “to give a game”)
• Discuss Chapter 1: The Basics (Challenges)
• Look at updates to Game Jam
• Work with your team on Game Jam – due Thursday!

Thursday

• Discuss and make final changes to Game Jam. Take notes about what we discuss in class and make the appropriate changes
• Submit your projects today by going to this link and clicking the “Join Jam” button and following the instructions (you will need to sign up for a free itch.io account)
• Go through how to submit your files on itch.io

Assignments

• Game Jam 
• Look at next section in the textbook

Classroom

Tuesday

• Dynamics, Mechanics, Aesthetics definitions
• Consider using something like this template Game Design Document as a guide for creating your game summaries
• Talk about strengths and challenges of Game Jam  summaries
• For the four teams we formed last time – elect a team captain, pick a team name and let me know this information
• The Pima game club is called the Game Development Guild and their e-mail address is gamdevguild@gmail.com. They meet in this classroom. Contact them for meeting times
• Download and read Chapter 1: The Basics in textbook (Challenges). We’ll discuss it next week
• Time to work with team on Game Jam

Thursday

• High school students visiting. We will add a couple to each game design team today
• Design a simple card game which is a new take on an existing game. For example, “Go Fish” could become “Glow Fish” and the goal could be to form the strangest combinations of fish features (like a shark fin on a gold fish) possible (due to the fact that the fish live near a leaky nuclear power plant).
• To make your game: draw with colored pencils on index cards
• Work on Game Jam – due Jan. 31st

Assignments

• Game Jam – work on it with your team
• Read chapter 1 in textbook
• Write down the day your presentation is due

Classroom

• Introductions
• Syllabus
• Make a Google Drive folder called “gam101 your name” and share it with me: my e-mail address is gjloumeau@pima.edu
• Discuss presentations
• We need a note taker for this class – any volunteers? Pima will pay you $120 to take notes
• Cintiqs and pen checkout process
• Some board games are available in the library for reference
• Show board games made by the Gamecrafter
• Form four teams, with each team having a diverse makeup (some people who are good at graphics, ideas, organization, etc.)
• Explain Game Jam  assignment

Assignments

•  Check out this article and this one
• Look at this article about the history of board games
• Game Jam – come up with an idea you can quickly create with your team and create a draft version of your idea for the next class. The deadline to submit your game to the game jam is January 31st (Feb. 1st at 1am)

Classroom

1. Presentations over the next two weeks: Megan, Nicholas, Matthew – and anyone else who hasn’t done one
2. Check out this article about what’s new in tabletop gaming, and this article about competitive gaming
3. Bring in your Twine games as HTML files and we will play test them on the school computers. Please log in to the class website and post your evaluations of the Twine games you play here.
   1. Please write down the name of the game, and give it a score of 1-5 in the following categories:
      1. Mechanics (1-5)
      2. Dynamics (1-5)
      3. Aesthetics (1-5)

      Also, please add up the scores you gave them and give them a total score (15 points maximum). Also, please put any notes you want the designer to know. Please give constructive criticism.

4. Watch demo of how to import assets into Tabletop Simulator
5. Someone from each team needs to bring in a laptop computer and should have purchased Tabletop Simulator, so your team can work on your game.
6. Work on Tabletop Simulator game – due next week
7. Here’s how to use Tabletop Simulator: 
   1.       Buy TS ($19.99): http://berserk-games.com/tabletop-simulator/
   2.       Download and install Steam on your computer
   3.       Run steam and click the button that allows you to play TS
   4.       Click “Create Game”
   5.       Set up a server name, and password,d and number of players  (write these down – it doesn’t matter what they are, except you should have at least 5 players)
   6.       When you get to the screen that shows types of games, choose “Classic”
   7.       On the next screen, choose “Custom”
   8.       Fill out the custom deck form:
   a.       Face = file that has card faces on it (browse to find the file that is the graphic). See my example files: back of card, front, game board
   b.       Back = back of cards (browse to find the file that is the graphic)
   c.       Width = how many cards across
   d.       Height = how many rows of cards
   e.       Number = how many cards total
   After you have filled out all of this information, click “Import”9.       For the screen where it will allow you to import a custom board, browse on your computer to find the graphic, and then click “Import”10.   Read the directions and watch the online tutorials to learn how to import other things like game pieces11.   Note: to turn cards over, hover over them with your mouse and hold down the ALT (OPTION) key and the SHIFT key

Assignment

1. Team assignment: buy Tabletop Simulator and convert one of your board games into a digital board game