DESMA 157
Game Design
Description: (Formerly numbered 157A.) Studio, six hours; outside study, nine hours. Preparation: completion of preparation for major courses. Enforced requisites: courses 22, 28, and 101 or 104. Introduction to game design, with focus on developing conceptual and practical skills that form basis for both digital and nondigital game development. Development of four playable game projects that explore various aspects of game design: rule design, game balance, multiplayer strategy, complexity, randomness, polemics, narrative, physical interaction, and aesthetic and pragmatic aspects of physical game design. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 0.0
Units: 0.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - To give a brief description of DESMA 157, it's not a game design course for video games. The entire class is focused more on game theory and making physical board games, so if you're interested in digital games, go take DESMA 158 (Game Engine) instead. Over the course of the quarter we had 2 projects. The first week or two was pretty slow; we just went over basic game theory, what makes people play games, and test-played a couple card and board games in small groups. After that you hit the ground running. This is definitely not a class you want to take during a busy quarter. There's pretty much something new due every class and a lot of hands-on fabrication work / designing / print-testing so you have to spend a pretty insane amount of time in the Fab Lab and Makerspace. Project 1 starts off as an individual character design assignment and then turns into a group project. You learn about balancing characters and create a card deck moveset for your own character. Then in groups, you design a board game for the whole class's characters to play in. Project 2 is an individual "polemical game", or a game with a political/social/environmental viewpoint. For example, you could make a game about the negative effects of global warming, gender struggles, or whatever else. Despite the class being pretty hard and fast-paced Sam was a good prof who's very organized. They're not so relaxed that you can skip every class (which you shouldn't, anyway, because everything is so fast-paced) but they're very understanding if you actually have a reason to ask for an extension/absence. It wasn't my favourite class only because the course content wasn't super aligned with my art practice, which Sam had no control over.
Fall 2023 - To give a brief description of DESMA 157, it's not a game design course for video games. The entire class is focused more on game theory and making physical board games, so if you're interested in digital games, go take DESMA 158 (Game Engine) instead. Over the course of the quarter we had 2 projects. The first week or two was pretty slow; we just went over basic game theory, what makes people play games, and test-played a couple card and board games in small groups. After that you hit the ground running. This is definitely not a class you want to take during a busy quarter. There's pretty much something new due every class and a lot of hands-on fabrication work / designing / print-testing so you have to spend a pretty insane amount of time in the Fab Lab and Makerspace. Project 1 starts off as an individual character design assignment and then turns into a group project. You learn about balancing characters and create a card deck moveset for your own character. Then in groups, you design a board game for the whole class's characters to play in. Project 2 is an individual "polemical game", or a game with a political/social/environmental viewpoint. For example, you could make a game about the negative effects of global warming, gender struggles, or whatever else. Despite the class being pretty hard and fast-paced Sam was a good prof who's very organized. They're not so relaxed that you can skip every class (which you shouldn't, anyway, because everything is so fast-paced) but they're very understanding if you actually have a reason to ask for an extension/absence. It wasn't my favourite class only because the course content wasn't super aligned with my art practice, which Sam had no control over.
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