Recently in Learning Category
When I graduated high school and needed to decide on a program and university, I took the advice of numerous "how to get a job in the game industry" articles and went for a BA in the humanities. I studied what interested me -- History, Classics, English, Film. At the time, in 2003, I didn't really have any game design school options anyway. The programs that did exist were for programming or art. I was never a programmer or an artist, I was a designer.
Now I've graduated with my BA. I took a year off to work, spending 3 months actually in the game industry as a QA tester at EA Mobile. In September I moved to New York, with the intention of building my skillset and portfolio, and hopefully eventually being offered an internship or job. I had other options: Vancouver Film School (Expensive! Intensive! ie. huge debt and no life for length of the program), or stay in Montreal working part-time at EA and going to school at Campus Ubisoft. But the appeal of living in New York and teaching myself only what I wanted to learn made it a non-decision. NYC is where I have to be.
Something I realized, however, is that I need the direction and focus that a school provides. I can't just work randomly on projects and mods that interest me. My portfolio would consist of nothing but half-finished and unrealized concepts (it kind of aleady does -- take a look at the sidebar pages). My solution was to create a curriculum complete with "courses" and a weekly schedule that I will force myself to adhere to. Over the following weeks and months I will be teaching myself the skills necessary to get a design job in the game industry, and come away with a portfolio hopefully as developed as one created by a student who pays $30,000 in tuition. The list of courses I have developed, with my intended goals for each of them, are described below.
Some notes on my home-schooling curriculum:
-The reading list may seem incomplete, but I excluded those books and papers I have already read. The notable ones include A Theory of Fun, the MDA Thesis, Jehova Chen's Flow in Games, A Pattern Language. But please suggest any others that I may have missed that should be required reading. My Amazon Wishlist might also have some other books that I neglected here.
-My weekly schedule will be made up and posted every Sunday. This allows flexible scheduling, so I can adjust the next week's work according to upcoming events and the progress I made in the previous week.
-The "homework" that sometimes appears in the weekly schedule is assumed to be completed by the next session of the "course" for which it was assigned.
-That's it! Here's my curriculum ludi, subject to change and improvement:
Non-Digital Game Design
Board Games, RPGs, Card Games, CCGs -- There exists an enormous variety of games that can not be played on a TV or computer. A combination of reading and hands-on experience will provide me with a history and understanding of the types of non-digital games that I'm not intimiately familiar with. Practical design excercises will complement my research. The final project will involve creating a playable non-digital game prototype and ruleset.
Oxford History of Board Games. David Parlett. (1999)
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. (2003)
Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams. (2003)
Challenges for Game Designers. Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber. (2008)
Advanced Virtual World Design
I will begin with a brief history of online worlds encompassing MUDs, Casual Virtual Worlds, and MMORPGs. Once the breadth and nature of the genre has been established, a practical phase will begin during which I will design a game to be created on the MetaPlace platform. I will finish this course with an industry-quality Vision Document and Game Design Document.
Shared Fantasy: Roleplaying Games as Social Worlds. Gary Alan Fine. (2002)
Designing Virtual Worlds. Richard Bartle. (2003)
Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. T.L. Taylor. (2006)
Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games. Edward Castronova. (2006)
Introduction to Lua Scripting
Using the MetaPlace platform, I will develop a working knowledge of Lua that will be used for the creation of unique game interfaces and assorted game systems.
Programming in Lua, 2nd Edition. Roberto Ierusalimschy. (2006)
Lua 5.1 Reference Manual. R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, and W. Celes. (2006)
Writing for Games
This course is divided into 3 parts: Dialogue, Plot, and Story. The first segment will consist of writing excercises focused around dialogue trees and barks for a variety of genres, from Interactive Fiction to Sports. The second will involve an examination and illustration of the role of writing and narrative in game design (Quests/Missions) and flow (Level Design). In the third part, I will write a complete Story Bible for an IP to be developed into an MMOG, but potentially any other medium as well.
Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction. Nick Montfort. (2005)
Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives. Jeff Howard. (2008)
Character Development and Storytelling for Games. Lee Sheldon. (2004)
Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative. Mark Stephen Meadows. (2002)
Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling. Chris Crawford. (2004)
Game Blogging 101
I will be using this blog to publish podcasts, game reviews, interviews, and commentary.
The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual. David Thomas, Kyle Orland, and Scott Steinberg. (2007)
Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Ian Bogost. (2006)
ARG Participation, Design, and Production
This primarily practical course will begin with a very brief history of ARGs that focuses on their gameplay and delivery methods. Excercises will include designing theoretical games for a variety of platforms (Akoha, Web, Real World) and on scales that range from a single room to worldwide. I will also be participating in and contributing to the soon-to-launch forecasting game Superstruct. By the end of the course I will have designed, created, and launched a fully functioning ARG based out of New York City.
Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level. Drew Davidson, et al. (2007)
Additional Reading List:
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (1990)
The Design of Everyday Things. Donald A. Norman. (1988)
The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Joseph Campbell. (1949)
Game Design Workshop, Second Edition: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. Tracy Fullerton. (2008)
Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Jesper Juul. (2005)
Game Design: Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition. Richard Rouse. (2001)
Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media. Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. (2007)
Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. Ian Bogost. (2007)
Various Journals (Loading, Cerise, etc.)
Now I've graduated with my BA. I took a year off to work, spending 3 months actually in the game industry as a QA tester at EA Mobile. In September I moved to New York, with the intention of building my skillset and portfolio, and hopefully eventually being offered an internship or job. I had other options: Vancouver Film School (Expensive! Intensive! ie. huge debt and no life for length of the program), or stay in Montreal working part-time at EA and going to school at Campus Ubisoft. But the appeal of living in New York and teaching myself only what I wanted to learn made it a non-decision. NYC is where I have to be.
Something I realized, however, is that I need the direction and focus that a school provides. I can't just work randomly on projects and mods that interest me. My portfolio would consist of nothing but half-finished and unrealized concepts (it kind of aleady does -- take a look at the sidebar pages). My solution was to create a curriculum complete with "courses" and a weekly schedule that I will force myself to adhere to. Over the following weeks and months I will be teaching myself the skills necessary to get a design job in the game industry, and come away with a portfolio hopefully as developed as one created by a student who pays $30,000 in tuition. The list of courses I have developed, with my intended goals for each of them, are described below.
Some notes on my home-schooling curriculum:
-The reading list may seem incomplete, but I excluded those books and papers I have already read. The notable ones include A Theory of Fun, the MDA Thesis, Jehova Chen's Flow in Games, A Pattern Language. But please suggest any others that I may have missed that should be required reading. My Amazon Wishlist might also have some other books that I neglected here.
-My weekly schedule will be made up and posted every Sunday. This allows flexible scheduling, so I can adjust the next week's work according to upcoming events and the progress I made in the previous week.
-The "homework" that sometimes appears in the weekly schedule is assumed to be completed by the next session of the "course" for which it was assigned.
-That's it! Here's my curriculum ludi, subject to change and improvement:
Non-Digital Game Design
Board Games, RPGs, Card Games, CCGs -- There exists an enormous variety of games that can not be played on a TV or computer. A combination of reading and hands-on experience will provide me with a history and understanding of the types of non-digital games that I'm not intimiately familiar with. Practical design excercises will complement my research. The final project will involve creating a playable non-digital game prototype and ruleset.
Oxford History of Board Games. David Parlett. (1999)
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman. (2003)
Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams. (2003)
Challenges for Game Designers. Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber. (2008)
Advanced Virtual World Design
I will begin with a brief history of online worlds encompassing MUDs, Casual Virtual Worlds, and MMORPGs. Once the breadth and nature of the genre has been established, a practical phase will begin during which I will design a game to be created on the MetaPlace platform. I will finish this course with an industry-quality Vision Document and Game Design Document.
Shared Fantasy: Roleplaying Games as Social Worlds. Gary Alan Fine. (2002)
Designing Virtual Worlds. Richard Bartle. (2003)
Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. T.L. Taylor. (2006)
Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games. Edward Castronova. (2006)
Introduction to Lua Scripting
Using the MetaPlace platform, I will develop a working knowledge of Lua that will be used for the creation of unique game interfaces and assorted game systems.
Programming in Lua, 2nd Edition. Roberto Ierusalimschy. (2006)
Lua 5.1 Reference Manual. R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, and W. Celes. (2006)
Writing for Games
This course is divided into 3 parts: Dialogue, Plot, and Story. The first segment will consist of writing excercises focused around dialogue trees and barks for a variety of genres, from Interactive Fiction to Sports. The second will involve an examination and illustration of the role of writing and narrative in game design (Quests/Missions) and flow (Level Design). In the third part, I will write a complete Story Bible for an IP to be developed into an MMOG, but potentially any other medium as well.
Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction. Nick Montfort. (2005)
Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives. Jeff Howard. (2008)
Character Development and Storytelling for Games. Lee Sheldon. (2004)
Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative. Mark Stephen Meadows. (2002)
Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling. Chris Crawford. (2004)
Game Blogging 101
I will be using this blog to publish podcasts, game reviews, interviews, and commentary.
The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual. David Thomas, Kyle Orland, and Scott Steinberg. (2007)
Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Ian Bogost. (2006)
ARG Participation, Design, and Production
This primarily practical course will begin with a very brief history of ARGs that focuses on their gameplay and delivery methods. Excercises will include designing theoretical games for a variety of platforms (Akoha, Web, Real World) and on scales that range from a single room to worldwide. I will also be participating in and contributing to the soon-to-launch forecasting game Superstruct. By the end of the course I will have designed, created, and launched a fully functioning ARG based out of New York City.
Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level. Drew Davidson, et al. (2007)
Additional Reading List:
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (1990)
The Design of Everyday Things. Donald A. Norman. (1988)
The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Joseph Campbell. (1949)
Game Design Workshop, Second Edition: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. Tracy Fullerton. (2008)
Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Jesper Juul. (2005)
Game Design: Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition. Richard Rouse. (2001)
Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media. Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. (2007)
Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. Ian Bogost. (2007)
Various Journals (Loading, Cerise, etc.)