| Intermediate Game Design Workshop |
USC School of Cinema-Television, CTIN 489 |
| Instructors: | ||
| Chris Swain | Peter Brinson | |
| cswainATcinema.usc.edu | pabrinsonATearthlink.net | |
| (310)403-0798 | ||
| Class Forums: Here | ||
| Sample Student Work: Here |
Course Description: This is a cross-disciplinary game design course. It is sponsored by Maxis – producers of The Sims, Sim City, and other hit titles. The class is built upon the knowledge introduced in the Cinema school's beginning game design course (CTIN 488) and beginning programming for interactivity course (CTIN 483). It uses Maxis's Edith Object building environment as a core design and engineering tool. The class is a hands-on workshop that exposes students to advanced concepts in game design, story telling, and Object production. Students will have heavy exposure to Maxis team leaders and will learn team collaboration, digital prototyping, interface design, user testing, hands-on QA, and the generation of a final “build” as practiced in industry. There are multiple design assignments in the class – three Introductory projects and one Final project. Each uses the Sims 2 Edith scripting environment and other Sims 2 tools. These tools have been chosen because they allow rapid prototyping and development of sophisticated concepts in the form of Sims 2 Objects. The playability and technical soundness of Objects can be easily shared and tested. In the three Introductory projects students will create simple Objects that create some form of emergent gameplay. In the Final project students will coordinate to create more sophisticated Objects built around the theme of the next Sims 2 Expansion pack. Class projects will be screened by Maxis leaders for possible inclusion of the Expansion pack. For each assignment students will be organized into teams that consist of programmers and artists. The scope of the assignments will be custom-tailored to the abilities of each team. Our goal is to be adaptive and flexible with to student abilities and ideas in order to get the best creative output from the talents of class. The class is divided between a lecture/discussion section on Wednesdays and a work/critique section on Thursdays. Meeting Information: Lecture: Wednesdays 1 pm – 3 pm Lab: Thursdays 9 am – 11 am Location: CSS G142 |
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| Evaluation of student performance |
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Wk |
Lecture |
Lab |
Assignment Schedule |
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1 |
Wed 1/12/05 Course Overview & Schedule Conceptual overview of The Sims 2 and Edith Assess student technical abilities. Assign homework: Play The Sims 2.
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Thu 1/13/05 Guest speaker: Maxis Object Engineer. Lecture: Technical intro to Edith
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2 |
Wed 1/19/05 Make an object from scratch
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Thurs 1/20/05 Introductory Project 1: Build simple Objects using Edith as assigned by instructors. Guest speaker: Sinjin Bain, exec producer of The Sims 2. Students pitch their original object ideas to Sinjin.
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Toddler Screenshots Due |
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3 |
Wed 1/26/04 EA Day #1. Class meets in Zemeckis 111 on this day. Guests from EA are speaking. Reading: GDW, Chapter 4
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Thu 1/27/04 Script Object behaviors. Write Edith code FIELD TRIP Thursday 1/27-Saturday 1/29: Class flown to Maxis headquarters in Redwood City for a two day workshop. Student teams work on Assignment 1 Objects. Students who cannot attend this workshop for schedule reasons will not be penalized. |
First draft code due |
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4 |
Wed 2/2/05 Usability Testing Homework assigned: prep usability materials
Reading: GDW, Chapter 8
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Thu 2/3/05 Script Object behaviors. Write Edith code
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Second draft code due |
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5 |
Wed 2/9/05 Lecture about Will Wright (including video from his GDC presentation “Dynamics for Designers” Reading: GDW, Chapter 5
Quiz 1
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Thu 2/10/05 Conduct usability testing in the Game Innovation Lab
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User testing complete |
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6 |
Wed 2/16/05 EA Day #2. Class meets in Zemeckis 111 on this day. Guests from EA are speaking.
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Thu 2/17/05 Formal QA testing and debugging Programmers debug. Artists iterate. Homework assigned: Home Movies
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QA complete |
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7 |
Wed 2/23/05 Implementation of Introductory Assignment |
Thu 2/24/05 Presentations of Introductory Projects 1, 2, and 3. Guest critiquers: Maxis leaders.
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Presentations due |
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8 |
Wed 3/2/05 Game Balancing, Fun & Accessibility: Innovation Case Studies Reading: GDW, Chapter 9
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Thu 3/3/05 Organize into teams for Final Project. Brainstorm expansion theme. Each team develops 20+ Object ideas
Teams present ideas. Instructors greenlight 1-3 Objects per team.
Assign homework: Object specs following the Maxis spec |
Concepts due |
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9 |
Wed 3/9/05 The Life Cycle: Looping Narratives and Player Punishment Reading: GDW, Chapter 10
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Wed 3/10/05 Pitch specs to Maxis producer. Maxis producer greenlights Final Projects. Assign homework: start building code and art |
Prototypes due |
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10 |
Wed 3/23/05 EA Day #3. Class meets in Zemeckis 111 on this day. Guests from EA are speaking.
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Thu 3/24/05 Programmers write Edith code Artists build art |
First draft code and art due |
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11 |
Wed 3/30/05 Artificial Intelligence: Historical Examples and Current Research Trends Quiz 2
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Thu 3/31/05 Programmers write Edith code Artists build art |
Second draft code and art due |
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12 |
Wed 4/6/05 Player Controls and Movement Abilities
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Thurs 4/7/05 Conduct usability testing in the Game Innovation Lab Programmers and artists iterate
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User testing complete |
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13 |
Wed 4/13/05 Working with Programming Teams: Specifications and Design Documents Reading: GDW, Chapter 12
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Thu 4/14/05 Formal QA testing and debugging Programmers debug. Artists iterate.
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QA |
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14 |
Wed 4/20/05 Implementation of Final project Quiz 3
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Thu 4/21/05 Formal QA testing and debugging Programmers debug. Artists iterate. Homework assigned: Home Movies |
QA |
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15 |
Wed 4/27/05 EA Day #4. Class meets in Zemeckis 111 on this day. Guests from EA are speaking. |
Thu 4/28/05 Presentation of Final Projects: EA and Maxis leaders review. |
Final presentation |