2D Humane Games
COMP 3705, CUI 4155, DMST 3903: Spring 2009
Course Information and Syllabus

About This Course

"Humane Games" are defined as 1) games for education; 2) medical applications of games; and 3) socially conscious games. We believe that academia has a stewardship responsibility to guide the newly emerging field of computer games towards positive social change. The goal of this class is to learn how Humane Games are used and how to create them. The course will cover theory, pedagogy, design, art, and programming. There is no previous programming experience assumed. The class is especially relevant to educators, game developers, and people interested in digital media as an expressive medium as well as a cultural study.

Pre-requisites

The class is intended for juniors, seniors, and graduate students from computer science, education, digital media studies, and eMAD. We expect students to have different backgrounds/abilities and we will accommodate. There is no need to have previous programming experience if a student is not a computer science major. Different groups will use different tools as appropriate to the student's technical background. The tools can be Processing, Flash, Java, Scratch, or something else. One tool, Scratch, specifically requires no previous programming experience.

Required Books

• Game Design Workshop, Second Edition: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, by Tracy Fullerton, isbn 0240809742
• Everything Bad is Good For You, by Steven Johnson, isbn 1573223077
• Picture This: How Pictures Work, by Molly Bang, isbn 1587170302
• A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel Pink, isbn 1594481717
• NOT YET SURE THIS IS REQUIRED How Computer Games Help Children Learn, by David Williamson Shaffer and James Paul Gee, isbn 0230602525

Grading

• 10% Game Design Exercises
• 10% Reading Summaries and Participation
• 6% Warmup Scratch Game
• 10% Educational Scratch Game
• 10% Game Research Paper
• 20% Exam
• 34% Final Game (9% Design, 8% Prototype, 8% Final Game, 9% Assessment)

Resources

• Rapid Game Prototyping
  

Calendar

Day	Topic	Due	Assignments
Mon 3/23	Design Exercise 1a Design Exercise 1b		Design Exercise 2 Readings1a Readings1b
Wed 3/25	Scratch Work Time
Mon 3/30	Game Exercise 2 Testing	Readings 1a Summary Design Exercise 2
Wed 4/01	Readings 1a & 1b Scratch Warmup Scratch Work Time	Readings 1b Summary	Warmup Scratch Game Assignment Readings 2 Game Design Exercise 3 Game 1: Scratch Warmup
Mon 4/06	Readings 2	Readings 2 Summary Design Exercise 3
Wed 4/08	Readings 2	Game 1	Game Design Exercise 4
Mon 4/13	Chapter 8 Discussion Design Exercises 4 and 5		Game Design Exercise 5 Readings 3
Wed 4/15		Design Exercises 4 and 5	Game Design Exercise 6
Mon 4/20	Molly Bang Inspired Exercises		Assignment 2
Wed 4/22	Digital Molly Bang Exercise
Mon 4/27	Play Testing, Work Day
Wed 4/29	Work Day
Mon 5/04		GAME 2	Readings 4
Wed 5/06			Assignment 3
Mon 5/11	EXAM
Wed 5/13
Mon 5/18
Wed 5/20	Final Game Demonstrations	Final Game
Mon 5/25	NO CLASS, MEMORIAL DAY
Wed 5/27
Mon 6/1	FINAL GAME ASSESSMENT PRESENTATION	Assesment Report

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