This is the Level 1 course in the 3-year Gaming sequence.

In this course you will:

• Work in small teams
• Understand the roles of people on a design team
• Practice soft skills 
• Learn 3 different game engines
• Create many different types of games 
• Appreciate the history of games and gaming
• Generate design documents for your games
• Make characters, active objects, and backgrounds

Click here for my wiki.  

This course is performance-based with classwork weighted at 40% and projects weighted at 60%. Most of the assignments are digital files which are uploaded for grading, and then returned electronically to the students. Most of this class will be paperless. I use a wiki to deliver and collect student work. The assignment list will update as new assignments are due.

There are 12 custom State standards for this course:

Identify commonly used art and animation production tools in the game design industry. The student will be able to:

• Identify, categorize and discuss art and animation tools commonly used in game design.

Understand intellectual property rights, copyright laws and plagiarism as it applies to creative assets. The student will be able to:

• Understand the use of “Fair Use and Fair Dealing”.
• Understand the transfer and licensing of creative works.
• Understand the use of “exclusive rights” to intellectual creations.
• Demonstrate the use of digital watermarking.

Explain the importance of employability skill and entrepreneurship skills as it relates to game/simulation development. The student will be able to:

• Identify and demonstrate positive work behaviors needed to be employable.
• Maintain a career portfolio to document knowledge, skills, and experience.
• Evaluate and compare employment opportunities that match career goals.
• Identify and exhibit traits for retaining employment.

Identify tools and software commonly used in game development. The student will be able to:

• Identify and discuss the popular game development tools currently used in the industry.
• Identify and discuss popular gaming engines.
• Identify and discuss popular world building tools.

 Investigate career opportunities in the game industry. The student will be able to:

• Describe job requirements for a variety of occupations within the game development industry.
• Identify current employment trends and career opportunities in the game industry.

Demonstrate research and information fluency. The student will be able to:

• Play games to research and collect game play data.
• Evaluate, analyze and document game styles and playability.
• Determine the dramatic elements in games, including kinds of fun, player types and nonlinear storytelling.

Demonstrate an understanding of the techniques used to evaluate game mechanics, game play, flow, and game design. The student will be able to:

• Test and analyze games to determine the quality of rules, interfaces, navigation, performance, play, artistry and longevity in design and structure. 
• Research and evaluate the game analysis techniques used by the video game industry.
• Identify the key elements in a game and make intelligent judgments about whether the game succeeded or failed in its objectives.
• Evaluate professional reviews and write a critical analysis of a current video game.

Explore the methods used to create and sustain player immersion. The student will be able to:

• Research and define the term “player immersion”.
• Explore and explain the factors that create player immersion in a game.
• Examine popular games and explain the methods each game uses to increase player immersion.

 Describe the game development life cycle. The student will be able to:

• Identify steps in the pre-production process including the proof of concept and market research.
• Describe the iterative prototyping process – Alpha, Beta, RTM.
• Determine platform, technology and scripting requirements.
• Implement techniques of scenario development, levels, and missions.
• Discuss game testing requirements and methods.
• Identify and describe maintenance, upgrade and sequel issues.

Demonstrate the professional level of written and oral communication required in the game development industry. The student will be able to:

• Use listening, speaking, telecommunication and nonverbal skills and strategies to communicate effectively with supervisors, co-workers, and customers.
• Organize ideas and communicate oral and written messages appropriate for the game development industry environment.

Understand the core tasks and challenges that face a video game design team. The student will be able to:

• Identify and define the roles and responsibilities of team members on a video game design team.
• Explore and discuss methods of communications and scheduling for design teams.

Demonstrate leadership and teamwork skills needed, as it relates to game/simulation development, to accomplish team goals and objectives. The student will be able to:

• Employ leadership skills to accomplish organizational goals and objectives.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with others in order to accomplish objectives and tasks.
• Conduct and participate in meetings to accomplish work tasks.
• Employ mentoring skills to inspire and teach others.