Games and I: CS377G Reflection
I don’t consider myself a gamer, a game developer, or a board game enthusiast. I came to this class skeptical but open, wanting to learn about a different field in design I’d yet to dabble with.
This class taught me many things, but not how to make video games. Instead, what I got was much, much more useful for my career and my design toolkit. As a big believer in learning by doing and hands-on learning, one of the best parts of this class was being able to take four unique projects from start to finish. Other activities were also critically important.
Sketchnoting
I’m neither an artist nor someone with legible handwriting. So while I very much dislike creating sketchnotes in the moment, I know with certainty that they help me retain knowledge. There’s something about writing words down with pen and paper that makes it easier for my brain to absorb. It helps that the sketchnotes I’ve created actually look somewhat more readable than my usual notes thanks to spacing, line-weight, and accent colors. One of my favorite sketchnotes from the quarter was the first MDAO reading, which helped create a framework for the class and projects. I also really enjoyed all of the Game Design Concepts readings from Ian Schreiber’s online course, especially the game balance and playtesting alone chapters. I took away from these reading vocabulary and concepts that help me communicate effectively with other designers.
Games at Start of Class — Critical Play
I was initially surprised that we got the opportunity to explore classic and unique board games during the class period. However, I was excited to find how necessary the experiences were for the projects and lectures. As someone with very little board game experience, I was able to play for the first time in this class games like Pandemic, Flux, and Settlers of Catan. Playing these games gave me a common vocabulary and a toolset of mechanisms that the class collectively referenced. Phrases like “like Catan, but with..” were common, and having felt those mechanics first hand meant I could communicate and understand more effectively games that were either partially designed or just conceptual. I also got the chance to see other unique board games like Marrying Mr. Darcy, Fog of Love, Slash 2, and others. Every game that I played with a critical eye and an open mind taught me important information about game mechanics, rule formation, identifying fun in players, and game objectives.
Lectures Specific to Projects
A few lectures really stood out to me as incredibly helpful. While we were working on P2, the interactive fiction assignment, I and several of my classmates felt stuck. That same week Christina and Ben collected all of our questions and issues and came back with a lecture addressing every possible problem we could be having. That was an incredibly useful moment where I learned a lot about storytelling, endings, and issues particular to branching fiction.
We had a guest lecture with prominent game designer Matt Leacock. I was particularly inspired by his story of developing a game over the course of ten years. I also really enjoyed Stone Librande’s lecture that, while not so applicable for in-class material, will I think be really useful for translating what we’ve learned about board games into digital game prototyping.
Project Progress Checkpoints
My experience as a Stanford student has always been that projects in classes tend to be worked on at the last possible moment. It might be scheduling, procrastination, or just the sense that other looming deadlines take precedence. To that end, it was really important and really useful to me that throughout each of the four projects, short as they were, we came to each class with some progress to share. Having these checkpoints meant that my teams were given more chances to receive feedback and even had the opportunity to pivot when needed because we started early. The mini-deadlines were extremely useful for me to get the most out of this course.
In-Class Playtesting
Nothing was as helpful for learning how to design games than actually watching other designers play those games. The open studio time, but particularly structured playtesting time, was the most valuable part of this class for me. Classmates all gave critical but constructive feedback through their suggestions, talking out loud, and clear body language. I learned how to judge fun, how to play partially complete games, and most importantly how to collect valuable feedback for iteration. Just getting in hours of testing rules, mechanics, and graphics is really powerful experience as a designer I can build on later.
I came into this class knowing, as a woman, that I would have an uphill battle if I wanted to go into game development and game design. But through what I’ve learned this quarter, I am more confident that I can hold my own in those industries if I so choose. I still have a lot to learn, but this class has helped me grow as a designer in ways I wasn’t expecting. Working on three different teams through four fast-paced and diverse projects on topics from the prison-industrial complex to software version control has added a catalogue of new experiences and skills to who I am. Virtual classes and all, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
