Game Design Project
In the second term, we will spend the first term inhabiting a gamified academic world and in the second term we will create a game of our own. As I conceive it, the first term will provide us with some experience to make assessments and evaluations about what was positive or negative about the Quest for the Middle Ages game. We will use this experience to give us ideas about how to create a new game intended to educate (and entertain) other History/Medieval Studies students.
Historians attempt to take very complex historical situations and view them through different interpretive lenses. They see "rules" to how history works. In creating a game, we will seek to identify key defining features of the medieval past and distill them into game mechanics.
No one is expected to have any experience in game-design, but rather we will work together to accomplish our work. It is the process, far more than the product which is important for our learning.
The game will have successive stages:
Preparatory reading. December 2020. Students will receive the FYSM1405D Game Design Handbook, laying out readings, best practices and subject areas that could be the basis of the Game Design Project.
Initial Brainstorming. January, 2021. In a series of videoconference meetings in the first weeks of January, students will identify key ideas they wish to develop into project proposals. In three groups, students will be expected to develop a basic ideas of a game. We will use mindmeister to develop detailed mindmaps.
Project proposal presentation. February 2021. The three teams will pitch their ideas. Afterwards, students will vote to proceed with a single idea. Students will divide into new teams - design, research, writing with a two-person project manager lead. Using Trello, tasks will be posted and assigned to specific people.
Research phase. February/ March 2021. Students will continue research into the subject area, identify possible models. Students will produce an exhaustive annotated bibliography as the basis of their developing project.
Game Creation. March/April 2021. Students will work together to write a rulebook, design accompanying artwork and produce a prototype.
Game Release. April 2021. At the end of the school year, students will release a version (even if unfinished) for others to critique and enjoy.
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