Teaching Game Design to Teach Interaction Design

Teaching Game Design to Teach Interaction Design

Let’s Play

@cwodtke | [email protected] www.eleganthack.com

CHRISTINA WODTKE

I teach at CCA

I use game design to teach Interaction design

You may think Game design is all about fancy equipment and softare

Let’s make a game

Exercise via Brenda Romero

Draw a path

Create a way to move

• Dice roll• Answer a trivia question• Everyone moves• Person behind moves• Roshambo• Card draw• Pass, but gain currency• Physical skill

Design Conflict• Speed people up• Slow people down• Extra turn• Lose a turn• Swap places• Block

Add anything you need to make it playable

3 minutes

Playtest

You won!You made a game. Was that so hard?

Was it fun?

Sure I worked at Zynga… but I worked on platform! I was nerveous teaching game design too…

It all started with Story

Time Studio 1: Story that is….

Students made pop-up books, exploring how to use interaction for emotional effect…

Students made Interactive Fiction, exploring dystopias

IF software will teach you about interaction flows

And IF teaches you how to consider story in space over time

Interaction Design and Game Design are Fraternal twins

First video game 1958

Shared KnowledgeYou need the same skills for both

AFFORDANCES (signifiers)Things that look pushable, get pushed. Things that look pullable, get pulled.

AFFORDANCES

Buttons that look pushable, get pushed

But check out these affordances

Feedback

Alphabear won’t embarrass me socially

Direct Manipulation

Harry Potter Years 1-4 on IpadDirect Manipulation

Harry Potter Years 5-7 on IpadVirtual Controller

Concept Models to Communicate to team

Architecture concept model

Architecture concept model

How areas of site interlock

Via Andrew Hinton@inkblurt

Consider conceptual models over sitemaps

Stone Librande’s One Page Designs are concept models(Spore)

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/what-is-information-architecture

The IA of Minecraft

The IA of Kingdom Rush

Same but betterPlaytesting, Prototyping, and RITE done Right

A game is unknowable until it is played

Board games are HUGE!

Paper prototyping

More iteration

Different & New Ideas

Look to Game Design to stretch us in new directions and explore difficult topics

MDAMechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics

CAMPContext, Architecture, Mechanics, Poetics

Luck and skill

Irregular Reward Schedules

Irregular Reward Schedules

continuums

Art?

Culture

Ecology

Craft

Empathy

You learn when you care

They will save the world

And have fun doing it

Required Reading for Educators

ThankYou

@cwodtke | [email protected] www.cwodtke.com

CHRISTINA WODTKE