CTIN 482 Designing Online Multiplayer Game Environments

Pitch template for final presentations

Here is a link to the template AJ showed in class today: www.kinojabber.com/post/pitch-template.ppt.

Let me know if you have any trouble downloading the file!

Assignment Schedule

Hi everyone,

Here is a re-cap of the assignment schedule we talked about in class:

-- Reading: Please download the reading on creating a prototype and do that before starting on your prototype!
-- Prototypes: You need to construct a rough prototype of your game concept and playtest it with friends. Take notes on the playtest and post your findings here. (Also, include your brief write-ups in this post so your classmates have a better understanding of your concept as they read your notes.)
-- Blog: Some people have not blogged on Raph Koster's presentation. Please make sure you do that!
-- Deliverables: Bring a playable version of your prototype to class on March 21. Since you will have had one playtest already, you should know the game is playable.

Have a great Spring Break and email me or AJ with any questions.

Tracy

Reading: Chapter on prototyping from Game Design Workshop

Here is a zipped version of the file. Let me know if you have trouble downloading this.

Individual Meeting Schedule

The individual meeting schedule for next week is:

Wednesday 2/23
11:00 Chris
11:30 Bailey
12:00 Jerry
12:30 Neil & Nina

Thursday 2/24
11:00 Nick
11:30 Charles
12:00 Garrett
12:30 Ted & Rob

The meetings will be in my office -- room G140, right around the corner from the classroom. If you get lost call: 310.985.1167.

If you need to change your meeting time, or decide to pair up with another person, please let us know via email.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's ideas!

Settlers of Catan

For those of you who were asking me where to find Settlers, you can play the game online at MSN Zone.

You can also purchase the game at www.funagain.com. Other games you might look at if you really enjoyed this design are:

Carcassonne
Acquire
Union Pacific
Modern Art
Scotland Yard
Puerto Rico
I'm the Boss

Most of these can be found at Funagain or Amazon. Please post your thoughts about Settlers and these other games if you have a chance to play them!

Reading Assignment -- Rules of Play: Social Play

Here is the reading assignment for this week: Chapter 28 - Social Play from Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen's book Rules of Play. This is a great book on games; If you enjoy this chapter, I highly recommend purchasing the entire book.

(If you have trouble with the .pdf, remember to right-click and save it rather than just clicking on the link. Alternately, you can try this link to a zipped version of the file.)

Sony Online Entertainment CCO Raph Koster Visits 482 Multiplayer Games Class

Raph spoke, among many other topics, about one of his favorite multiplayer games, Blokus, a "game about graph theory." Here he is demonstrating the game.

Here are links to the PDF files for chapters 3, 4 and (most of) 9 from Raph's book. Please read these chapters - along with chapter 5 from the previous post - before Monday's class.

http://shufflebrain.com/usc/a-theory-of-fun-ch3.pdf
http://shufflebrain.com/usc/a-theory-of-fun-ch4a.pdf
http://shufflebrain.com/usc/a-theory-of-fun-ch4b.pdf
http://shufflebrain.com/usc/a-theory-of-fun-ch9.pdf

Reading for Monday's Class

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20041203/koster_01.shtml

This is a URL to a book excerpt -- Chapter 5 from 'Theory of Fun.' More chapters to follow tomorrow, in PDF format. Enjoy!

Reading for 1/24/05

Hi all,

You can find the reading for this week at http://www.kinojabber.com/post/GDW_Chap03.pdf.

Let me know if you have any trouble getting the file.

Tracy

Class Assignment - please complete by Jan 24th

Your assignment is to play a multiplayer game with some friends, and then report back on the experience by posting a comment to this entry. We (the instructors) will complete this assignment and post as well. Here are the questions we're like you to answer in your post:

1) CHOOSING THE GAME
How and why did you choose your game? Did a single person choose the game & invite others, or was selecting the game a group process? If so, what was that like?

2) PLACE & SETTING
What was the setting for your game? Did you play at someone's house, or at a public place? Were you drinking or eating during the game? Did the game feel like a party, or was it a more serious gathering?

3) TAKING TURNS
Did you game involve taking turns? If so, what were you doing when it was 'your turn' vs other people's turn? Is it fun to watch other people take turns? What is there to do when it's not your turn?

4) ACHIEVING FLOW
At what points during the game were you "in flow" (e.g. engaged in a way that made you lose track of time)? Were you concentrating the entire time, or did you experience a variety of different states? If so, was there a pattern to the states - and was that pleasing to you?

Beaking the Ice

Hello Class --

It was a pleasure meeting with you all yesterday. We're looking forward to a great semester. I particularly enjoyed playing the party game with you all yesterday -- it was a great kickoff game to play in class. We'll try and play at least one game per class. If you have suggestions for multi-player games that you'd like to play with your classmates (or simply discuss in class), please let us know by posting in the comments here.

So - go find a great multi-player game and have at it with your friends! I can't wait to hear about your experience. (BTW - Tracy and I will do the same exercise, and post it next week so that you can see what a typical post might look like.)