Game Design: Principles and Practice

About the Course

This course is for working professionals who are interested in learning the key concepts and techniques for creating purposeful games based on game design principles. The course will cover basic theory and directly dive in the making of a purposeful game. It is a 8 day course offered as a synchronous, full time course delivered in-person.
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The course counts towards 8 credits in the ePGD programme in Interaction Design offered by IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay.

Who should attend?

This programme is for you if you are:

A design professional from interaction design or any other design discipline with an interest in game design
A game developer with experience in online game design design, but no formal training
A quality professional in the IT industry, who would like to learn about basic principles of game design
A game enthusiast, who would like to experience the design process
A faculty member in a design school or an engineering college who would like to teach a course on topics such as game design, gamification.

Goals and Outcomes

Intended outcomes of the course:

Understand the key concepts and theory used in game design
Understand the difference between various category of games
Gain practical experience making and evaluating purposeful games
Apply theory to convert the game mechanics into a purposeful game

Contents and Schedule

The table below shows the planned contents for the in-person continuous version of the course. The weekend, online version of the course will have a slightly different schedule, but similar contents. In both cases, these contents are indicative. Some content may be added in each instance of the course. Specific schedules for an instance of the course may also vary slightly.

Day

Session 1

Session 2

Day 1

Testing the prior knowledge

Introducing challenge

Day 2

Understanding the variables of challenge

Design the first game

Day 3

Play testing and feedback

Understanding the parameters of game design

Day 4

Discussion on capstone project

Group work: Background research

Break

Group work: brainstorming

Break

Break

Day 5

Group Work:
Concept Presentation

Development Process: Specific Topics

Day 6

Group Work:
Prototyping

Group Work:
Testing the Prototype

Day 7

Group Work: Iterations

Group Work:
Final Prototyping

Day 8

Play testing

Game Evaluation

Course instructor(s)

Prasad Bokil

Eligibility Criteria

You have an undergraduate degree (or equivalent) from a recognised university in any of these disciplines: design, engineering, architecture, fine arts, applied arts, information architecture, ergonomics / human factors, writing and communication.
OR
You have any other undergraduate degree from a university recognised by IIT Bombay and if you have work experience in the industry of 3 years or more in any of these roles: user interface designer, user experience designer, web developer, information architect, graphic designer, visual designer, copywriter, product manager, brand manager.

Credits and Certification

Participants get 8 credits after passing this course which count towards the ePGD in Interaction Design from IIT Bombay. Please refer to the Credits / Certification section of the FAQs for more details.