Course Description

Language of Instruction:English|Category: Video Games: Hobby and Entertainment

A unique course, without a parallel anywhere else!

This course teaches you on how to use board games as a tool in teaching video game design. This course is primarily targeted at new video game design instructors or seasoned instructors who want to use board games in their classrooms to teach video game design. In sum, this is a how-to-teach seminar for video game design instructors or people in process of becoming an instructor.

Why you should join this course?

* A unique course : what this course teaches is not found anywhere

* Course led by experts : the teachers are experts in this way of teaching

* Reusable course material : you can use most of the material for your own course

What’s in the box?

* This course started June 27, 2011 and will run through till September 2, 2011. If you join the course now, recordings of previous classes will be available. However, those classes will not be conducted again!

* Registrations close July 1, 2011

* The course consists of 20 live classes - to be delivered by WizIQ

* There will be exercises (homework) and supplementary documents in .doc or .pdf format

Executive summary for Game Analysis and Design [Teacher's Edition] class:

* For instructors who want to learn how to use tabletop games to teach video game design in their classroom

* A survey of modern tabletop games, covering RPGs, wargames, eurogames, and more

* Play numerous video game versions of tabletop games, solo and multiplayer

* Exercises and material that can be used in your classroom

* Small class to allow more one-on-one time

The lines between digital and tabletop games are blurred. Reiner Knizia, a prolific board game designer (publishing nearly thirty board games per year) is designing video games for the iPhone. Klaus Teuber's Catan series board games has sold over 15 million copies world wide and is playable in every major platform: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, Windows and more, including plans for a Facebook app. Video game designer Chris Taylor, best known for Fallout 1, 2 and the upcoming Fallout MMO, is designing board games in his spare time. Video game designer, writer and instructor Brenda Brathwaite is hand crafting a series of serious board games of tragedy, including the famous Holocaust-themed Train. Notable video game designers Warren Spector (Deus Ex), David Cook (Metroid Prime), Sandy Peterson (DOOM), and many others designed tabletop games before making board games. Game designer and writer Greg Costikyan, who has created paper RPGs, board games and video games, advocates the benefits of cross training to video game designers in his seminal article Don't Be a Vidiot.

This cross training trend is also evident in academia. Thumb through many of the popular video game design textbooks, and you will see pictures and articles about board games, and interviews of board game designers. As many of the core concepts of game design are the same regardless of medium, it is no surprise that many game design professors (including us) start their students with non-digital games before involving them in the more complex digital realm. But to do that, instructors need to understand what makes tabletop games significant, how to analyze and dissect these games to find the design lessons inside, and ideally to have some amount of "game literacy" in this space from which to choose suitable classroom examples and topics for discussion.

This course is here to provide you with the tools you need to integrate tabletop games into your video game design class.

Game Analysis and Design is a workshop on how to teach video game design with tabletop games. This course will teach you how and what tabletop games to use in your classroom to teach video game design. Tabletop games are powerful teaching tools because the rules are transparent, simple and easily modded, expanded, and recreated. Students can focus entirely on design without having their attention diverted by art, audio and programming tasks, and they are forced to confront design without the ability to hide behind fancy technology and graphics. This workshop focuses solely on teaching game design.

This course will be a mixture of a survey of modern tabletop games, design concepts highlighted in those games, and design exercises. Most of the materials used in the workshop can be used in your classrooms with little or no modifications to help your students create paper prototypes. Game Analysis and Design will be a small class (max 20 participants). Since some exercises are team-based, it is expected that you honor other instructors' time and keep up and participate in team events.

Class Requirements/Prerequisites:

You have to be an instructor, assistant instructor, instructional designer, etc. - or working to be one. This class is for any educator at any level of skill and expertise, there are no prerequisites to take this course.

Technology Requirements:

# Windows PC

# iPhone / iPod Touch

# MS Excel (MS Office 2000 or beyond, no clones)

# Flash enabled Browser - Firefox/ Google Chrome recommended

# Broadband connectivity

# Good quality Headset

# Webcam (recommended)

# Skype software (free download)

# Skype video conferencing capability - webcam, microphone and speakers, most laptops have these built in (recommended)

# iPad (recommended)

About the trainers:

Ian Schreiber

Ian has a diverse background, including programming, game design and higher education. Ian has worked on five published entertainment games and two serious game projects. As a professor, he has developed and taught dozens of classes on game development at the university level, co-authored Challenges for Game Designers, a textbook on game design, and “shipped” hundreds of students.

Sebastian Sohn

Sebastian is a "well played" game player, critical reviewer, indie gamevangelist, and game design instructor. With an insatiable appetite to learn, explore and catalog different games in the wild, he spends his time researching tabletop games and video games. He is especially fascinated by the use of games as an experiential teaching aid and constantly on the lookout for boardgames, video games, and role playing games that teach life.