Game mechanics and project planning (5 cr)

Objective

You deepen your understanding of game mechanics.
You learn to utilise game design patterns in your games.
You understand game progression, emergence and unit balancing.
You are able to iterate, prototype and visualise game mechanics of your game with your team.
You improve your management skills by creating a development plan for your game.
You improve your user experience design skills.

Content

How to utilise design patterns to enhance your design?
How to balance game units for an enjoyable game experience?
How to take the target audience into account in your design?
How to schedule your work and manage your own time in the development process?
How to better design game progression?
How to iteratively enhance your design?
How to limit your project scope so that you are able to deliver a working prototype?

Course material

Material on Learn

Study forms and methods

The course mostly online. Contact lessons are on campus when the group has contact days.

If you have a comparable previous academic achievement (i.e., a higher education-level course completion), have studied for a year in, for example, a folk high school, and have work samples to present, or if you have skills equivalent to or exceeding the course level, for example, through work experience and have a portfolio to show, you may seek to have the course accredited. However, you must first discuss this with the course instructor.

RDI and work-related cooperation

The course includes few workshops and lectures given by people working in the game industry.

Timing of exams and assignments

No exams. There are weekly assignments to be handed in.

Evaluation scale

1-5

Assessment methods and criteria

The assessment is based on group work as well as individual effort.