For Wednesday, October 16
Playtesting
1. Who is this text written for? Compare the writing to Calleja’s book.
2. When is it useful to playtest a game? How do the processes and goals of playtesting change throughout a game’s “lifetime”?
3. What are some concrete strategies for leading a playtesting session? Is there anything you should specifically avoid?
4. Can/should you playtest with the same players multiple times? Can/should you play the game yourself with your testers?
5. What is the value of blind playtesting (when you’re not involved at all)? When should you use it?
6. How can you incorporate feedback from your playtesters? What do you want to find out?
For Wednesday, October 2
Chapter 5
1. What are some examples of theme in the games you’ve played?
2. What is the difference between theme and fiction?
3. How do the author and Wolfgang Iser define fiction? How has this manifested in the games you’ve played?
4. What prompters have you encountered? How do they help inspire your imagination?
5. What games have you played without any fiction (completely abstract)? What games have had the most complete fiction?
6. Consider the elements our author claims as creating “fiction beats.” How have your games created a sense of “world?” What rules and mechanics have reinforced a sense of fiction? Have you encountered any examples of “character” in the games you’ve played?
For Wednesday, September 25/Friday, September 27
Chapter 4: Pg 67-69 (Introduction); 81-87 (Player Interaction through Adam Sadler’s interview response); 90-92 (“Though an increasing number of board games…” until Genre Expectations)
1. Think about your small group game sessions–what kinds of conversations/experiences have you had? Are they primarily about the games themselves, or about other things?
2. What categories of player interaction does our author refer to? What types of interaction have you had with other players?
3. When have you directly changed the state of the game for someone else?
4. What games have you played without much/any direct interaction?
5. When has interaction been strictly/primarily communication, rather than physical action?
6. What is the difference between Collaborative, Competitive, and Cooperative games?
7. How does your experience (or your group’s experience) change between collaborative games (The Mind, The Game, Forbidden Island/Desert) and competitive games with a single winner?
8. What elements of cooperation have you encountered in your competitive games?
For Monday, September 16
Connections are Everything
1. Read any part/s of the book that seem interesting to you (see the “Books” tab or the Moodle page for access)
2. Prepare three brief observations for Monday
For Wednesday, September 11/Friday, September 13
Chapter 3
1. What is the point of rules? (In life/in games)
2. What are the differences between generative and restrictive rules? What examples have you seen in the games you’ve played?
3. What is agency? How does it differ from rules? (What different elements of agency have you encountered in the games you’ve played?)
4. How do mechanics incorporate/differ from rules?
5. What are “core mechanics?” For your small group games, what have the core mechanics been so far? How are these core mechanics related to the game genre?
6. Carefully read Corey Konieczka’s interview response on pages 57-59. How can you apply his process of developing “Battlestar Galactica” to the games you’ll be developing?
7. What are goals? Consider games like “Welcome To…” What various types of goals are possible? How easily were you able to determine the “end goal” throughout the game play experience?
For Wednesday, September 4
Chapter 2 (pgs 23-29 *opening section, Attention; pgs. 36-44 *Breaking Involvement to the chapter end)
1. What is the difference between attention and engagement/involvement?
2. What situations in your life (outside of board games) move between “bottom-up” and “top-down” attention?
3. Consider the games you’ve played so far. What aspects of the games require a great deal of your attention? What aspects require less attention?
4. Consider games you are more familiar with or have played more often. How do the demands on your attention change after repeated plays?
5. What types of things diminish your attention in playing games? Have you encountered any of these in the games you’ve played?
For Wednesday, August 28
Introduction
1. What “problem” is the book trying to solve or answer?
2. Calleja interviews many game designers for this book. What biases does he see among his interview subjects? Why do these biases exist?
Chapter 1 (pgs 1-2; pgs 11-21 *IA opening section; “The Characteristics of Play” to the chapter end)
3. Look through the chapter notes. Who/what/when is the earliest examination of the concept of “play” that Calleja cites?
4. What types of sources and publications does Calleja reference for his research?
5. Consider the structure of this chapter. How does Calleja guide the reader through his arguments? What types of examples does he use? Is his journey straightforward or obfuscated? (Feel free to read the unassigned portions of the chapter if you would like.)
6. What is Calleja’s definition of “play”? How do these elements show up in the games you’ve played so far?