A downloadable course

Class Schedule

This is an archive of the Fall 2018 Game Dev course at Texas Tech.

Week 1 (Aug 28/30)

Tue: [Topic] Making Games

Thur: Introduce Bitsy (Tutorial)

Sign up for itch.io and Discord accounts.

Week 2 (Sept 6)

Tue: [Topic] What Goes Into Games?

Thur: Bitsy Critiques [PROJECT DESCRIPTION/REQUIREMENTS]

Week 3 (Sept 11/13)

Tue: [Topic] Vernacular Game Design Read: Fullerton "Working with Formal Elements" (Blackboard)  Due: Design Response #1: Formal Elements by 11:59pm on Monday

Watch: GDC Microtalk: Game Development is Hard Work

Thur: Introduce P5.JS

Week 4 (Sept 18/20) 

Tue: [Topic] Programming Foundations Continued Due: Bring P5.JS self portraits to class

Thur: P5.JS Jam

Read Once Upon an Algorithm: Introduction, Chapter 1: A Path to Understanding Computation and Chapter 2: Walk the Walk: When Computation Really Happens

Week 5 (Sept 25/27)

Mon: Eric Zimmerman talk "Living in the Ludic Century" in the SUB Senate Room, 7pm

Due: Design Response #2: Ludic Century (by Tuesday 1:59pm on Blackboard)

Tue: [Topic] The Logic of Game Programming & Simple Interactions

Read: Once Upon an Algorithm Control Structures and Loops: Ch. 10 Weather, Rinse, Repeat and Ch. 11 Happy Ending Not Guaranteed

Thur: P5.JS Homework

Due: Complete the Bubble Exercise and upload to Itch.io

Week 6 (Oct 2/4)

Tue: [Guest Lecture] Nick Bowman on "Interactivity is Demanding"

Thur: Introduce P5.Play

Week 7 (Oct 9/11)

Tue: [Topic] Collide, Spawn, and Collect 

Watch: "WarioWare Analysis - Game Design 101 | PostMesmeric"

Due: Design Response #3: WarioWare (by Wednesday 11:59pm on Blackboard)

Thur: Game Design Exercise

Week 8 (Oct 16/18)

Tue: [Topic] Designing Simple Games

Bring in 5 WarioWare Ideas

Thur: Studio

Experiment with P5.Play

Week 9 (Oct 23/25)

Due: Design Response #4: "Practical Creativity" (Monday at 11:59pm)

Tue: [Topic] Inspiration and Ideation

Thur: Share P5.Play WarioWare Works-in-Progress

Week 10 (Oct 30 / Nov 1)

Tue: Studio

Thur: P5.Play WarioWare Close-to-Complete Check-In

Requirements: Core interaction functions (you can do the verb), game has a five second timer running in the background, clear win and lose state

Week 11 (Nov 6/8)

Due: Design Response #5: Blood, Sweat, and Pixels (Monday at 11:59pm).  Read the Introduction, Reporting Note, Pillars of Eternity, Stardew Valley, Shovel Knight, and Uncharted 4.

Tue: [Topic] Perspectives on Game Industries

Thur: P5.Play WarioWare Due with in-class critiques.

Week 12 (Nov 13/15)

Tue: [Topic] Space, Screen, and Camera

Thur: Introduce Unity

Week 13 (Nov 20)

Tue: [Topic] Designing Challenges

Thur: NO CLASS

Week 14 (Nov 27/29)

Due: Design Response #6: Portal (play through twice, once without commentary and once with.

Tuesday: Level Design 

Thursday: Studio

Week 15 (Dec 4)

Tuesday: Studio Days

Week 16 (Dec 12)

Final Unity Level Due Online

Banner image: Texas Tech dairy barn.