CLASS DESCRIPTION

This advanced studio course extends and expands a foundation in design to identify, discover and hypothesize innovative and experimental game mechanics across genres, mediums and technologies. Experimental interactions will be inspired by reading, playing and discussion. Themes and concepts will serve as a north star for radical reinterpretation of existing methods and modalities. The aim is to learn through doing and push beyond comfort zones to help create impact, meaning and answer the question: where do new ideas come from? We will celebrate risk and failure as a positive force in learning as we seek to remove blocks that might prevent or overshadow experimentation.

 

Students will expand their horizon through a broad range of examples pushing the boundaries of current design, and learn how to engage in design research, rapid prototyping, presentation and reflection to identify, explore, and validate the potential of novel design spaces by creating experimental playful interactions on their own and in teams.

 

Unit Overview:

The course is organized into four units, each uses a theme to provide scaffolding for interrogating and transcending design standards and tropes. The course will begin with a unit on the importance of learning/celebrating “failure and risk” in innovation and iteration. We will also examine and learn from games that use loss, failure and risk as innovative and meaningful touchstones. From there we will broadly interrogate the role of “space” in design and what new affordances technologies like XR, principles of theatrical staging and designing for 3D worlds might offer. Next we will take social conventions and “culture” as our inspiration for innovating games by looking at how games might be in dialogue with the world around us: such as avant-garde art movements and our own cultural touchstones, identities and perspectives. We will then explore expanded ideas of narrative and poetics in structuring experimental interactions and player experience. The final unit will offer teams a month to expand on prototypes of their choice. This interval of intensive iteration and mentoring will be supported by topics in industry professionalization.

 

Each unit entails readings for “inspiration,” “homeplay” of exemplary experimental interactions, class discussion, and hands-on prototyping in the medium of choice. The first week of each unit is largely devoted to gathering and synthesizing inspiration. Remaining weeks will focus on exploration, discovery and concretizing inspiration through rapid prototyping.

 

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