Syllabus

Course Information

Course Title: Game Design
Semester: Spring 2026
Location: The Hive, Studio 2
Meeting Times: Tuesday & Thurday 1:15 - 3:35
Weekly In-class Study Time: 5 Hours
Weekly External Study Time: 9 Hours

Instructor:
Vinny Roca, Scripps College
vroca@scrippscollege.edu

Office Hours:
By appointment on Tuesday & Thursday 10:00 - 11:00
Book office hours here

Course Description

Play is everywhere: from ants staging mock battles, to lobsters flipping rocks for pleasure, to children inventing games of skill and chance. What might it mean, then, to intentionally design experiences of play? In this intermediate course, students will explore game design as both a formal and artistic practice. Through a play-centric, iterative approach, students will create a variety of non-digital games to examine how mechanics, narrative, and aesthetics shape meaning and play.

Learning Outcomes and Course Objectives

The goal of this course is to introduce students to fundamental skills for creating formally and aesthetically complex analog games, as well as to contextualize these skills within the historical, cultural, and political aspects of games. Through game analysis, reading responses, projects, play-testing, play-sessions, and discussions, students will achieve the following learning outcomes:

Gain an understanding of the formal aspects of game design, including rules, systems, and mechanic design, to produce formally complex analog games.
Gain an understanding of analog crafting and digital fabrication techniques to produce aesthetically complex analog games.
Ability to analyze games as cultural, historical, and artistic objects.
Gain a critical understanding of the history and cultural impact of games.

Course Texts and Readings

Each week, students will be assigned readings on the practice of game design and/or topics related to game culture.

The following three core texts will be used throughout the course:

Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, editors. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. MIT Press, 2006.
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, Eric. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press, 2003.
Colleen Mackline and John Sharp. Games, Design and Play: A Detailed Approach to Iterative Game Design. Addison-Wesley, 2016.

The Game Design Reader and Rules of Play are available as PDFs using the following links:

Games, Design and Play is available as an Ebook using your Claremont Colleges Library login credentials:

Games, Design and Play

Additional course readings will be used to supplement these main texts. All additional texts will be provided as PDFs accessible through the course Schedule page.

In-class and External Play Sessions

For multiple class sessions, the class, either in small groups or as a whole, will play games. To make these play sessions run smoothly, students should review the rules for the game in advance of the class.

Throughout the course, students will be assigned group play sessions. Games for play sessions will be available in the Hive storage space. Signup sheets will be provided for each play session. Students are expected to spend a minimum of 2 hours playing each assigned game.

Projects

Descriptions, grading criteria, and submission details for each project in the course can be found in the Projects section of the class website.

Spielebuch Game

Taking Carsten Höller’s Spielebuch as inspiration, each student will design a simple game that can be described in a short paragraph. The goal of this assignment is to begin exploring the differences and overlaps between games and the broader category of play. Each game should be designed to be playable within a few minutes in the classroom. Students are encouraged to be open and experimental with their approach. The games should be designed to create joyful or subversive experiences of play. Games should be designed for 2 or 4 players.

Redesign

In groups of 2, students will redesign Tic-Tac-Toe. Students will add and test new rules, exploring what interesting and emergent play forms. Students will submit a thoughtfully designed rule book for their new game.

Racing Game

Each student will design an analog racing game. Games should be designed for four players. Students will utilize available resources at the Harvey Mudd Makerspace, The Hive, and the Scripps Fab Lab to create aesthetically complex game boards, cards, and pieces.

Role Playing Game

In groups of 4, students will design an analog game with particular focus on creating a complex system to develop a role playing narrative. Games should be designed for 4 players. Students will utilize available resources at the Harvey Mudd Makerspace, The Hive, and the Scripps Fab Lab to create aesthetically complex game boards, cards, and pieces.

Art Game

Each student will design an analog game that either takes a stance on a particular topic or uses game design as a form of artistic expression. For this project, students should pull from their own lived experience and artistic background to design a game on a topic that is personally relevant. For this project, the system and the narrative of the game should be deeply intertwined such that the system produces both emergent play and emergent narrative circumstances. Students should deeply consider which mechanics or systems of mechanics will best communicate their creative intentions. Students will utilize available resources at the Harvey Mudd Makerspace, The Hive, and the Scripps Fab Lab to create aesthetically complex game boards, cards, and pieces. The project will have three phases:

Course Breakdown

%	Course Item
27.5	Art Game
22.5	Role Playing Game
22.5	Racing Game
10	Participation
10	Attendance
5	Redesign
2.5	Spielebuch Game

%	Letter Grade
93-100	A
90-92	A-
87-89	B+
83-96	B
80-82	B-
77-79	C+
73-76	C
70-72	C-
67-69	D+
63-66	D
60-62	D-
0-59	F

Grading Criteria

Projects and Late Work

Grading Criteria for each project can be found in the Projects section of the class website.

All projects and project components should be turned in before the start of class on their due day. Projects will lose one letter grade for each day they are late. After three days past due date, projects will not be accepted. Unexcused absences during proposal and playtesting sessions will result in students receiving a zero for their proposal or playtest grade. Unexcused absences during critique days will result in a two letter grade reduction in the final project grade.

Participation

Playing, understanding, and designing board games in a collaborative effort. As such, active participation in all aspects of the class is crucial. Students are expected to actively participate in discussions, critiques, playtesting, exercises, and play sessions. In order to prepare for active participation, students are expected to engage with assigned material before each class session. Phones and laptops are strictly prohibited from being used in-class unless noted otherwise. Use of electronic devices during class will significantly impact the final participation grade.

Attendance

Students are expected to be prepared for class at the start of our class meeting time. Students are allowed 1free unexcused absence during the semester. Students may not use their one unexcused absence during critique, proposal or playtesting sessions. Additional absences will only be excused for illness, emergencies, or religious observances. Students who arrive to the class after the class meeting time will be marked as tardy. Three tardies will be considered an unexcused absence. Each unexcused absence will decrease the attendance grade by 20%. 5 or more unexcused absences will result in a zero attendance grade. Each unexcused absence beyond 5 will result in a 20% decrease in the student’s participation grade.

Statement of Inclusion

We understand the classroom as a space for practicing freedom; where one may challenge psychic, social, and cultural borders and create meaningful artistic expressions. To do so we must acknowledge and embrace the different identities and backgrounds we inhabit. This means that we will use pronouns, respect self-identifications, and be mindful of special needs. Disagreement is encouraged and supported, however, our differences affect our conceptualization and experience of reality, and it is extremely important to remember that certain gender, race, sex, and class identities are more privileged while others are undermined and marginalized. Consequently, this makes some people feel more protected or vulnerable during debates and discussions. A collaborative effort between the students and Instructor is needed to create a supportive learning environment. While everyone should feel free to experiment creatively and conceptually, if a class member points out that something you have said or shared with the group is offensive, avoid being defensive; instead approach the discussion as a valuable opportunity for us to grow and learn from one another. Alternatively, if you feel that something said in discussion or included in a piece of work is harmful, you are encouraged to speak with the Instructor.

Statement adopted from voidLab at https://github.com/voidlab/diversity-statement.

Land Acknowledgement

We would like to respectfully acknowledge that Scripps College sits within the historic homeland of the Tongva people. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and colonization in our area. We acknowledge the strength and resilience of the Tongva people of the past, present, and future as the original caretakers of the land, water, and air, and we recognize our responsibility to be respectful stewards of the Scripps College campus. Today, this area and this campus are home to many Indigenous people from across the globe and we are proud that they are part of our community and institution.

Accommodations

The instructor will work individually with each student on reasonable accommodations.

If you have questions about accommodations for the course, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Campus Disability Coordinators