This course introduces students to videogames and its various design elements, qualities, structures, and composition, as well as their place in an ever-growing and complex media landscape. Students will gain insights into strategies for analysis of key elements, such as examining game concepts and worlds, storytelling, character and user interface design, core mechanics and balance, as well as how the medium is related to other media texts, particularly in transmedia environments. In addition, we will discuss major game genres, identify specific design patterns, and clarify unique creative challenges, as well as investigate bidirectional influences on culture in general, and different media in particular. Students will be made familiar with relevant theory and terminology which, at the end of the course, they will be able to apply in their own analyses. In addition, they will be able to demonstrate their understanding of video games as a medium in relation to other media, and its undeniable impact on technology, communication, society, and global economy. 

Short lecture inputs, practical exercises; hands-on analyses of selected games and its ad campaigns; discussions; term paper or essays and player’s diary.

Videogames seem to be particularly well-suited for transmedia presentations as they have become prevalent outlets in transmedia discourses, which incorporate various different media to tell their stories or create unique universes. In addition, videogames are a multi-facetted medium, crossing media boundaries by incorporating various elements, techniques, and methods of communication from other media to engage players. Game ideas are cheap and plentiful. Advancing those ideas into games that people want to play, however, is one of the hardest tasks in the game development cycle. Marketing campaigns, which contain a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme, are built to catch the interest of a specific target audience, trying to get players to buy the “product” in question. This course introduces students to games marketing as well as game design, to have knowledge and understanding of the medium they are trying to promote. This will include strategies for analysis of key elements, such as examining game concepts and worlds, storytelling, character and user interface design, core mechanics and balance. Specific examples, taken from various eras throughout games’ history, will be used to support and highlight these observations. In addition, we will discuss major game genres, identify specific design patterns, and clarify unique creative challenges in marketing processes. With the ultimate goal to create successful marketing strategies, students will apply the terminology and knowledge gathered from relevant theories, in practical examples showing their understanding of games and respective ad campaigns.Carefully chosen examples which make the subject easier to understand and highlight specific game marketing processes: to be announced.

The final grade is an aggregate of continuous assessment throughout the semester, an in-class group presentation, a written player’s diary, a mid-term quiz (online), and a term paper after the course ends. The presentation and written assignments comply with criteria explained during the course.

Active participation in class and at home:Keep up to date with the required reading, do any additional research if necessary, think critically, and participate in group activities and discussions.Group presentation:In a group of maximum three students, introduce a game and analyze its design elements, qualities, structures, and composition, as well as its respective relevance for the subject of the course. Each student’s individual efforts must be made apparent. Term paper AND player’s diary:Write an academic (!) paper, on a topic of your choice in conjunction with your presentation, relevant to the subject of the class. Use appropriate terminology, quotations and references!  To be uploaded on Moodle (pdf only), no printed copy needed (deadline: February 28, 2023 – 11:55pm). The extent of the written assignment in combination with the presentation will be explained in class. In addition, students will write a player’s diary recording their experiences while playing a videogame. Take a game of your choice – preferably one that you have not played before in order to gain unprejudiced insights – interact with it regularly, and put every session into writing. Every entry must be dated and has to mention if it discusses a play session, a cultural exploration, or a philosophical musing. These three concepts (explained in detail in class) ideally alter in an equal ratio throughout your writing, and at least one of each must be included.Mid-Term Quiz (online): Take the mid-term quiz on moodle and score a positive grade (details will be explained in class). 

30% = active participation in class and at home60% = group presentation,  term paper,  AND player’s diary10% = mid-term quiz