Section: 1
Instructor: Dr. Paul Gestwicki
Prerequisite: English 102, 103, or 114
This course provides an introduction to game design—a fascinating, challenging, and inherently multidisciplinary domain. We will study game design by learning fundamental theories, analyzing existing games, sharing our experiences and reflections, modifying designs, and creating our own games.
Game design is the art of determining how rules and fiction interact to produce a desired player experience. Exploring non-digital tabletop games allows us to focus on game design since the game design elements are visible.
The Computer Science Department specifies the catalog description and learning objectives for the course. The catalog description is:
A practical introduction to game design using a systems thinking approach. Emphasizes the iterative and creative design processes necessary to create engaging games. Students will analyze existing games and create original games, focusing on analog games such as board games and card games, using a player-centered approach. Applications to entertainment, education, business, and art will be discussed.
By the end of the course, a student will be able to:
This is a three credit-hour class, and you are expected to invest nine hours of effort per week into it. This value is not arbitrary: it comes from federal student loan legislation. In a sense, it defines what you pay for—or what you commit to doing—with federally-backed student loans. Hence, it represents the standard for all of higher education in the United States.
It is worth thinking about the implications of this level of commitment. First, consider that taking 15 credit-hours corresponds to a commitment of 45 hours per week. That’s significantly more than “full-time” since you don’t have a union that negotiates meal and coffee breaks. Second, consider that this is focused effort, not to be confused with text-messaging, Instagram-checking, Netflix-streaming, browser-tab-switching effort. Maintaining this level of conscientiousness is challenging and requires discipline. Training yourself to consistently perform at this level is a desirable outcome of a quality higher education. It helps you meet your potential to enrich your community. Put another way, this work is formative, and the effort is moral.
When I design a course, I think carefully about where I expect your focus to be. You should be able to succeed in this course by committing nine hours of attention per week regardless of your background as long as you have succeeded in the prerequisite courses. As with any aspect of the course, feel free to talk to me about it if you find that this is not the case.
Our primary text will be Ian Schreiber’s Game Design Concepts, which is freely available online (with ads). Other readings will come from online resources or made available through electronic course reserves.
You will need a standard 52-card deck of playing cards and some six-sided dice for some of the exercises. You will also need a stash of prototyping supplies. What goes into your prototyping kit is only loosely defined. Jerry Holcomb’s The White Box provides a great and affordable example of a game prototyping kit.
There is not a definitive list of components, but there are some aspects that seem especially valuable. Personally, I find the things I use all the time are index cards, blank paper, dice, and multicolored glass beads. For this course, I recommend that you take some time to gather and organize whatever prototyping and crafting supplies you have immediately on hand, acquire some index cards at the very least, and then either order a copy of The White Box or set aside around $50 to purchase supplies as needed throughout the semester.
The semester can be divided into two sections. For roughly nine weeks, we will work together to study fundamental theories and techniques of game design. This will help you build your vocabulary and understand how to think and work like a game designer. You will analyze existing games, modify games, and play—seriously, and in a scholarly manner—a variety of games.
During the remainder of the semester, you will work on your final project.
The final exam will be Friday, May 1, 9:45–11:45 A.M.
Your learning is commensurate to your participation. The more you put into the course, the more you will get out of it. Attendance is expected, and you are responsible for your learning. If you miss a class meeting, you should consult with trusted classmates to discuss the material you missed.
Refrain from activity that would hinder others’ success. Examples include tardiness, vulgarity, profanity, or violations of university regulations.
If circumstances dictate that you miss a class, meet with trusted classmates afterward to discuss what you missed.
Stow all portable electronic devices for the duration of meetings except in the rare cases where we are actively using them.
Listen actively. Assume the person you are listening to knows something you do not. Listening this way means you are not simply waiting for your chance to speak. More often, you are asking probing questions in order to build a better understanding of the other person’s experience.
Be charitable when interpreting others, especially when you are not face to face.
Always have paper and a writing implement on hand when reading, when playing a game, and during meetings. Be ready to take notes or record questions as inspiration strikes you. Personally, I always have either a paper in front of me or a notebook in my back pocket—usually both. The most frequent lie that we tell ourselves is “I will remember this.”
Some of your assessments use triage grading, a system whereby any artifact can be graded out of three points:
These correspond to the classical interpretations of letter grades as “excellent,” “average,” and “poor,” respectively. B grades come from a mix of essentially correct and partially correct work. Work that is incomplete or incoherent is given zero points—an F.
One of the reasons I like this system is that the interpretation of the numbers is clear. Rather than fret over fractions of points, the learner can quickly interpret that they were essentially correct, partially correct, or essentially incorrect, and then they can get on with the much more important business of reading, understanding, interpreting, and applying the written feedback that accompanies the numerical score.
Essential correctness includes clarity of communication. It’s not the case that every thing you submit must be a masterwork of the English language, but if there are errors that impede interpretation, then it cannot be essentially correct. Your work needs to be understood by both the reader and the writer. Hence, effective communication is necessary for essential correctness.
Assignments are graded using triage grading as described above.
Each week, you may submit an assignment for re-evaluation. This includes resubmissions of work that you have refined as well as first submissions of assignments you missed. We count weeks as starting at 9:30 AM on Tuesdays, which is our first meeting of the week. The last day any submission can be turned in for re-evaluation is midnight on the last regular meeting day of classes.
Resubmissions are to be complete submissions in themselves. They overwrite previous attempts and are not appendices to it. However, a Resubmission Report must accompany each resubmission. This report is to be included in Canvas’ comment section. A valid report begins with the line, “Resubmission for the week of date,” where date is a valid week’s starting date. Then, in one or more paragraphs, describe the major changes from the previous submission and how your understanding of the topic has changed. If it is a first submission, simply state that instead.
Player Logs are graded using traige grading as described above.
Player Logs can be resubmitted using the same policy as Assignments. This uses your resubmission opportunity for the week. That is, you can resubmit an Assignment or a Player Log, but not both.
Your course grade is based on four components:
Taking these four categories, your course grade is determined by the following table.
| Course Grade | Specification |
|---|---|
| A | One is B or better and the rest are A grades. |
| B | One is C or better and the rest are B or better. |
| C | One is D or better and the rest are C or better. |
| D | One is F or better and the rest are D or better. |
Canvas’ grading features lack the robustness to implement my grading system. Neither use nor trust any summative grades reported by Canvas. Only use the systems described on this page.
I am glad to talk to you about your work and your plans. You are welcome to email me any time with questions. I almost always respond within two working days and usually much faster.
My office hours are first-come, first-served. You don’t need an appointment for office hours.
Not every student is available during my office hours. If you want to meet at another time, simply email me your availability, and we will use that to set up a meeting. Be clear about whether you are seeking an online or face-to-face meeting.
You can often find me on the BSU Game Design & Development Discord. Feel free to tag me there with questions as well. It’s also a great place to share your progress and seek feedback from the community.
All email communication to the instructor should be from a BSU-affiliated address. This policy ensures that senders can be correctly identified and protects your privacy. Email sent from other domains may not be answered.
You are expected to process your email at least daily.
The instructor may access email through services not affiliated with the University. Please note that such messages necessarily pass through the campus firewall in an unencrypted format, and they may be stored on servers not owned or managed by Ball State University. It is therefore advisable to restrict confidential information to office hours or appointments.
Please do not use Canvas’ Inbox system to contact me. I recognize that some faculty have the opposite recommendation, and I apologize for the confusion this may cause. Canvas’ Inbox is a proprietary and inferior email substitute; we will instead rely on the real thing, which is a robust and open standard.
I have a telephone in my office, but it is not a reliable way to reach me. I will respond to every email that I receive; I may not respond to telephone messages.
Students and faculty are bound by the Student Academic Ethics policy of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. This means that the work you submit is entirely your own except where you clearly indicate otherwise, such as with citations or references.
It is never appropriate in this course to have another agent do your work for you, whether that agent is a classmate, an online service, or generative AI. Doing so is a flagrant violation of the university’s academic integrity policies and will be handled as such.
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, please contact the instructor of record as soon as possible. Ball State’s Disability Services Office coordinates services for students with disabilities; documentation of a disability needs to be on file in that office before any accommodations can be provided. Disability Services can be contacted at 765-285-5293 or dsd@bsu.edu.
A university policy requires including this statement on all syllabi.
We are committed to ensuring that all members of the community are welcome, through valuing the various experiences and worldviews represented at Ball State and among those we serve. We promote a culture of respect and civil discourse.
It is an exercise in critical thinking to consider whether this is bunkum. Feel free to bring it up in class for discussion.
©2026 Paul Gestwicki. This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.