Social Games Workshop ITP499 (3 Units) Spring 2010 (2010-1)

Transcription

1 Social Games Workshop ITP499 (3 Units) Spring 2010 (2010-1)

2 Summary The best games are those played between people. The connected networked world lets people play with others anywhere on the planet. For new games to be successful, the social component must be exploited in numerous ways: not only in-game, but also by creation of a full community. Chat, transactions, leader boards, PM, hosted tournaments. Objectives To examine and analyze the social aspects of numerous multiplayer online games, big and small, to see what works best and to formulate a set of principles for development of future games in order to ensure success in the marketplace. Outline The class will jointly explore several online games, in order to analyze and evaluate how best to handle the most important social aspects: In-game communication (chat) Community building Matchmaking Party invites Excluding / booting Host migration Player notification and error handling Mobile games and cross-platform support The effects of lag Cheating / hacking / bots Transactions (trading, buying, selling, gambling) The "gotchas" that inevitably occur (griefing, theft, etc.), necessitating creation of new "laws" Course Structure In each class, students will meet online and work through some example gameplay together, then discuss, contrast, and compare findings afterwards. Standard midterm and final exams, plus a final report project to summarize the semester's findings. Guest speakers to include experts in building online social games and mobile social games, and legal aspects of social games. For example: Cynthia Woll, creator of Burb Wars William Volk, CEO Playscreen (The Social Entertainment Company) Darian Hickman, founder, VillageTheGame.com Shaun Foust, game attorney Bill Black, former audio director for World of Warcraft Prerequisites ITP 280 Materials Second Life, World of Warcraft, Lexulous (formerly Scrabbulous), Burb Wars, facebook.poker.zynga.com, godance.gopets.com, Yahoo games Poker, Pixie Hollow, Toontown, Nick.com games, Steam games, VillageTheGame Web Site Blackboard is used extensively - Also:

3 Instructor Contacting the Instructor Office Hours Lab Assistants Lecture Lab Tom Sloper (put ITP391 in the subject) Telephone: ( if no answer) 2-3 PM, Tuesdays and Thursdays, OHE 530A 12-1PM Mondays and 10-11AM Fridays in OHE 530A None Average 3 hours per week. No lab. Grading The following point structure will be used in determining the grade for the course. Final grade will be based upon the total points received, the highest total in the class, and the average of the class. Criteria Assignments/ team exercises % of Grade Frequency Deliverables 40% Weekly Enthusiastic participation in class projects, exercises Midterm 25% Once during semester Final exam and project 25% Once during semester Attendance 10% Twice weekly Total 100% Written exam Delivery of final project and written exam Show up in class or give advance notice Grading scale: A A B B B C C C D D F 64 or below Policies Instructor Policies Attendance - Students should notify instructor by in advance if a - 3 -

4 class will be missed. Students are expected to come to class on time and attend each class. Assignments - Weekly assignments should be delivered online via Digital Dropbox. Assignments are to be in Microsoft Word format unless otherwise specified. Assignments are to be presented and critiqued in class, and graded within 2 weeks of due date. Late Submissions - Late assignments will be reduced by one letter grade for every week late. Make-up policies - To make up for a missed exam, the student must provide a satisfactory reason (as determined by the instructor) along with proper documentation. Make-up exams are only allowed under extraordinary circumstances. ITP Policies Classroom Computers - Before logging off a computer, students must ensure that they have ed or saved projects created during the class or lab session. Any work saved to the computer will erased after restarting the computer. ITP is not responsible for any work lost. Open Lab - ITP offers Open Lab use for all students enrolled in ITP classes. These open labs are held beginning the second week of classes through the last week of classes. Please contact your instructor for specific times and days for the current semester. Academic Integrity The use of unauthorized material, communication with fellow students during an examination, attempting to benefit from the work of another student, and similar behavior that defeats the intent of an examination or other class work is unacceptable to the University. It is often difficult to distinguish between a culpable act and inadvertent behavior resulting from the nervous tension accompanying examinations. When the professor determines that a violation has occurred, appropriate action, as determined by the instructor, will be taken. Although working together is encouraged, all work claimed as yours must in fact be your own effort. Students who plagiarize the work of other students will receive zero points and possibly be referred to Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards (SJACS). All students should read, understand, and abide by the University Student Conduct Code listed in SCampus, and available at: Students with Disabilities Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to your TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213)

5 Course Outline Week 1 Introduction Week 2 User Interface Lecture: Introduce instructor and course. Exercise: Discussion of social games the students have played; analysis, applicability to the course. Preparation for meeting via Second Life in next class session. Lecture: Design challenge: the user interface. Exercise: Meeting online via Second Life Week 3 Design challenge, part 1 Lecture: Design challenge: social play, part 1. Guest speaker: Cynthia Woll, creator of Burb Wars Exercise: Burb Wars Week 4 Non-digital social games Lecture: Non-computer social games Exercise: Poker with playing cards. Group design exercise: design a game with business cards. Week 5 Design challenge, part 2 Week 6 Legal matters Lecture: Design challenge: social play, part 2 Exercise: facebook.poker.zynga.com Week 7 Hooking up Lecture: Legal matters. Guest speaker: Shawn Foust, game attorney. Exercise: Lexulous (formerly known as Scrabbulous) Lecture: Matchmaking, party invites, excluding/booting. Leaderboards, private messaging. Exercise: Yahoo Games Poker - 5 -

6 Week 8 Midterm Exam Week 9 Technical aspects Midterm consists of multiple-choice quiz and short essay questions. Lecture: Midterm review; filling in, catching up Exercise: Second Life Lecture: Technical challenges of online games: lag, host migration, dropouts. Exercise: World of Warcraft Week 10 Focus on World of Warcraft Lecture: World of Warcraft. Guest speaker: Bill Black, former audio director for WoW. Exercise: World of Warcraft Week 11 Mobile and cross-platform Lecture: Mobile and cross-platform. Guest speaker: William Volk, CEO of Playscreen Exercise: Xbox Live: Star Trek D A C, demo version Week 12 Marketing socially Week 13 Community Lecture: Marketing challenges. Attracting new players. Keeping existing players with new content, tournaments, contests. Exercise: Toontown Lecture: Community building, in-game chat. Exercise: godance.gopets.com Week 14 All aspects of an online village. Lecture: Financial transactions between players, griefing, theft, creating in-game "laws" and policing them. Guest speaker: Darian Hickman, founder of VillageTheGame.com Exercise: VillageTheGame Week 15 Summation; final review - 6 -

7 Week 16 Final Exam Lecture: Summation: importance of support for social aspects in the evolving "hive mind" of the future. Lessons learned from games played; formulate a set of principles therefrom. Exercise: Pixie Hollow Exam consists of multiple-choice and fill-the-blank exam with essay questions. Lecture: If any: complete the summation; finalize the set of principles derived from semester's exercises. Exercise: N/A - 7 -