Introduction to Game Design

This course is a part of Introduction to Game Design, a 3-course XSeries series from edX.

What is good game design? How do you come up with good game ideas? How do you start documenting your ideas? How do you create an experience? How do you write a rule book? These are some of the questions that will come up during the game design process, and this course will enable you to answer them.

When you’re designing a game, you’re designing an intricate system, so you will want a series of steps to help you through the game creation process. This course walks you through those steps—from determining a game’s success criteria and conceptualizing new aspects and core concepts to designing and prototyping your game, through to producing and finalizing your game. It explores what’s involved in designing game experiences for the gaming industry and which elements affect player experiences and behavior. It also identifies some key considerations in ideation and video game development: how to establish your game’s situation, design pillars and loops, and document your game ideas.

Topics covered include:

The game design process

Designing game experiences

Envisioning game ideas

What you'll learn

• The design process and how to approach designing a game from scratch
• How to define success for your game, evaluate its viability, and design and prototype the game idea you have selected
• How to produce and finalize your game, including finalizing card games and board games and designing the packaging and a clear rule book
• The elements affecting game experiences and how to envision and create game experiences for your target audience
• The importance of defining criteria for your game, gameplay situations, and narrative in game design and how to concretize your narrative or situations into goals and actions through game pillars and loops