CSCI 107(F) Strategy, Interaction, and Design in Board and Video Games (Same as ArtS 107)
A game is an aperture on strategic thought and interaction. The ideas behind board games, puzzles, and video games find applications in economics, business, biology, psychology, and politics. Games are also art. They literally contain graphic, sculptural, and industrial design. They are beautiful mathematical constructs. Games are an interactive medium that communicates that which is inaccessible through passive forms. Underlying disciplines as diverse as biology and art are deep, shared ideas: of a space containing design, decision, and constraints; of computation and process; and of the ultimate limits on reason and efficiency. This course reveals a surprising name for those deep ideas: computer science. This multidisciplinary course explores games and their serious applications through design exercises and game playing. Evaluation will be based on attendance, participation, analysis assignments, and a significant final project. For the project, you will work in a group to design a new game using both traditional art media and software like Photoshop, following the principles discussed in class. Along the way you will develop an intuitive grasp of computer science concepts including heuristics, minimax, and emergence.
Format: seminar and studio. Lab fee.
No prerequisites. No programming or game experience is assumed. This course is not open to students who have completed Computer Science 136 or above. Enrollment limit: 16 (expected: 16) Preference given to first-year students.
This course is part of the Critical Reasoning and Analytical Skills Initiative.
Hour: MCGUIRE