Hi all, a quick post today to formalize our dates. In today’s class, we will do more usability testing on your games, paying specific attention to the provided instructions.
You will have this weekend to revise your instructions. Every group needs to bring a copy of their game, with revised instructions, to class on Tuesday. We will distribute games and I will pass out a more formal usability form generated from the concerns you articulate in our Google Doc a few weeks back.
Games and feedback will be returned to designers on Tuesday December 1st. Designers will then have until Thursday December 3rd to revise their instructions. Please note that the final project is due on Thursday, December 3rd in class . Given how quickly the end of the semester has snuck up, here is what I expect:
- Game packaging (think about cover art. Think about what you want on the back of the box. Pay attention to the size of the container)
- Instructions (think about organization and layout. PWRT students with experience in InDesign should step up their game. If you have to use Word, ok, but I don’t want something that looks like it was made in Word. Think about how you might fold the instructions, and how that could affect layout)
- The Game Itself (by Dec 3rd, I expect materials and components to not suck)
- A Technical Documentation video (about 3 minutes that explains how to play your game)
- A Promotional Video (about one minute that talks about your game)
These things are listed as required on the syllabus, but since this is the first time I have taught this project, and because I think you have all sincerely invested energy in it, I am willing to make them optional. They are worth extra credit:
These are the two core components of a Kickstarter Campaign–explaining why the game is fun (or why people might want to invest in it) and how to play (these are especially important in the gaming community). As you can see above, these do not need to be hi-fidelity videos! You can communicate a lot via lo-fi.
