Semester(s) Offered: Fall
Credits: 2
Course Call Number: GAMES-UT 408, GAMES-GT 408
Prerequisite(s): None
Taught By: Gil Hova / Jesse Fuchs
Video game designers are constantly taking inspiration from board games, especially as modern board games boom. Digital games like Slay the Spire and Hearthstone wear their analog influences proudly on their sleeves. But the board game industry is growing at an enormous pace. With that growth, trends and design techniques emerge and become embraced at a dizzying speed. It’s incredibly intimidating to someone who doesn’t have perspective in the board game rabbit hole. This class will go through modern tabletop mechanisms and techniques, enabling the student to quickly follow and digest the past few years in board and tabletop game design. It is assumed that the students understand more proven and fundamental concepts in board game design, like area control, worker placement, and deck-building.
Upon completion of this course, the student will:
1) Have a rich and thorough understanding of contemporary design techniques of modern board games.
2) Understand modern board games as a designer as well as a player, knowing what kinds of experiences there is demand for.
3) Be able to implement modern board game design techniques in any kind of game.
4) Be able to better understand one’s own personal taste in board games, which will make future design much easier!