Teaching About Games

To my knowledge I was the first person in the NC Community College system to teach game design (Fall '04 at CCCC, a year before CPCC and Wake began their programs). I teach at FTCC (Fayetteville). I am currently writing a book about game design and planning a second.

See my blog about teaching game design.

Origins Game Fair 2011 (Columbus OH)

Powerpoint slides:

The business of game design

The slides for the next two are somewhat disorganized, as I separated one talk into two. If/when I revise them I'll take out this statement:

Starting a game design

Completing a game design

Of course you can design a game, but can you design a good one?

MP3s. These are quite large MP3s (high quality from WAV files), upwards of 50MB each. Each of these is less than an hour (except perhaps the last). You probably won't be able to hear remarks of the presenter (in the fourth one) or questions asked by the audience in the audio below; generally I've stopped the recording at the point of audience questions.

Business

Starting (This one starts a minute or two after I began the talk. I've left some question-answers at the end.)

Completing

Of course you can design... (I didn't record this at Origins, this is the same file as linked from Birmingham below.)

UK Game Expo 2011 (Birmingham, UK)

Of course you can design a game, but can you design a good one? (Powerpoint slides)

MP3 of the talk. You probably won't be able to hear remarks of the presenter or questions asked by the audience in the audio below.

Triangle Game Conference, 2010 (Raleigh)

What video game designers can learn from 50 years of tabletop games.

North Carolina Computer Instructor's Association March 2010 (Raleigh)

What video game designers and teachers can learn from 50 years of tabletop game development.

Cumberland County (NC) HQ Library, March 2010

Careers in the game and simulation industry.

Cumberland County (NC) HQ Library, November 2009

Careers in the game and simulation industry.

Origins Game Convention (Columbus OH) 2009

"Getting Started in the Industry" Powerpoint slides.

"How to Design Games" Powerpoint slides.

Savannah College of art and Design (SCAD), February 2009

"How 'hard core' attitudes hold back the video game industry"

Pew survey

Origins Game Convention (Columbus OH) 2008

"Getting Started in the Industry" Powerpoint slides. Revised 5 July 08.

MP3 (podcast) of this talk (32Mbps, 24.5MB). The questions and comments from the audience are likely inaudible. Recorded with a Sansa E250 MP3 player. As the 128Mbps version of this is nearly 100MB, I think I'll stick with the 32Mbps to conserve bandwidth.

"How to Design Games" Powerpoint slides. Revised 5 July 08.

MP3 (podcast) of this talk (32Mbps, 20MB). The questions and comments from the audience are likely inaudible. Recorded with a Sansa E250 MP3 player. My recorder unaccountably stopped several minutes before *I* stopped (the 18 questions were the last thing before question time). Sorry.

Breaking into the non-electronic game industry. PDF format. One page summary of what you need to do and think.

I'm including here Ian Schreiber's talk "Game Design for Teachers". Ian is a brilliant young man who has come from the video game industry into teaching. Unlike most teachers, he researches the underpinnings of teaching and of games, and talks about some of this here. His blog about teaching game design is at http://teachingdesign.blogspot.com/.

This is available for download in two formats: 128 Mbps (44 MB in size) 32 Mbps (11 MB in size)

Slides for Ian's talk (Powerpoint). Supplementary information (brief Word document).

North Carolina Computer Instructor's Association Feb '08 (Albemarle)

"The Iterative and Incremental nature of game design" Powerpoint slides

Origins Game Convention (Columbus OH) 2007

"Getting Started in Game Design" Powerpoint slides.

"The Process of Designing a Game" Powerpoint slides.

Podcast (26 MB). This is a recording (via MP3 player) of a talk at Origins 2007 "Getting Started in Game Design". Matt Forbeck, one of the Guests of Honor, volunteered a few days before the talk to participate, but he was further from the recorder. (He had to leave after the first hour.) The recording method limited the quality. Moreover, questions from the audience are not audible, though my answers are. A set of slides that I used (though I didn't pass out, too much expense!) is available above.

Podcast (23 MB). This is a recording (via MP3 player) of my talk at Origins 2007 "The Process of Designing a Game". The recording method limited the quality. Also, I missed the first couple minutes before I remember to turn on the recorder! Finally, questions from the audience are not audible, though my answers are. A set of slides that I used (though I didn't pass out, too much expense!) is available above. I also used a diagram of the process that is available at http://pulsiphergames.com/gamedesign/GameCreationProcess.htm.

North Carolina Computer Instructor's Association March '07 (Morehead City)

Student Retention Powerpoint slides.

Origins Game Convention 2006

"How to Design Games" Powerpoint slides.

North Carolina Computer Instructor's Association March '06 (Winston Salem)

"How to Design Games" Powerpoint is here. If I can find a publisher, I intend to write a book along the same lines, but specifically aimed at novice designers (whether of boardgames or video games).

Digital Game Expo, late June '05

My topic was "Teaching Game Design in Community Colleges," June 24 at 4:15. I was also on the discussion panel late Saturday afternoon (25th). http://dgxpo.com

Slides for my talk are here. (Powerpoint: when printing, be sure to choose "Black and White" to avoid a black background.)

See below for more information.

North Carolina Computer Instructor's Association March '05

Download Dr. P's NCCIA slides. (Powerpoint: when printing, be sure to choose "Black and White" to avoid a black background.)

Course Outline (now out of date) for "Intro to Gaming" (Word document)

Web sites: Tom Sloper, Chris Crawford. Ernest Adams

Prensky "Digital Immigrants" article (PDF): part 1, part 2

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"Always do right--this will gratify some and astonish the rest." Mark Twain

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Antoine de Saint-Exup'ery

"A teacher is never a giver of truth - he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself. A good teacher is merely a catalyst." (Martial Arts quote)