The course consists of 14 weeks of teaching. Teaching is here understood as a wide array of activities:

- Lectures: lectures are typically focused on one set of related game design issues. They are typically teacher-centric lectures, but student participation is highly encouraged.
- Practical exercises: exercises are typically conducted in the last segment of the class. There are two types: short exercises are performed during the first hour, and discussed and evaluated during the second. Long exercises are often proposed before a weekend, and evaluated the first day of classes afterwards, using two hours. There are also shorter exercises as part of the lectures.
- Seminars: seminars are typically conducted in the last segment of class. Seminars are used to discuss in groups clusters of readings from the course literature. They are student-guided: some students will be leading the discussion, but all students are encouraged to participate.

- Group supervisions: group supervision takes place in the last two months of the course, and is focused on direct interaction between the teacher and the groups developing a game, with the goal of providing early feedback on the production. Group supervisions are voluntary.
- External talks: external talks are often one hour long, and given by industry representatives, on topics that are either not addressed in class, or only superficially touched upon, and that are external to the core pensum of the course.



Students are expected to attend lectures and participate in the exercises. Seminars and group supervision are strictly voluntary. 

The course is structured around a mandatory hand-in, and a step-based grading process.

The step-based grading is designed to provide students with early and timely feedback on their game. The game will be evaluated in two steps centered around 2 deadlines:

November 11th : Alpha Deadline. By this stage the game should be feature complete and have all final levels. We do not expect the game to have final assets or polish, but the main concept behind the game should be playable at this stage. The alpha deadline evaluates the following intended learning outcomes:
- Conceptualize, prototype, develop and test a digital game.
- Evaluate the originality of a game concept based on design theories and game history.
- Evaluate game concepts through playtesting and usability methods.
- Structure the process from concept development to testing, from board to digital game.
- Perform the basics of sketching, prototyping, iterative design and development methods applied to computer game development.

December 9th: Beta deadline. At this stage the game is content complete. Teams are expected to prepare a 10 minute presentation of their game, following this structure: 5 minutes for a pitch of the game + 5 minutes dedicated to presenting the game within the framework of this courses’ intended learning outcomes.
The pitch will be evaluated following these criteria (all of which are presented during the courses’ lectures):
- the core concept of the game has to be clearly presented.
- the core audience for the game needs to be identified.
- the uniqueness of the game needs to be clearly identified.
- a clear development path must be presented.
The academic presentation of the game will be evaluated following these criteria:
- the students should clearly identify the play experience generated by the game
- the students should address the design issues raised while developing the game
- the students should present a clear development plan, both of what has been done and what will be done before the hand-in.

The beta deadline evaluates the following intended learning outcomes:
- Practice different concept development methods.
- Practice different usability and playtesting methods.
- Perform basic programming, art, project management and/or design activities, applied to computer game development.

The game will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- The game has to have some skill and challenge progression.
- The game has to be fully playable, with a clear endstate.
- The game has to have exclusively original content. No copyrighted material is allowed.
- The game has to be either:
* a polished clone of an existing game, introducing at least one incremental innovation (eg. an eight-way shooter with cooperative gameplay), or
* an original game based on a unique mechanic, platform, or interaction model (eg. a webcam-controlled cooperative multiplayer game).
- Students will be expected to be able to explain their design decisions with respect to these requirements.
The game has to be accompanied by all the design documents used for the development of the game: wiki, github, … (all should be made available, when possible, in offline form. If that is not possible, it is the students’ responsibility to make them available for evaluation until February 1st 2014).

Evaluation of the Alpha and Beta deadlines will take place as individual sessions of 30-60 minutes between the team and the course manager. The course manager will play the game and ask the team questions regarding the play experience. Evaluation will be based mostly on the produced game, though the conversation could also play a role in the grading if it reveals positive insights.

A schedule for the Alpha and Beta deadline meetings will be published on the course website by November 1st.
The games should be submitted in their Alpha and Beta state to the course manager on the deadlines. The meeting with the team might take place after the deadline.

The mandatory hand-in consists of a written deliverable to be handed in on December 16th, no later than 14:00 in the examination office. The final deliverable consists of:

- The game developed for the course.

The game has to be accompanied by the formalized results of at least one playtest and one usability test. These documents should include:
* Details on the realization of the tests: how were they planned, how were the testers recruited, when did the tests take place, how were results collected and processed. Max. 800 words.
* All documentation used for/in the test: questionnaires, audio/video files, interview transcripts, gameplay logs, …

A 3000 word (max.) design reflection on the game created for the course. Students are expected to use the course literature extensively. Students are expected to:
- be familiar with all the literature,
- be able to critically engage with their game using the readings and concepts of the class,
- be able to address the play experience presented by their game using the appropriate literature, as well as the students’ own experience,
The student will be evaluated taking into consideration:
- the critical understanding of the literature and the depth of the design analysis of the game.
- the capacity to relate the analysis to the course contents (literature, exercises)
- the capacity to relate the analysis to the students' practice as a game designer, in the context of the course.


Grading weigh:
- game: 50% (including the capacity of the team to meet the Alpha and Beta deadlines).
- Final hand-in: 50%

Given this courses’ interest on experimental and exploratory playful interactions, an unfinished or broken game does not necessarily mean a lower grade, provided the team shows a learning progression and awareness of the failures of the game – using of course the course literature and concepts.