Official course description:
Full info last published 21/08-20

Play Lab

Course info
Language:
English
ECTS points:
15
Course code:
KGPLLAB1KU
Participants max:
24
Offered to guest students:
yes
Offered to exchange students:
-
Offered as a single subject:
yes
Price for EU/EEA citizens (Single Subject):
21250 DKK
Programme
Level:
MSc. Master
Programme:
MSc in Games
Staff
Course manager
Miguel Angel Sicart
Associate Professor
Teacher
Martin Pichlmair
Associate Professor, Head of study programme
Course semester
Semester
Efterår 2020
Start
24 August 2020
End
31 January 2021
Exam
Exam type
ordinær
Internal/External
ekstern censur
Grade Scale
7-trinsskala
Exam Language
GB
Abstract
This course teaches how to explore technologies for their potential in regards to play.
Description

This is not a game design course.

PlayLab is a studio-based course focused on exploring the design space of emerging technologies from the perspective of play. By combining theory from game design, interaction design, philosophy of technology, and media theory, PlayLab both explores the knowledge required to create new concepts for cutting-edge commercial technologies and proposes new methods and paradigms for developing content for those platforms. This course explores new and emerging technologies from a play design perspective, while engaging with interaction design theory, philosophy of technology, and science and technology studies. Throughout the course students explore the design challenges and opportunities that arise with new digital technology. A central part of the work is the development of that explore future forms of digital play. This is a course about finding the play element in cutting-edge technology.

In 2020, these technologies will be AR, AI-powered Voice Assistants, and OpenAI’s GTP-2 text generator. We will be using ARKit and/or ARCore, the Web Speech API, and a selection of Colaboratory Notebooks and other platforms. Prospective students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with these technologies before the course starts.

The Web Speech will be introduced using this tutorial: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Speech_API/Using_the_Web_Speech_API

GPT-2 will be introduced using this tutorial as a starting point: https://minimaxir.com/2019/09/howto-gpt2/

PlayLab introduces students to the method of Critical Technical Practice (Agre, 1997). The course presents students with relevant theory for the exploration of play design as a method for creating interactive experiences with new and emerging technologies. At the same time, PlayLab is a practical course in which students develop one proof-of-concept and one fully-fledged prototype that explore both the theory and the material properties of the selected technologies. Students can choose which technology to use for each of these requirements.

PlayLab is a course that allows students to think while making, and make while thinking, exclusively focused in the challenges of new and emerging commercial digital technologies.


Formal prerequisites

PlayLab is not a course about game design. Therefore, students are not required to have passed any course on game design. In general, the course has no prerequisites.

It is an advantage if students are familiar with design methods and theories. Technical skills are not a requirement, but since this is a studio-based course, development skills are welcome.

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

  • Analyze the design space of new and emerging technologies, as well as their technological possibilities and limits.
  • Describe the different perspectives that play provides as a design perspective.
  • Explore the playful possibilities of new and emerging commercial technologies
  • Design and develop new play experiences and concepts tailored for new and emerging commercial technologies.
  • Apply advanced concepts in play theory to the literature and practice of design
  • Understand advanced concepts in play theory as applicable to the analysis of digital playful technologies
Learning activities

The course is structured around a combination of lectures, workshops, student-driven seminars, and lab sessions. 

Lectures are classic, teacher-driven lectures, in which students are presented with the main theoretical concepts of the course. All lectures will be broadcasted live, recorded, and distributed through LearnIT. Students should know however that this is a course that expects, but not requires, group work, and therefore there is an advantage in attending the lectures when possible.

Workshops are sessions scheduled to introduce and explore the technologies selected for the course. The first 2 weeks of the course will be focused on these workshops. Workshops will be broadcasted live, recorded, and distributed through LearnIT. Again, attendance is highly encouraged as group work is expected.

Student-driven seminars are activities in which students, in groups, read and prepare a presentation of a part of the course literature, for class discussion (all students will have to prepare at least one seminar).

Lab sessions are scheduled so students can have time to develop their prototypes and receive feedback from the course manager. 

Students will have 4 weeks (from week 38 to week 41) to produce the first project, the proof of concept. From week 43 to week 50, students will have to work on their final project.

Besides the lab sessions, the course has been designed so students will have time for development after each lecture and seminar. Workshops will be used to help students brainstorm and come up with the concepts for the course.

In each seminar, students will have 15-30 minutes to present some of the readings of the course. This presentation will then lead to a class discussion of those ideas, led by the course manager. The goal with the seminars is double: to let students practice their academic, critical reading skills, and to allow for the students to present and discuss the topics they find more relevant from the course literature.

Students will have access to the course manager during all lab session hours, as well as during the time scheduled for exercises after the lectures.

Course literature

The course literature is published in the course page in LearnIT.

Student Activity Budget
Estimated distribution of learning activities for the typical student
  • Preparation for lectures and exercises: 20%
  • Lectures: 20%
  • Assignments: 60%
Ordinary exam
Exam type:
C: Submission of written work, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
C1G: Submission of written work for groups
Exam submisson description:
For the exam, students submit a portfolio with the prototypes developed in groups during the course.
Together with the prototypes, students hand in an individual reflection on each prototype. That reflection is a text no longer than 5000 words in total, in which students analyze their own work using the course contents, with a focus on applying the method of critical technical practice.
Group submission:
Group and individual
  • A group consists of 2-4 students.

Time and date