Video Games - Between Theory and Practice

This course will focus on the process of game design, game content and mechanics. A special attention will be given to the player’s actions and the interaction between the player and the game system. We will do so by borrowing analytical tools from literature criticism, anthropology, post-structuralism, social sciences, science and technology, cinema and theatre studies. We will discuss concepts such as digitality, code, aesthetics as they are reflected in games and review works in the field of ludology or games studies. The immediate outcome of this course will be the development of game concepts (prototypes) that will interact in an original way with the issues that are addressed in this course. For this aim we will work in teams of up to 3 students and use several development tools that do not require programming (game maker, construct).