| Week | Date | Assignment | Writing due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1/14 | Introduction to the class | |
| 1/16 | Andrea Lunsford, “Rhetorical Situations” and “Reading Rhetorically” from Everyone’s an Author | Create WordPress site | |
| 1/19 | Side Quest 1: Avatar | ||
| 2 | 1/21 | “The Landlord’s Game” 99% Invisible podcast
“What exactly is a game?” from Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal |
|
| 1/23 | “Introduction” from Superbetter: The Power of Living Gamefully by Jane McGonigal
Play Depression Quest |
||
| 1/26 | Side Quest 2: What’s in your bag? | ||
| 3 | 1/28 | “Introduction to Critical Play” from Critical play: Radical Game Design by Mary Flanagan | |
| 1/30 | Podcast brainstorming and planning | ||
| 2/3 | Side Quest 3: Liveblogging Gone Home | ||
| 4 | 2/4 | Gone Home: A Story Exploration Game | |
| 2/6 | Ian Bogost “Media Microecology” and “Empathy” from How to Do Things with Videogames | ||
| 2/10 | Side Quest 4: Combophoto | ||
| 5 | 2/11 | “Introduction” and “Games” from Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter by Steven Johnson | |
| 2/13 | Superbetter, chapters 1 & 2 | ||
| 2/16 | Side Quest 5: Sunday Sketches
Podcast episodes 1 & 2 |
||
| 6 | 2/18 | Fiasco: Rulebook
Tabletop episode on Fiasco, part 1 (optional: Tabletop, part 2) |
|
| 2/20 | Rise of the Dungeon Master (chapters 1-4) | ||
| 2/23 | Side Quest 6: Design analysis of Betrayal at House on the Hill or Mansions of Madness
Podcast episodes 3 & 4 |
||
| 7 | 2/25 | Play either Mansions of Madness or Betrayal at the House on the Hill | |
| 2/27 | Watch the first 15 minutes or so of the walkthrough of the Untitled Goose Game.
Ian Bogost “Don’t Play the Goose Game: Untitled Goose Game is fun. The problem is, all games are also work.” Optional additional reading: Ian Bogost “Video Games Are Better Without Characters: The real legacy of SimCity is its attempt—and failure—to make complex systems the protagonists instead of people.” |
||
| 3/1 | Side Quest 7: 3d print a game piece
Podcast episodes 5 & 6 |
||
| 8 | 3/3 | Superbetter, chapters 3 & 4 | Fiasco Reflection |
| 3/5 | Fiasco discussion | ||
| 3/6 | Podcast episodes 7 & 8 | ||
| 3/10 & 3/12 | No Class: Spring Break | ||
| 9 | 3/17 | Extended Spring Break | |
| 3/19 | Extended Spring Break | ||
| 3/22 | Podcast episodes 9 & 10 | ||
| 3/21 & 3/22 | Potential inclement weather make-up days | ||
| 10 | 3/24 | Class via Zoom
Superbetter, chapters 5 & 6 |
|
| 3/26 | Class via Zoom
Gris |
||
| 3/27 | Side Quest 8/Hometasking 1: Throw a Piece of Paper into a Bin … Spectacularly | ||
| 11 | 3/30 | Side Quest 9/#hometasking 2: Turn your bathroom into the sort of venue you might visit for a great night out. | |
| 3/31 | Class via Zoom | ||
| 4/2 | Class via Zoom
Superbetter, chapters 7 & 8 |
||
| 4/4 | Side Quest 10: Camouflage Yourself, then reveal yourself | ||
| 4/4 & 4/5 | Potential inclement weather make-up days | ||
| 12 | 4/7 | Superbetter 9 & 10 | |
| 4/8 | Side Quest 11: Turn your kitchen into a sporting arena and create the most epic sporting moment! | ||
| 4/9 | |||
| 4/13 | Side Quest 12: Do the most extraordinary thing with a pair of trousers | ||
| 13 | 4/14 | Kentucky Route Zero, Acts 1 & 2 | |
| 4/16 | Superbetter 11 & 12 | Side Quest 13: Silently recreate an iconic movie moment | |
| 4/19 | Side Quest 14: Assemblies
Podcast episodes 17 & 18 |
||
| 14 | 4/21 | Revise projects, portfolio reflection letter, edit website | |
| 4/23 | Conclusion | ||
| Wed
5/6 8:00 – 10:30a |
Final Portfolio and Reflection Letter | ||
This schedule is subject to change as the semester progresses. Changes will be indicated in the table above and I will also announce significant changes in a blog post.
