508v3

What’s in a Game? (Tabletop Edition)

DRAFT (without course policies and whatnot)

Jentery Sayers English University of Victoria Digital Studies Seminar (Fall 2018)

CONTENT

EPIGRAPHS

Get off the internet! – Le Tigre (2001)

Games are expanding so much in terms of subject matter, in terms of what they’re about and who they are able to be about, but let’s also expand how they play, what they value, what they expect from the player, what they give back. – Anna Anthropy, “Passing Notes” (2015)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The University of Victoria’s Department of English acknowledges with respect the Lkwungen-speaking peoples on whose traditional territory the university stands and the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.

Thanks to Herbert Blau, Kevin Brock, Ed Chang, Mary Flanagan, Justin Foran, Garnet Hertz, Patrick Jagoda, Matthew Kirschenbaum, Carly Kocurek, Kari Kraus, Elizabeth LaPensée, Hector Lopez, Tara McPherson, Lisa Nakamura, Anastasia Salter, and Gillian Smith for pointing me to teaching and research materials that inform this seminar.

INTRODUCTION

Tabletop games are “paper computers,” says Matthew Kirschenbaum. They are centuries old. They are designed. They enact systems of rules and procedures. And, most important, you don’t have to charge or program them.

This seminar follows that low-tech disposition. We’ll survey the interminable history of games and their entanglements with literature. Then you’ll select a movement or “-ism” (between 1870 and 1970) and use it to prototype and share your own tabletop game. We’ll discuss the material dynamics that bridge aesthetics with mechanics, including how games routinely rehearse legacies of colonialism and capital accumulation. What alternatives exist, and how are they imagined? We’ll study and play some games as we go, and read a smidgen of media theory and fiction, too. From week to week, we’ll ground it all in design practices, such as bookmaking, 3D modelling, fabricating, and playtesting. Various guest speakers will join us. By the end, you should develop a palpable sense of how this becomes that with a computer—but without running culture in the background.

AIMS

ASSIGNMENTS

Please note that I encourage you to avoid prototyping the following types of games (during seminar I’ll explain why): trivia, quiz/word, old school revival, roll-and-move, tactical war, sequels, expansions, educational, and mods.

MATERIALS

Please note that we may be able to use facilities on campus to fabricate components for your prototypes. These facilities contain 3D printers, routers, and laser-cutters, but some of the equipment may only be used with permission, or is subject to restricted use. Details coming soon.

SCHEDULE

Here’s the weekly schedule. Please note that I always over-plan. I will inevitably cut material, including workshops, readings, and/or exercises. Please also note we will be joined by several guest speakers, who do not (yet) appear on this schedule.

Week 1: DISCUSS FRAMEWORKS.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speakers:

Keywords:

Week 2: SELECT AN -ISM AND PRIMARY TEXT.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 3: PLAY SOME GAMES.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 4: REMEDIATE A VIDEOGAME FOR TABLETOPS.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 5: MAKE YOUR TEXT A CONCEPT DOC.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 6: MAKE YOUR TEXT A WORLD.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Your design document is due this week, too.

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 7: MAKE YOUR TEXT A SYSTEM.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 8: MAKE YOUR TEXT SOME COMPONENTS.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 9: MAKE YOUR TEXT A DYNAMIC.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 10: REFINE, DIGITIZE, AND FABRICATE THE PARTS.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 11: TAKE A BREAK.

Step away from it all.

Week 12: MAKE YOUR TEXT A MANUAL.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Week 13: REFINE, PACKAGE, AND ARCHIVE THE PARTS.

quote

Question

Prior to seminar, please:

During seminar, we will:

Your design document is due this week, too.

Guest speaker:

Keywords:

Weeks 14 and 15: SHARE AND SUBMIT YOUR PROTOTYPE.

quote

Question

During the end-of-term event, you will:

After the event, you will:

GAMES

Tabletop games you might want to play, especially during Week 3 (soon I’ll categorize these according to genre):

Indie videogames you might want to remediate during Week 4:

KEYWORDS

A list of keywords related to game prototyping. We should return to this list throughout the seminar.