TecnoCampus Foundation
eCampus
University Business
eCampus

What are you looking for?

General information

Subject type: Optional

Coordinator: Juan José Pons López

Trimester: Third term

Credits: 6

Teaching staff: 

Adso Fernández Baena

Teaching languages

  • Catalan
  • Spanish

The materials can be provided in Catalan as well as in Spanish or English.

Skills

Specific skills

  • E1. Demonstrate knowledge of the history of video games and analyze the reference video games with arguments based on evaluation criteria contextualized in the historical and cultural framework.

  • E3. Identify the type of player and design the game experience according to its psychological characteristics.

  • E5. Write the specifications of a game and communicate them effectively to the team of artists and developers and other members involved in the creation and development of the game.

General competencies

  • G1. Demonstrate having and understanding advanced knowledge of their area of ​​study that includes the theoretical, practical and methodological aspects, with a level of depth that reaches the forefront of knowledge.

  • G5. Develop the learning skills needed to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy.

Description

The subject of Playtesting applied to video game design seeks to delve into the theoretical concepts and practical application of video game playtesting in the framework of the subject of Game Design and Creation. It works from the scientific perspective of testing the experience of players with video games. The subject consists of theoretical sessions and team work sessions. In order to acquire the knowledge, the subject is evaluated on the one hand the realization of guided practices and the achievement of a project in group, and on the other the theoretical knowledge of individual way.

Contents

Topic 0. Introduction

0.1 Introduction to Playtesting

0.2 Playtesters

Topic 1. Scientific method and Games User Research (GUR)

1.1 Scientific method

1.2 GUR methods

1.3 Create a GUR method

Item 2. Heuristics

2.1 What is a heuristic?

2.2 Heuristic evaluation

2.3 PLAY and GAP heuristics

Topic 3. Playtesting

4.1 Playtesting

4.2 Think-Aloud Playtesting

4.3 Questionnaires and interviews

4.4 Reports

Evaluation system

The grade of each student will be calculated following the following percentages:

A1. Exercise at home: The Play Matrix 10%

A2. Exercise at home: Research article 10%

A3. Laboratory practice: Heuristics 40%

A4. Individual work: Playtesting 40%

 

Final grade = A1 0,1 + A2 0,1 + A3 0,4 + A4 0,4

Considerations:

  • You must obtain a grade higher than 5 to the individual work to pass the subject.
  • An activity not delivered or delivered late and without justification (court summons or medical matter) counts as a 0.
  • It is the responsibility of the student to prevent plagiarism in all its forms. In the case of detecting a plagiarism, regardless of its scope, in some activity it will correspond to have a note of 0. In addition, the professor will communicate to the Head of Studies the situation so that measures applicable in matter of sanctioning regime are taken. .

Recovery:

  • In case of suspension of the A3 and / or A4 activity, it can be resubmitted in a call for recovery with the possibility of obtaining a maximum grade of 6.
  • It is necessary to obtain a grade higher than 5 in the recovery of the A4 activity to pass the subject.
  • Activities A1 and A2 cannot be recovered.

 

REFERENCES

Basic

Drachen, A., Mirza-Babaei, P., & Nacke, LE (Eds.). (2018). Games user research. Oxford University Press.

Schell, J. (2014). The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. AK Peters / CRC Press.

Complementary

Fullerton, T. (2018). Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating innovative games. AK Peters / CRC Press.