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SARA VERRILLI: So
the course evolution

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has actually been
more a refinement

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than any really big evolution.

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We've always had the
four project structure.

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We have done some juggling
of the amount of time

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allotted to each project,
and what we're asking

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for the goals for each project.

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The first year we
ran the course we

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were kind of asking for
a full game prototype

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from each of the iterations.

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And we were asking
them to do everything

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for every project, which was
a little much to ask them,

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although they did it.

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I mean, they did it.

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We've been refining
each of the projects

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as it goes to try to emphasize
a particular thing we're

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trying to teach, especially
in the first three projects.

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So the first project
is prototyping,

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and the second project
is project management,

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and the third project
is now user interface

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and interactions,
feedback especially.

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And then the fourth project
remains tie it all together

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into one overall synthesis.

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Also, I think that our
use of guest lecturers

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has gotten better
over the years.

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We've been able to
reach out to more people

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and we've realized
more and more the value

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that they bring into the
course, having people

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to come in and talk, often
agreeing with what we've said,

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but giving a
different perspective

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and rooting it back
into the game industry.

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The students really like to hear
that this is actually what's

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going on in the game industry.

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They're not just being taught
this stuff in a course.

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PHILIP TAN: When we first
started teaching this class

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we were primarily
looking at the skills

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that MIT students
had and didn't have

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when they came and joined our
lab as undergraduate research

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assistants.

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And we found that there was
a certain skill gap of things

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that we had to teach every
single new student who came.

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Even though they may have
been very skilled programmers,

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they didn't understand what
it was like to work in a team.

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And so a lot of the genesis
of this particular course

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comes from just us trying to
increase that pool of students

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that we could hire as
undergraduate researchers.

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And of course, in the
process of teaching a class

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about making video games,
a lot of the students

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taking the class
were also interested

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in working professionally
in the game industry.

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And so we expanded the
content on the skills

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that you're going to
need outside of MIT.

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But we've always been
very, very careful

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to make sure that a student
who comes out of that class

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is in good shape to be able to
get a research internship here

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in our lab.

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RICHARD EBERHARDT: So this
semester, product three

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is different than last year.

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Last year the focus was
on the aesthetics, so

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think about how art and sound
and visual combine to make it

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an aesthetic experience.

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That's not as important this
year for our final project.

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So we changed it
to something that's

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actually going to help them with
their final project a little

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better.

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So this case it's
user interface.

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We're asking them to make
these decision making

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strategy-like games.

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There's going to be a lot
of elements on the screen

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that a player is going to
have to understand immediately

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what they do and how they
interact with each other.

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So focusing on that user
interface and that user

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experience is important
for us, and in

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particular, feedback systems.

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So because our theme is
meaningful decision making,

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if I'm making a
decision, part of it

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is I should know what the
decision was that I just made

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and how it affected
the rest of the world

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and how it affected my own play.

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So that kind of reinforcement,
that kind of feedback loop

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is going to be very important
for that third project.

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PHILIP TAN: We've also
brought back something

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that we temporarily
departed from,

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and that's the idea of having
a client, a real client who

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has a need for the games
that need to be made.

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In reality, if you go out and
work in the game industry,

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you're not making games for
yourself most of the time,

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you're making games
for someone else.

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So in this case, we're going
to be working with the Climate

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Center and the
Humanitarian Response Lab

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here at MIT to talk about
issues of climate change,

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and more importantly about
preparing for disasters.

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We feel this kind
of topical relevance

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will make this class
additionally more interesting

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for certain students
who aren't just

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enamored with the technical
challenges of making a game.

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But I think this might
also be the first time

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that we specifically
had the client give us

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a design theme as opposed to
a technology to work with.

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RICHARD EBERHARDT: Yeah.

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PHILIP TAN: So it's a
departure, but in many ways

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it's taking what we've
learned from the previous two

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iterations of this class
when we didn't have a client

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or when we had students working
on a design theme rather

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than a technology and putting
it together this year.