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PHILIP TAN: So when
students come into class

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on their first day,
they usually expect

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to walk in and start working
on their dream game right away,

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and that's just not
going to happen.

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They have a lot to learn.

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Simply to learn about working
with their teammates--

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figure out who else
is in the class

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and what skills
they bring to bear.

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And chances are
they haven't really

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thought all that much
about the game design

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that they want to make.

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And usually their
very first idea,

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the idea that you've been
nursing ever since high school

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or something, isn't the best
idea for a single semester

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project.

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RICHARD EBERHARDT:
Students often

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want to make the big
expansive epic RPG.

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We get a lot of
students who want

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to make the next Legend
of Zelda-- maybe trying

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to remake Skyrim
but in 2D, and they

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think they're scoping it
down, but they're not.

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So it's one of the
first things we're

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doing-- especially the first
couple weeks of the class--

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are just getting
them to understand

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what is the scope of the game
development project, but also

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just getting them to
understand how difficult it

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is to work in a team.

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How much effort an
individual needs

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to put forward in order to work
efficiently as part of a team,

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especially when it comes to
a creative thing like game

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development and game design.

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A lot of students want to
make their personal project.

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And the first thing
they need to do

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is realize that there are
other opinions on the team that

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should be respected.

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And there are some
opinions that are

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going to be stronger
because there's more design

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experience there.

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So figuring out how
to balance those teams

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is a big, big step for them
to take when they start.

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SARA VERRILLI: The
biggest thing we

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want them to learn
when they come in

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and take the course
is how to work

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as a group on a
creative project.

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Almost everybody's worked
on creative project before.

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People have worked
in groups before,

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but working on a project where
the group together is setting

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the goal and the goal is fluid.

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Because, with a
creative project,

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with a game design
project, what you're making

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is always evolving as
you keep working on it.

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And so being able to, as a
group, discuss those changes,

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acknowledge those
changes, work together

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to get to something that
everybody wants to work on

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and everybody is
capable of working on,

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and you are all capable of
getting done in the very

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short amount of time you have to
work on these complex projects.

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That's actually one
of our biggest goals.

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PHILIP TAN: One thing
about creative projects

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is there aren't right answers.

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There are a lot
of different ways

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that a project can go
when you are basically

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just trying to create
an aesthetic experience

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for the players.

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And so multiple people
with different viewpoints

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can all be right
at the same time.

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And it's not like you're
designing a machine

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to solve a specific problem,
and if the problem is solved,

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you know that you've
done your job.

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And this can lead to a lot of
ego and clashes and arguments

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over basically something that is
already difficult to implement.

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And every time you get
into those arguments,

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you are actually
taking time away

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from the actual
development of the game.

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RICHARD EBERHARDT: We try to
give the students the tools

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and methods they can use if
they have an argument to provide

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evidence for the argument.

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And often it comes down to
testing out ideas, rather than

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having those
discussions as a team.

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Using prototyping methods,
using either paper--

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if they just got the paper
right there before they've even

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written code.

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Just throw something on paper,
get another person look at it,

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and then to see,
did it work or not?

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Getting away from
having the personalities

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involved, getting
away from having ego

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involved in all this.

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For first-time designers, for
the students that we have,

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if they don't have the
evidence, the first thing

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they're going to go back to it
is personal ego, which is not

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the way to do these things.

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It will just cause further
problems down the line.

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SARA VERRILLI: So
the course is overall

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organized with four projects.

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All of our work is group work
because we are emphasizing

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how do you work
together on a team

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to solve a creative problem.

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All of our projects
are group projects.

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And we grade
primarily as a group.

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Our projects start from very
small and scale up to big.

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So we have our
opening project, which

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is just doing a paper
prototype-- even

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a fraction of a paper
prototype-- not a full game.

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It's just what are the
main actions in the game?

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And that's about a
two-week project.

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And then we build up to,
OK, you've got a prototype.

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Form a new group, a
bigger group this time,

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about double our group in
size from three to six,

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and turn that into
a digital game.

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For the third project, you, once
again, have that two-week time

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period, but during
the second project,

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we taught you our basic
project management

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schemes and some
project management

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skills-- using that second
project as an example of how

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to do that.

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And on the third
project we're asking

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you to come up with your
own game design idea,

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prototype it out, and
finish it as a group using

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all those project management
techniques that we taught.

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It's sort of our
test run project

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for the fourth project,
which is the final project.

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It lasts, I think,
seven and a half weeks,

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and we double the group
size again up to eight.

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We are actually intentionally
giving the students

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large groups that are
harder to work with.

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And their first thought is
"we've got all these people,

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we can make a huge project."

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And our response is "you've
got all these people.

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You're going to
have to figure out

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how you're all going to
communicate well together,

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so you can actually
get something done."

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And that's sort of
the final capstone

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project where we give
them a fairly tight set

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of constraints.

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But other than that, they
are designing the design.

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They're planning out
the project management.

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They're in charge of planning
their testing sessions

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and their polishing sessions.

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And we use that time
to check in with them

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and give them feedback
along the way.

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But it really is like,
OK, we've given you

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the tools, time to really
practice using them.