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SARA VERILLI: OK.

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00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:29,507
So I get to do the introduction
spiel for today's class.

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I'm going to start by
just saying what we're

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doing in class
today, so you've got

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sort of a framework of what
we're doing, because we're

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doing a whole lot of things.

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And we're going to be
jumping between speakers,

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and workshops, and
lectures, and in class work.

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So we actually
have a lot of stuff

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to try and get
through today to get

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you guys started on Project 1.

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So we're going to
introduce Project 1.

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And that's actually
what my brief lecture's

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going to be after I get
done with the class spiel.

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We're going to hear lectures
on how to do brainstorming.

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00:00:57,949 --> 00:00:59,490
And then we'll ask
you to brainstorm.

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We're going to do
lectures on prototyping.

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And then I'm going to give
a more pointed lecture

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on what we mean by
low-fidelity prototype, which

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is what Project 1 calls for.

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And we are going to
do all those bits

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of in-class work, hopefully,
scattered along the way.

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OK.

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So moving on to introducing
Project 1, so that you've got--

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and the reason we're
introducing Project 1 before we

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give the supporting
lectures is so you've

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got something to frame.

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You're going to be hearing
lectures about prototyping

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and brainstorming, which we
want you to do in Project 1.

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We want you to be
thinking about the project

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as we give you the lecture,
so you can try and figure out

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how you're going to be applying
that information to the thing

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we're going to be asking
you to be doing, OK?

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So the overall goal is-- and
I have to actually stand back

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so I can either see my notes,
or I can see the slides.

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But I can't see both--
to demonstrate a working

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mechanic via a low-fidelity
paper prototype,

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to service the prototype
for a digital game

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while tracking and understanding
how your game design changes

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over time.

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Any words there you
didn't understand?

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00:01:59,614 --> 00:02:01,030
Because we've got
a lot of jargon,

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actually, up there, a lot of
game design jargon up there.

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AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

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SARA VERRILLI: OK.

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AUDIENCE: What is
actually a mechanic?

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SARA VERRILLI: A mechanic?

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That's actually a
really good question.

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A mechanic is
usually a key chunk

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of a game by which
the player takes

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actions in the game or
the game takes actions.

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So if you're playing like a
basic platforming digital game,

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one of your basic mechanics
is your character can jump.

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And that's what your
character often uses

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to solve a lot of problems.

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A very common mechanic
in games is shooting.

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So a mechanic is basically
an in-game action.

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It's a game design
term for that.

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Any other questions?

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OK then.

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So we're hoping that
this project will

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teach you to do
prototyping, which

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is a skill we will hope you will
use again in Projects 3 and 4,

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and we expect you to.

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And we're also
going to introduce

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our very first project
management tool, which

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is the design change log, which
is, hopefully, a reasonably

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quick and concise way to record
the changes your team makes

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to your design as your design
evolves and helps you keep

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a group memory of
what you've done,

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so you don't end up doing
the same things again.

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But that's not actually
all we're hoping to do.

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That's just the official goals.

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We're also using it to
give you a small group

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experience working in teams
on a creative project.

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This is the first
and last time you'll

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be in nice, small, tight
teams of three people.

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Project 2, we boost you all
the way up to six people.

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And by the end, we're going
to be in eight-person teams.

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And you're going to get to
see just how more complex

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it gets working with
bigger and bigger groups.

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But we're going to start you
small for your first project,

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so you get a chance to
learn how to communicate.

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We're going to
teach brainstorming.

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We're going to expect you to
brainstorm again for Projects 3

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and 4, although we're not going
to formally tell you where

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to do it or when to do it.

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We're just going
to expect you, when

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you form your groups, to
start going over ideas

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00:04:01,891 --> 00:04:04,140
to use the techniques we've
taught you in this project

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to do that on your own.

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We're also going to
teach you-- and I

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think the most important
thing here is-- working fast.

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You've got one week
to do this project.

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The final version and your
project reports on this

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are due next Monday.

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You're going to get
some time in class.

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But unfortunately,
we have a lot to say,

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to teach you everything you
want to do in this class.

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So you're not going
to get all of class.

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You're going to get a
small portion of class

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Monday and Wednesday.

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And we're going to expect you
to be able to play something

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on Wednesday in class.

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Or hopefully, you'll
be running play tests.

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We expect you to have
something working.

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So you're going to have
to learn how to work fast.

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How do you get those ideas
out of your head, onto paper,

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and usable quickly?

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And finally, the prototypes
you're using here

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are going to move on to Project
2, probably about half of them.

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Your team sizes are
going to be shrinking,

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so we'll be doing fewer of them.

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We, the instructors,
are going to take a look

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at the prototypes
as they come in,

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both during the
presentations and

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during the playable
playtesting sessions.

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And we're going to decide
which of those projects

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we think really do
have the potential

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to go on to be Project 2.

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If your prototype
isn't chosen to go on,

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that doesn't mean it's
not a good prototype.

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We may choose to exclude
things because we think

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the scope is too big
for a two-week project,

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we think it's a
little too complicated

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to try and
communicate the ideas.

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We may also think that there
are other projects that sort of

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nailed the requirements better.

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So your prototype hasn't
failed if it doesn't move on,

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00:05:39,977 --> 00:05:42,060
it's just that there were
other ones that we think

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fit all the constraints better.

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And all the prototypes
are important to do.

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All right.

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So that's that.

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00:05:51,750 --> 00:05:52,850
OK.

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So the breakdown of the
project is, today, we'll

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be forming teams,
doing brainstorming,

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and getting started
working on things.

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00:06:02,790 --> 00:06:04,810
We will do the first
formal playtesting

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00:06:04,810 --> 00:06:11,380
session on Wednesday, Monday,
everything gets turned in,

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and including your change
log and a presentation.

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The vision document, we
will be making in class.

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So don't worry about
that, because we'll

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be explaining what
a vision document is

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and how you make one in class.

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So don't worry too much about
that particular requirement.

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The presentation,
the one-minute pitch,

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will be one of the things that
helps sell your classmates

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00:06:39,230 --> 00:06:42,480
on joining your team and
will be one of the things

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that we use to
decide whether or not

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we think you guys have
a good enough core

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idea and enough core excitement
to move that prototype forward.

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So it's actually
pretty important.

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And remember, it needs
to be one minute.

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We're going to have like
10 groups up pitching,

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so it's going to
have to be fast.

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Finally, design change
logs, which some of you

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may never have heard about.

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Whoa.

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Oh, no.

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My slide, it isn't there.

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PHILLIP TAN: Oh.

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00:07:12,610 --> 00:07:14,026
Because that
screen's [INAUDIBLE].

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SARA VERRILLI: Because
this one isn't-- aha.

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Oh, boy.

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PHILLIP TAN: Let me
restart this presentation.

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SARA VERRILLI: So
who here has used

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a design change log before?

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Because if you've taken
608, I know you have.

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All right.

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So those are your experts.

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If you have one of those
people on your team,

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you're in good shape.

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Talk to them.

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But essentially, what
a design change log is,

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it's actually really simple.

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It's a table, three columns.

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You've got a date.

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You've got some action
you made on your design

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00:07:44,740 --> 00:07:46,448
to change it in some
way, and then you've

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00:07:46,448 --> 00:07:48,137
got the reason why
you made the change.

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And every time you make
a significant change

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to your project, and/or every
day you work on your project,

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you make another entry so
that your team and the people

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working on it and the people
looking at your project

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00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,040
to see where it is now can see
why you made the decisions you

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00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,970
made and what
decisions you made,

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00:08:07,970 --> 00:08:10,320
what features you dropped,
what features you added,

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what problems you
were trying to solve

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when you made those changes.

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Yeah.

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I was probably-- anyway.

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So that is, in fact,
a design change log.

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There's an example of one at
the bottom of the Problem 1

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00:08:23,070 --> 00:08:29,490
handout of the-- there's an
example of one at the Project 1

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00:08:29,490 --> 00:08:31,470
handout, so you can
see an example there.

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Are there any questions?

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Hearing no takers, I
hand you over to Phillip

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for brainstorming.

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PHILLIP TAN: OK.

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00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:46,730
All right, let's talk
about brainstorming.

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00:08:46,730 --> 00:08:51,460
How many of you have done
brainstorming in any class?

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High school?

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Before high school?

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00:08:54,034 --> 00:08:54,950
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

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00:08:54,950 --> 00:08:55,400
PHILLIP TAN: Wow.

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00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:55,640
OK.

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00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:55,950
All right.

216
00:08:55,950 --> 00:08:56,450
OK.

217
00:08:56,450 --> 00:08:59,920
So it's a term that gets
bandied around a lot.

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00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:01,320
Let me see.

219
00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:02,500
Awesome.

220
00:09:02,500 --> 00:09:06,120
However, there is a
problem with brainstorming.

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00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,030
And a lot of people
have practiced it

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00:09:09,030 --> 00:09:12,490
without actually knowing
why certain things are

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done in a certain way
and, as a result of that,

224
00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,010
may actually be
doing it incorrectly.

225
00:09:17,010 --> 00:09:19,650
We have an excerpt
of an article--

226
00:09:19,650 --> 00:09:22,160
I'm sorry-- a chapter
from a book called,

227
00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:24,762
Applied Imagination, which
is written by Alex Osborn.

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00:09:24,762 --> 00:09:26,220
This is a guy who
actually came out

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00:09:26,220 --> 00:09:28,960
with the term brainstorming
and the practice of it.

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00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:30,560
He worked in advertising.

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00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:36,200
And he has lamented
since he wrote that book

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that a lot of
people kind of liked

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00:09:37,685 --> 00:09:40,060
the output of brainstorming,
but didn't really understand

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00:09:40,060 --> 00:09:41,450
the practice of it.

235
00:09:41,450 --> 00:09:44,290
So I'm going to try to
start from first principles

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00:09:44,290 --> 00:09:46,100
so that you understand
why brainstorming is

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00:09:46,100 --> 00:09:48,130
and how it's supposed
to be working.

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00:09:48,130 --> 00:09:51,870
And hopefully, you can sort
of get the benefits of it,

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00:09:51,870 --> 00:09:57,420
without maybe, say,
overstating its power.

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00:09:57,420 --> 00:10:00,740
Now, the main reason why we're
doing brainstorming in groups--

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00:10:00,740 --> 00:10:03,369
you will hear people out there
in the game industry saying

242
00:10:03,369 --> 00:10:05,160
that brainstorming's
not necessarily always

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00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,940
the best way to be able to come
up with an idea for a game.

244
00:10:08,940 --> 00:10:11,630
However, in this
class in particular

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00:10:11,630 --> 00:10:14,830
and in a lot of video game
design outside of this class,

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00:10:14,830 --> 00:10:18,450
game design is coordinated,
creative collaboration

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00:10:18,450 --> 00:10:20,620
involving different
skilled workers.

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00:10:20,620 --> 00:10:22,980
And if this is going to
be the first time you're

249
00:10:22,980 --> 00:10:24,790
going to work with
a team, you need

250
00:10:24,790 --> 00:10:28,130
to understand who are the people
who you might be working with.

251
00:10:28,130 --> 00:10:30,660
Brainstorming, if nothing else,
can be a really, really good

252
00:10:30,660 --> 00:10:32,850
way to just be able to get a
sense of who it is that you're

253
00:10:32,850 --> 00:10:33,960
going to be working with.

254
00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,484
And when we start
forming up teams,

255
00:10:36,484 --> 00:10:37,900
you're not going
to necessarily be

256
00:10:37,900 --> 00:10:40,440
able to choose who you're
brainstorming with.

257
00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:44,620
So you want to be able to get
a quick read of their ideas

258
00:10:44,620 --> 00:10:46,850
and what their interests
are and maybe decide,

259
00:10:46,850 --> 00:10:50,700
hey, this is a person I'm going
to do Project 1 with later on.

260
00:10:50,700 --> 00:10:53,180
However, there are very
strong social pressures

261
00:10:53,180 --> 00:10:58,490
of being imaginative in a
collaborative environment,

262
00:10:58,490 --> 00:11:01,560
especially here in MIT.

263
00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:04,760
There's a lot of pressure
to hold back your ideas

264
00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:07,990
or maybe not say what's
coming to your mind

265
00:11:07,990 --> 00:11:09,794
because you think
that's kind of dumb,

266
00:11:09,794 --> 00:11:11,960
but other people are going
to think that I'm stupid,

267
00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:12,986
or anything like that.

268
00:11:12,986 --> 00:11:14,610
And brainstorming
has certain practices

269
00:11:14,610 --> 00:11:16,700
to be able to get you past that.

270
00:11:16,700 --> 00:11:18,800
So there are four
principles of brainstorming.

271
00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:20,610
The [INAUDIBLE]
just do this thing.

272
00:11:23,690 --> 00:11:26,740
This was the four principles
laid out by Alex Osbourne.

273
00:11:26,740 --> 00:11:31,570
And he was Advertising Manager
at BBDO, which is a very, very

274
00:11:31,570 --> 00:11:33,990
large advertising agency.

275
00:11:33,990 --> 00:11:36,860
And there are certain
similarities at marketing

276
00:11:36,860 --> 00:11:38,190
and video game design, right?

277
00:11:38,190 --> 00:11:41,680
You can produce ads, you
can produce marketing,

278
00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:44,450
you can produce games,
without necessarily saying,

279
00:11:44,450 --> 00:11:46,440
yes, we solved the problem.

280
00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:48,030
There's a lot of
different solutions

281
00:11:48,030 --> 00:11:49,570
for exactly the same problem.

282
00:11:49,570 --> 00:11:52,180
And advertising is trying to
get people to pay attention

283
00:11:52,180 --> 00:11:54,570
to the ad, and maybe
you'll buy stuff.

284
00:11:54,570 --> 00:11:56,365
In video games, it's
trying to create

285
00:11:56,365 --> 00:11:59,820
an entertaining experience
for somebody else.

286
00:11:59,820 --> 00:12:01,910
Millions of ways to be
able to accomplish that.

287
00:12:01,910 --> 00:12:04,790
So we're not looking for
like, here's a engineering

288
00:12:04,790 --> 00:12:07,530
solution to a engineering
problem where it does,

289
00:12:07,530 --> 00:12:09,747
you know, if the
thing doesn't explode,

290
00:12:09,747 --> 00:12:11,080
you know you've done a good job.

291
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,110
That's sort of like a very easy
metric to be able to measure

292
00:12:14,110 --> 00:12:15,010
success.

293
00:12:15,010 --> 00:12:19,030
For games, for
advertising, not so easy.

294
00:12:19,030 --> 00:12:21,864
So here's the first
principle, no criticism.

295
00:12:21,864 --> 00:12:24,030
How many of you have been
in a brainstorming session

296
00:12:24,030 --> 00:12:28,100
where you said your idea,
and then somebody said, oh.

297
00:12:28,100 --> 00:12:28,710
Yeah, OK.

298
00:12:28,710 --> 00:12:29,210
All right.

299
00:12:29,210 --> 00:12:30,230
I see some hands go up.

300
00:12:30,230 --> 00:12:30,730
All right.

301
00:12:30,730 --> 00:12:31,240
OK.

302
00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,630
So this is the
most important rule

303
00:12:33,630 --> 00:12:35,100
of a brainstorming session.

304
00:12:35,100 --> 00:12:36,810
If you do not
stick to this rule,

305
00:12:36,810 --> 00:12:39,800
if everybody around the group
doesn't stick to this rule,

306
00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:41,590
you can ruin the entire session.

307
00:12:41,590 --> 00:12:44,560
The whole session can
just become worthless.

308
00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:49,780
You can give positive feedback
that says, thanks for the idea.

309
00:12:49,780 --> 00:12:52,440
Just simply writing it down
is positive feedback of we've

310
00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:53,260
received your idea.

311
00:12:53,260 --> 00:12:58,110
But you want to hold back on
adverse judgment or any kind

312
00:12:58,110 --> 00:13:00,340
of negative reinforcement.

313
00:13:00,340 --> 00:13:03,420
You can share that after
the brainstorm session.

314
00:13:03,420 --> 00:13:06,350
You just don't want to do that
during a brainstorm session,

315
00:13:06,350 --> 00:13:11,430
because it inhibits the
process of creating new ideas.

316
00:13:11,430 --> 00:13:15,170
Again, that's sort of
like professional shame,

317
00:13:15,170 --> 00:13:17,760
especially in a place like
MIT, but also if you go out

318
00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:19,510
into the corporate
world, this idea of you

319
00:13:19,510 --> 00:13:20,790
don't want to look bad.

320
00:13:20,790 --> 00:13:23,250
And then you can't
have that in your head

321
00:13:23,250 --> 00:13:25,540
to have a proper
brainstorming session.

322
00:13:25,540 --> 00:13:28,201
If you're worried about how your
ideas are going to be taken,

323
00:13:28,201 --> 00:13:30,450
then you're not actually
generating ideas at the speed

324
00:13:30,450 --> 00:13:32,140
that you need to be.

325
00:13:32,140 --> 00:13:36,180
So you need to be able to
let your entire group know

326
00:13:36,180 --> 00:13:39,640
that we now have total freedom
to explore all territories.

327
00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:42,087
Whatever idea you generate,
we're going to write down.

328
00:13:42,087 --> 00:13:44,670
And then we'll figure out which
are the good ideas after we've

329
00:13:44,670 --> 00:13:48,250
generated all of these ideas.

330
00:13:48,250 --> 00:13:52,170
Secondly, you kind of
want to be freewheeling.

331
00:13:52,170 --> 00:13:55,350
Typically, the crazier
the idea, the better.

332
00:13:55,350 --> 00:13:58,400
It's easier to be able
to tame down a crazy idea

333
00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:02,400
than to take a fairly
unambitious idea

334
00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:04,900
and scale it up.

335
00:14:04,900 --> 00:14:09,250
So typically, you will
get your best ideas

336
00:14:09,250 --> 00:14:10,980
from some sort of pipe
dream or blue moon

337
00:14:10,980 --> 00:14:12,800
idea, something
that's out of scope,

338
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,040
something that's unfeasible.

339
00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:15,780
And then you sort
of scale it down

340
00:14:15,780 --> 00:14:17,680
into the thing that
is actually feasible.

341
00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:19,710
So go ahead and
shoot for the moon.

342
00:14:19,710 --> 00:14:21,770
Shoot for the game
that you can't possibly

343
00:14:21,770 --> 00:14:25,960
develop in the next week or
in the next couple of weeks.

344
00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,190
And then, after the
brainstorming session,

345
00:14:28,190 --> 00:14:31,420
figure out how you're
going to pare down

346
00:14:31,420 --> 00:14:33,880
that idea into something
that you can do in a week

347
00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,400
or in two weeks.

348
00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:41,850
Now you can expand
on simple ideas.

349
00:14:41,850 --> 00:14:44,680
And I'll talk a little bit about
some strategies on doing that.

350
00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,180
But usually, reworking a
wild idea to become feasible,

351
00:14:48,180 --> 00:14:50,390
there's usually a
nugget there that's

352
00:14:50,390 --> 00:14:52,425
a lot easier to identify
when you start big

353
00:14:52,425 --> 00:14:55,122
and then shrink down.

354
00:14:55,122 --> 00:14:56,080
What are you going for?

355
00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:58,530
You're trying to come up with
as many ideas as possible.

356
00:14:58,530 --> 00:14:59,650
Quantity.

357
00:14:59,650 --> 00:15:02,160
The greater number of
ideas, the more likelihood

358
00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,890
that some of those ideas are
actually going to be useful.

359
00:15:05,890 --> 00:15:07,840
You're not actually
trying to solve

360
00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,280
the problem in brainstorming.

361
00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,340
Say, if the problem that
we're asking you to solve

362
00:15:13,340 --> 00:15:17,000
is create something
playable in a week,

363
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,980
we're not asking you
to solve that problem

364
00:15:18,980 --> 00:15:20,420
during the brainstorm session.

365
00:15:20,420 --> 00:15:22,320
That comes after the
brainstorm session.

366
00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:23,986
That comes with things
like prototyping,

367
00:15:23,986 --> 00:15:25,660
which we'll get to later today.

368
00:15:28,570 --> 00:15:30,080
Now, that's a simple
metric that you

369
00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,480
can use to gauge the success
of a brainstorm session,

370
00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:34,570
how many ideas that you
generate, at what pace

371
00:15:34,570 --> 00:15:36,430
are you generating them at.

372
00:15:36,430 --> 00:15:38,740
Again, that's why you don't
want to be judging ideas

373
00:15:38,740 --> 00:15:40,500
while they're being generated.

374
00:15:40,500 --> 00:15:42,310
All ideas should be included.

375
00:15:42,310 --> 00:15:43,650
Nothing is excluded.

376
00:15:43,650 --> 00:15:46,054
And you're going to
need to reinforce that

377
00:15:46,054 --> 00:15:48,470
within the group of people
that you're brainstorming with.

378
00:15:48,470 --> 00:15:50,178
There's somebody who's
actually got a job

379
00:15:50,178 --> 00:15:53,030
to specifically do that, but
you've got to help with that.

380
00:15:55,830 --> 00:15:57,490
And you can build on ideas.

381
00:15:57,490 --> 00:16:03,090
You can refer back to ideas that
have already been mentioned.

382
00:16:03,090 --> 00:16:05,100
Take the notes off,
and then combine them

383
00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:07,850
with your own idea, even
if ideas that other people

384
00:16:07,850 --> 00:16:12,070
have come up with, to be able
to come up with something

385
00:16:12,070 --> 00:16:15,211
synthetically more complex.

386
00:16:15,211 --> 00:16:16,710
Great ideas are
often generated when

387
00:16:16,710 --> 00:16:20,220
disparate ideas are
combined, LEGO plus Star Wars

388
00:16:20,220 --> 00:16:22,000
equals LEGO Star Wars.

389
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:23,460
[LAUGHTER]

390
00:16:23,460 --> 00:16:25,790
Which is awesome, you know?

391
00:16:25,790 --> 00:16:30,040
Marvel plus Capcom,
Marvel vs. Capcom.

392
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:31,390
OK, great ideas there.

393
00:16:31,390 --> 00:16:34,117
And often, that's actually where
a lot of your really good ideas

394
00:16:34,117 --> 00:16:35,700
are going to come
from, because you're

395
00:16:35,700 --> 00:16:38,210
going to come up with a whole
bunch of really mundane things

396
00:16:38,210 --> 00:16:41,140
that basically refer back
to games that you've already

397
00:16:41,140 --> 00:16:43,780
played or ideas
that a lot of people

398
00:16:43,780 --> 00:16:46,450
have encountered, but maybe
not encountered together

399
00:16:46,450 --> 00:16:48,860
in the same context.

400
00:16:48,860 --> 00:16:52,580
So this is how you're
going to do it.

401
00:16:52,580 --> 00:16:54,360
You're going to start
off with a really,

402
00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:57,710
really-- try to create
a little casual spirit.

403
00:16:57,710 --> 00:17:02,250
This is not like a really
straight laced, formal affair.

404
00:17:02,250 --> 00:17:04,819
Start with giving your
worst idea, the worst

405
00:17:04,819 --> 00:17:10,160
idea that you can possibly think
of, the most useless, terrible.

406
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:11,680
If you have to do
offensive, sure,

407
00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,660
but usually there's just an
idea that you know is dumb.

408
00:17:15,660 --> 00:17:17,220
Just tell people that.

409
00:17:17,220 --> 00:17:18,950
Everyone put it down.

410
00:17:18,950 --> 00:17:20,660
Write it down.

411
00:17:20,660 --> 00:17:23,140
While someone is speaking,
don't interrupt them.

412
00:17:23,140 --> 00:17:25,765
But do designate a
facilitator at the beginning

413
00:17:25,765 --> 00:17:26,390
of the session.

414
00:17:26,390 --> 00:17:27,599
And it's going to
be that person's job

415
00:17:27,599 --> 00:17:28,840
to keep things moving.

416
00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:31,750
So you don't really
need to explain

417
00:17:31,750 --> 00:17:33,677
so much, because again,
you're not trying

418
00:17:33,677 --> 00:17:34,760
to solve the problem here.

419
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:36,968
You're just trying to be
able to get enough ideas out

420
00:17:36,968 --> 00:17:39,630
so that whoever's performing
the role of the secretary

421
00:17:39,630 --> 00:17:40,380
can write it down.

422
00:17:43,350 --> 00:17:46,900
And again, before you
start the entire session,

423
00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:49,325
make sure everybody
understands this process.

424
00:17:49,325 --> 00:17:51,450
If there's somebody who
walked in late in the class

425
00:17:51,450 --> 00:17:53,241
or something and is
just joining your team,

426
00:17:53,241 --> 00:17:56,130
make sure they understand all
of these rules, these four rules

427
00:17:56,130 --> 00:17:57,240
that I went through.

428
00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:01,200
And write down everything.

429
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:07,200
Now, don't just write down
the title of the idea--

430
00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,472
turtle tower defense,
I don't know--

431
00:18:10,472 --> 00:18:12,180
those are three easy
words to write down,

432
00:18:12,180 --> 00:18:14,544
but it might be difficult
for you to then remember

433
00:18:14,544 --> 00:18:15,960
exactly what that
idea-- were they

434
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,060
like anthropomorphic turtles?

435
00:18:18,060 --> 00:18:19,470
Are the turtles the towers?

436
00:18:19,470 --> 00:18:21,030
Are the turtles
marching into towers?

437
00:18:21,030 --> 00:18:23,740
You know, it's like,
what was that again?

438
00:18:23,740 --> 00:18:25,910
Let whoever is taking down
notes take a little bit

439
00:18:25,910 --> 00:18:28,270
more information, maybe
like a line of information,

440
00:18:28,270 --> 00:18:30,420
just so that, when you
come back to that idea,

441
00:18:30,420 --> 00:18:33,470
you don't look at a title
as, that looks like a--

442
00:18:33,470 --> 00:18:34,710
what was that idea again?

443
00:18:34,710 --> 00:18:37,480
Does anybody remember
what his idea was?

444
00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:41,850
Just take the time to be
able to write things down.

445
00:18:41,850 --> 00:18:44,430
Now, this is more general.

446
00:18:44,430 --> 00:18:46,280
Today, we're asking
you very specifically

447
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,310
to brainstorm about
the game that you're

448
00:18:48,310 --> 00:18:52,890
going to be prototyping
for Project 1.

449
00:18:52,890 --> 00:18:55,960
But in general, you
can apply brainstorming

450
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,040
to a bunch of
different ideas, even

451
00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,810
in the middle of a
project, Project 1 or later

452
00:19:00,810 --> 00:19:02,530
or to other domains.

453
00:19:02,530 --> 00:19:04,040
But it's very, very
important to be

454
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:05,220
able to know what
kinds of problems

455
00:19:05,220 --> 00:19:07,428
are good for brainstorming
and what kinds of problems

456
00:19:07,428 --> 00:19:09,580
are terrible for brainstorming.

457
00:19:09,580 --> 00:19:13,190
You need to be able
to find a problem that

458
00:19:13,190 --> 00:19:14,810
is very clearly defined.

459
00:19:14,810 --> 00:19:16,606
The problem should be simple.

460
00:19:16,606 --> 00:19:18,480
If you've got a problem
that's really, really

461
00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:25,280
complex with lots of very
different opposing factors

462
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,490
that you have to be taking into
account, optimize, something,

463
00:19:28,490 --> 00:19:32,240
you can either try to divide
those complex problems

464
00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:36,160
into subdivisions where each
one of those subdivisions

465
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,812
could have a separate
answer, or you

466
00:19:38,812 --> 00:19:41,020
could try to use a different
problem solving strategy

467
00:19:41,020 --> 00:19:41,510
entirely.

468
00:19:41,510 --> 00:19:42,968
You don't necessarily
need to apply

469
00:19:42,968 --> 00:19:44,170
brainstorming to everything.

470
00:19:44,170 --> 00:19:48,485
You should be able to articulate
the problem simply and clearly.

471
00:19:48,485 --> 00:19:50,360
But just because I can
articulate the problem

472
00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:53,160
doesn't necessarily
mean that it's

473
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,080
appropriate for brainstorming.

474
00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,660
Osborn, for instance, gives
you an example of get married.

475
00:19:58,660 --> 00:19:59,570
That's your problem.

476
00:19:59,570 --> 00:20:00,070
All right.

477
00:20:00,070 --> 00:20:00,260
OK.

478
00:20:00,260 --> 00:20:01,801
And then you're
trying to solve that.

479
00:20:01,801 --> 00:20:05,120
Brainstorming's a really
terrible technique for that.

480
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:07,170
Here are all the ways
that you can get married.

481
00:20:07,170 --> 00:20:08,336
It's like that doesn't help.

482
00:20:11,060 --> 00:20:14,750
Maybe that doesn't identify
the problem in the first place.

483
00:20:14,750 --> 00:20:17,800
It's is a complex problem
that's a little bit too large.

484
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:19,790
What's your game
going to be about?

485
00:20:19,790 --> 00:20:24,940
Or what is your player
going to do 80% of the time?

486
00:20:24,940 --> 00:20:27,010
What's the one action
that your player

487
00:20:27,010 --> 00:20:29,490
is going to do 80% of the time.

488
00:20:29,490 --> 00:20:31,470
Where is our game set?

489
00:20:31,470 --> 00:20:32,570
Who is our main character?

490
00:20:32,570 --> 00:20:35,050
These are sort of
well-articulated problems

491
00:20:35,050 --> 00:20:39,110
that brainstorming
does work for.

492
00:20:39,110 --> 00:20:40,600
Now, responsibilities.

493
00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,280
Again, I said designate
someone to be a facilitator.

494
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,450
And this person's job
is to basically keep

495
00:20:47,450 --> 00:20:49,990
this whole session moving.

496
00:20:49,990 --> 00:20:52,120
We don't like to use
the word "leader,"

497
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:56,341
because their job is not to be
the head of the brainstorming

498
00:20:56,341 --> 00:20:56,840
session.

499
00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:03,290
Your job is to facilitate it,
is to be the clerical equivalent

500
00:21:03,290 --> 00:21:07,950
of moving the process along.

501
00:21:07,950 --> 00:21:09,740
So you need to
understand the problem

502
00:21:09,740 --> 00:21:14,100
and then make sure that
everybody around the brainstorm

503
00:21:14,100 --> 00:21:17,136
group also understands
this problem.

504
00:21:17,136 --> 00:21:19,510
And then, when the session
actually goes, every time, you

505
00:21:19,510 --> 00:21:21,932
sort of sense that there's
some criticism coming out,

506
00:21:21,932 --> 00:21:24,265
and you say, all right, we'll
put that aside and move on

507
00:21:24,265 --> 00:21:25,240
to the next idea.

508
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,210
Try to defuse any criticism
when you see it coming.

509
00:21:28,210 --> 00:21:31,470
And encourage people who
aren't speaking up to speak up.

510
00:21:31,470 --> 00:21:36,740
Just simply, it's like
what's on your mind?

511
00:21:36,740 --> 00:21:38,180
Or you'll call
out someone's name

512
00:21:38,180 --> 00:21:42,920
and just say, any of these
things give you any ideas?

513
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:44,720
Try to sort of call
out those people who

514
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:46,096
aren't already
very much involved

515
00:21:46,096 --> 00:21:48,220
in the process to try to
get them into the process.

516
00:21:48,220 --> 00:21:50,170
Because the more people
riff off each other,

517
00:21:50,170 --> 00:21:53,300
the more ideas you're going
to be able to generate.

518
00:21:53,300 --> 00:21:55,050
Encourage people to
join ideas together.

519
00:21:55,050 --> 00:21:56,716
Sometimes, you'll
just do that yourself,

520
00:21:56,716 --> 00:21:58,310
just like look at
two random things

521
00:21:58,310 --> 00:22:01,347
that you wrote down and just
try to slam them together,

522
00:22:01,347 --> 00:22:02,680
just to get the process started.

523
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,900
And maybe other people will
do more logical compositions.

524
00:22:06,900 --> 00:22:09,240
Make sure that no voices
are lost in this process.

525
00:22:12,609 --> 00:22:14,400
It's not the facilitator's
job, by the way,

526
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,380
to identify what's the
best solution on the board

527
00:22:18,380 --> 00:22:20,760
or on the computer when you're
taking down these ideas.

528
00:22:23,416 --> 00:22:26,180
That may not actually be the
job of brainstorming at all.

529
00:22:26,180 --> 00:22:27,710
That's actually a
problem that you

530
00:22:27,710 --> 00:22:30,050
come to later when you see
the whole pile of ideas

531
00:22:30,050 --> 00:22:30,910
that you generated.

532
00:22:30,910 --> 00:22:32,440
And now, you figure
out what it is

533
00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,700
that you're going to
choose for, say, Project 1.

534
00:22:36,700 --> 00:22:38,750
Now, there's a second
person who's involved.

535
00:22:38,750 --> 00:22:42,440
This is the person who either
has a giant Post-it pad,

536
00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:45,240
or a chalkboard, or a
computer usually connected

537
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:46,840
to a projector.

538
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,930
And that person is the
secretary whose basic job

539
00:22:49,930 --> 00:22:51,980
is to record every
single idea in a way

540
00:22:51,980 --> 00:22:56,290
that everybody around the group
can actually see those ideas.

541
00:22:56,290 --> 00:22:58,710
You don't want to just work
on your own personal laptop,

542
00:22:58,710 --> 00:23:00,709
on your own screen where
no one else can see it,

543
00:23:00,709 --> 00:23:02,266
because then other
people can't, say,

544
00:23:02,266 --> 00:23:04,140
look at ideas that have
been mentioned before

545
00:23:04,140 --> 00:23:05,099
and combine them.

546
00:23:05,099 --> 00:23:07,390
So make sure that you're
writing things up on somewhere

547
00:23:07,390 --> 00:23:08,348
where everyone can see.

548
00:23:08,348 --> 00:23:12,150
We've got some giant
Post-it pads right here.

549
00:23:12,150 --> 00:23:13,430
And you can grab them.

550
00:23:13,430 --> 00:23:15,370
And we've got some markers.

551
00:23:15,370 --> 00:23:18,880
Stick them up on the
wall and write on them.

552
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:23,410
So you want to
try to just report

553
00:23:23,410 --> 00:23:24,670
on what people are saying.

554
00:23:24,670 --> 00:23:27,330
Don't try to be
editorial about it.

555
00:23:27,330 --> 00:23:29,060
Don't say, good idea, bad idea.

556
00:23:29,060 --> 00:23:31,365
That's your job either.

557
00:23:31,365 --> 00:23:32,990
You do want to keep
an eye on the time,

558
00:23:32,990 --> 00:23:35,360
especially because we're
doing this in class and time

559
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,310
will run out.

560
00:23:37,310 --> 00:23:40,640
So make sure that you
actually have enough time

561
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,120
to get down the to those
last couple of ideas

562
00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:46,120
before we go into our next
part of our class, which

563
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:48,920
I think is prototyping.

564
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,760
The secretary can participate
in a brainstorming.

565
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,680
It's sometimes a
little bit tough.

566
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:56,370
It's tough to write
down and listen

567
00:23:56,370 --> 00:23:59,030
to what other people
are saying while trying

568
00:23:59,030 --> 00:24:00,640
to generate your own ideas.

569
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,180
So what you might want to do
is split up your brainstorming

570
00:24:03,180 --> 00:24:04,680
session into,
basically, two halves.

571
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,804
How much time are we giving
them for brainstorming?

572
00:24:06,804 --> 00:24:07,780
PROFESSOR: 30.

573
00:24:07,780 --> 00:24:08,840
PHILLIP TAN: 30 minutes?

574
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,090
So split it into like
two 15-minute chunks.

575
00:24:11,090 --> 00:24:14,200
And either the facilitator
and the secretary

576
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,787
can switch, or just
get two other people

577
00:24:16,787 --> 00:24:18,120
to be secretary and facilitator.

578
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:20,760
So the people who were
facilitator and secretary

579
00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,285
can sit down and have the space
to generate their own ideas

580
00:24:24,285 --> 00:24:26,160
while someone else is
taking notes and making

581
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,390
sure the process is running.

582
00:24:28,390 --> 00:24:30,569
So that's what we're
asking you to do.

583
00:24:30,569 --> 00:24:31,985
Any questions about
brainstorming?

584
00:24:34,950 --> 00:24:36,958
Or anything else I've said?

585
00:24:36,958 --> 00:24:37,930
Yep?

586
00:24:37,930 --> 00:24:41,800
AUDIENCE: Is there a limit
or a minimum number of ideas

587
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:42,800
we have to come up with?

588
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,241
PHILLIP TAN: Is there
a minimum of ideas?

589
00:24:45,241 --> 00:24:45,740
No.

590
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,390
In fact, that's probably
counterproductive.

591
00:24:52,390 --> 00:24:55,081
Don't say, oh, we have to hit
a least 30, no-- it's 30 ideas

592
00:24:55,081 --> 00:24:57,330
and we're done-- because
that implies that once you're

593
00:24:57,330 --> 00:24:58,950
over 30, you can stop.

594
00:24:58,950 --> 00:24:59,946
You don't want to stop.

595
00:24:59,946 --> 00:25:01,320
You want to keep
generating ideas

596
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:02,730
until you run out of time.

597
00:25:02,730 --> 00:25:07,440
And if it takes you 30 minutes
to come up with two ideas,

598
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:07,940
that's fine.

599
00:25:07,940 --> 00:25:08,690
That's the group.

600
00:25:08,690 --> 00:25:12,320
That's what your group
was able to come up with.

601
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:14,040
Generally, you want
to be generating

602
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:20,282
like a lot, several dozen
ideas in a 30-minute session.

603
00:25:20,282 --> 00:25:21,740
SARA VERRILLI: I'm
going to ask you

604
00:25:21,740 --> 00:25:23,340
to form groups of six people.

605
00:25:23,340 --> 00:25:25,970
Grab the people who
are nearest you.

606
00:25:25,970 --> 00:25:29,230
These groups of six are
going to like-- do us

607
00:25:29,230 --> 00:25:32,490
a favor and everybody stand up.

608
00:25:32,490 --> 00:25:36,370
As you form groups, sit down.

609
00:25:36,370 --> 00:25:39,070
You've got three
minutes to form groups.

610
00:25:39,070 --> 00:25:51,700
[SIDE CONVERSATIONS]

611
00:25:51,700 --> 00:25:54,360
PHILLIP TAN: So we just finished
the brainstorming session,

612
00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:57,216
and I'd like to get some
people's impression about what

613
00:25:57,216 --> 00:25:57,715
worked.

614
00:26:00,860 --> 00:26:03,622
Do you need some
time to get started?

615
00:26:03,622 --> 00:26:05,080
Were people kind
of feeling it went

616
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,320
a little slowly at the beginning
and then picked up or died off

617
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,025
halfway?

618
00:26:10,025 --> 00:26:10,900
Tell me some results.

619
00:26:10,900 --> 00:26:11,400
Yeah?

620
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,163
AUDIENCE: I think it's
like the sessions were

621
00:26:14,163 --> 00:26:17,394
like, instead of two-minute,
three-minute sessions,

622
00:26:17,394 --> 00:26:18,885
they were like even shorter.

623
00:26:18,885 --> 00:26:21,469
And like broken up into kind
of a mini theme [INAUDIBLE].

624
00:26:21,469 --> 00:26:22,135
PHILLIP TAN: OK.

625
00:26:22,135 --> 00:26:24,264
AUDIENCE: And it felt
like it ran out of steam.

626
00:26:24,264 --> 00:26:24,930
PHILLIP TAN: OK.

627
00:26:24,930 --> 00:26:25,540
All right.

628
00:26:25,540 --> 00:26:28,182
So sort of like
breaking up even further

629
00:26:28,182 --> 00:26:29,390
into smaller chunks and that.

630
00:26:29,390 --> 00:26:29,440
OK.

631
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:29,980
Sure.

632
00:26:29,980 --> 00:26:32,800
That's a good idea.

633
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,797
How about the note-taker as
a facilitator [INAUDIBLE]?

634
00:26:35,797 --> 00:26:38,088
AUDIENCE: I think starting
with words and themes helped

635
00:26:38,088 --> 00:26:40,360
us get just basic concepts
out there and then sort

636
00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:42,610
of applying them, rather
than jumping into game ideas.

637
00:26:42,610 --> 00:26:42,930
PHILLIP TAN: Right.

638
00:26:42,930 --> 00:26:44,430
And one of the
reasons why we did

639
00:26:44,430 --> 00:26:47,410
that will also give you an idea
of what's a theme versus whats

640
00:26:47,410 --> 00:26:48,300
a mechanic, right?

641
00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:49,258
Yeah.

642
00:26:49,258 --> 00:26:51,590
AUDIENCE: It gets hard to
avoid the scenario of someone

643
00:26:51,590 --> 00:26:53,090
writing an idea,
and then everyone's

644
00:26:53,090 --> 00:26:54,048
like, oh, that's cool.

645
00:26:54,048 --> 00:26:56,443
Let's talk more
about that thing,

646
00:26:56,443 --> 00:26:58,850
instead of just throwing out
completely different ideas.

647
00:26:58,850 --> 00:26:59,641
PHILLIP TAN: Right.

648
00:26:59,641 --> 00:27:01,775
Oh, so switching to a
different idea, right?

649
00:27:01,775 --> 00:27:04,317
Oh, you know, that's
not necessarily

650
00:27:04,317 --> 00:27:05,650
a failure of the process either.

651
00:27:05,650 --> 00:27:06,110
But you're right.

652
00:27:06,110 --> 00:27:07,380
You're trying to
generate quantity.

653
00:27:07,380 --> 00:27:09,060
And instead, people
trying to improve

654
00:27:09,060 --> 00:27:11,620
the quality of the idea.

655
00:27:11,620 --> 00:27:18,740
So yeah, but still that's a
happy problem to have, right?

656
00:27:18,740 --> 00:27:19,900
It is a good point.

657
00:27:19,900 --> 00:27:20,900
Yeah.

658
00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:24,570
AUDIENCE: I think, for our
team, jokes helped us a lot.

659
00:27:24,570 --> 00:27:25,320
PHILLIP TAN: Sure.

660
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,195
AUDIENCE: Our first
situation was more tense.

661
00:27:27,195 --> 00:27:29,780
And then, after one
or two specific ideas,

662
00:27:29,780 --> 00:27:33,666
everyone became more casual
in saying more ideas.

663
00:27:33,666 --> 00:27:36,290
PHILLIP TAN: And that's why the
throwing out the bad ideas part

664
00:27:36,290 --> 00:27:37,020
helps as well.

665
00:27:37,020 --> 00:27:42,770
It helps you get into that
mood of we can be silly now.

666
00:27:42,770 --> 00:27:47,470
Something that might help with
the switching gears problem is

667
00:27:47,470 --> 00:27:53,910
the act of writing it down, to
begin with, of course, sort of

668
00:27:53,910 --> 00:27:57,440
says the idea is on record.

669
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:00,360
And you can always say,
let's get back to that later,

670
00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:03,509
because you will get
back to it later anyway.

671
00:28:03,509 --> 00:28:05,300
And there will be time
for that discussion.

672
00:28:05,300 --> 00:28:09,180
It doesn't always work,
but it's worth a shot.

673
00:28:09,180 --> 00:28:09,990
Cool.

674
00:28:09,990 --> 00:28:11,910
OK.

675
00:28:11,910 --> 00:28:15,290
Let's talk a little bit
again about Project 1,

676
00:28:15,290 --> 00:28:16,170
just as a reminder.

677
00:28:16,170 --> 00:28:17,919
There is a theme for
Project 1, and that's

678
00:28:17,919 --> 00:28:19,270
planning for randomness.

679
00:28:19,270 --> 00:28:20,670
You generated a lot of ideas.

680
00:28:20,670 --> 00:28:25,769
We didn't really over-emphasize
that constraint right

681
00:28:25,769 --> 00:28:27,560
at the beginning of
the brainstorm session,

682
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:28,934
because we wanted
you to generate

683
00:28:28,934 --> 00:28:30,510
tons and tons of ideas.

684
00:28:30,510 --> 00:28:35,430
But now, you should be looking
at that theme and the ideas

685
00:28:35,430 --> 00:28:37,620
that you've generated
and figuring out

686
00:28:37,620 --> 00:28:39,920
which ones of those kind
of match that theme.

687
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,290
Now, that's sort of
your overall constraint,

688
00:28:45,290 --> 00:28:47,670
over-constraint of what we
want the players to be doing

689
00:28:47,670 --> 00:28:49,040
is planning for randomness.

690
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,290
But is it in space?

691
00:28:51,290 --> 00:28:54,780
Is it some sort of like
dice rolling mechanic?

692
00:28:54,780 --> 00:28:56,350
Is it some sort
of race mechanic,

693
00:28:56,350 --> 00:28:59,830
are just a branching decision
tree or something like that?

694
00:28:59,830 --> 00:29:01,680
That comes into
themes and mechanics.

695
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:03,490
So you want to be
identifying that,

696
00:29:03,490 --> 00:29:08,490
as well, as part of Project 1.

697
00:29:08,490 --> 00:29:11,440
So what I'm going to be
asking you right now is that,

698
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,060
from your
brainstorming group, we

699
00:29:14,060 --> 00:29:15,710
want you to split
into two groups.

700
00:29:15,710 --> 00:29:17,890
That's your prototyping
group for Project 1.

701
00:29:17,890 --> 00:29:22,470
You only have to work with this
group for one week, you know?

702
00:29:22,470 --> 00:29:25,750
This is not a
long-term commitment.

703
00:29:25,750 --> 00:29:29,470
And there were eight
brainstorming groups,

704
00:29:29,470 --> 00:29:32,050
so basically, we're
looking for 16 teams.

705
00:29:32,050 --> 00:29:33,600
And so we're
encouraging everyone

706
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,090
to be in groups of three.

707
00:29:36,090 --> 00:29:40,046
Not only does that
mean that we will

708
00:29:40,046 --> 00:29:41,670
get the right number
of groups, it also

709
00:29:41,670 --> 00:29:44,280
means that if somebody
falls sick in the next week,

710
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,590
your team still has at least
two people to work on it.

711
00:29:48,590 --> 00:29:51,065
So for each group of
three, first of all,

712
00:29:51,065 --> 00:29:52,940
you figure out who you're
going to work with.

713
00:29:52,940 --> 00:29:55,444
And then you choose one
item from your list, one

714
00:29:55,444 --> 00:29:57,360
of these ideas from your
list, keeping in mind

715
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,290
those constraints
that I just mentioned.

716
00:29:59,290 --> 00:30:03,600
And we will be using that idea
for the upcoming prototyping

717
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:05,040
workshop, which I
will be leading.

718
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:07,470
So once you know
what your idea is,

719
00:30:07,470 --> 00:30:09,040
you know who you're
working with,

720
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,390
I will go into the
prototyping workshop

721
00:30:11,390 --> 00:30:14,346
to tell you what you do next.

722
00:30:14,346 --> 00:30:15,720
And the goal will
be to then test

723
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,154
that idea through the
process of prototyping.

724
00:30:18,154 --> 00:30:20,070
And if it doesn't work,
you are free to choose

725
00:30:20,070 --> 00:30:21,050
a different theme.

726
00:30:21,050 --> 00:30:22,870
But you still have to
stick with your team.

727
00:30:22,870 --> 00:30:23,370
OK?

728
00:30:23,370 --> 00:30:26,160
You stick with your team, you
can choose a different theme,

729
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:27,160
just to be clear.

730
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:28,755
All right.

731
00:30:28,755 --> 00:30:29,630
AUDIENCE: 10 minutes?

732
00:30:29,630 --> 00:30:32,100
PHILLIP TAN: We have 10
minutes to figure out

733
00:30:32,100 --> 00:30:33,610
who you want to
work with and what

734
00:30:33,610 --> 00:30:38,210
your initial idea that you want
to work with, so go for it.

735
00:30:38,210 --> 00:30:42,455
[SIDE CONVERSATION]

736
00:30:42,455 --> 00:30:45,466
And your team was six, right?

737
00:30:45,466 --> 00:30:46,930
Cool.

738
00:30:46,930 --> 00:30:49,695
You used the computer
control, so it

739
00:30:49,695 --> 00:30:51,322
was really voice-activated.

740
00:30:51,322 --> 00:30:52,358
It just didn't work.

741
00:30:52,358 --> 00:30:53,274
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

742
00:30:59,662 --> 00:31:01,370
PHILLIP TAN: How many
of you have seen me

743
00:31:01,370 --> 00:31:03,980
give this presentation before?

744
00:31:03,980 --> 00:31:04,480
OK.

745
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,300
How many of you are
thinking does Phillip

746
00:31:06,300 --> 00:31:09,510
give his presentation
every class?

747
00:31:09,510 --> 00:31:10,690
Correctarino.

748
00:31:10,690 --> 00:31:11,592
I do.

749
00:31:11,592 --> 00:31:14,190
[LAUGHTER]

750
00:31:14,190 --> 00:31:16,630
So I apologize to everyone
who's seen this presentation.

751
00:31:16,630 --> 00:31:18,600
Maybe there's one or two
little points in here

752
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,120
that you might not
have seen before.

753
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,090
But for the most
part, it is the same,

754
00:31:22,090 --> 00:31:24,390
because it is the
fundamental skill

755
00:31:24,390 --> 00:31:28,740
that we try to teach in every
single game design class,

756
00:31:28,740 --> 00:31:31,647
because it is basically
the first skill that you're

757
00:31:31,647 --> 00:31:33,230
going to need to be
able to figure out

758
00:31:33,230 --> 00:31:35,810
whether an idea works.

759
00:31:35,810 --> 00:31:39,480
How many of you have made
prototypes in any field,

760
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,570
say engineering,
software, whatever?

761
00:31:41,570 --> 00:31:45,268
All right, why do
you make a prototype?

762
00:31:45,268 --> 00:31:47,240
AUDIENCE: Because it's cheaper.

763
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:48,620
PHILLIP TAN:
Because it's cheaper

764
00:31:48,620 --> 00:31:49,744
than making the real thing.

765
00:31:49,744 --> 00:31:50,820
Sure.

766
00:31:50,820 --> 00:31:52,320
I thought I saw
some hands up there.

767
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:52,530
Yeah?

768
00:31:52,530 --> 00:31:54,250
AUDIENCE: It's faster than
making the whole thing.

769
00:31:54,250 --> 00:31:55,500
PHILLIP TAN: It's faster
than making the whole thing.

770
00:31:55,500 --> 00:31:56,010
Yeah.

771
00:31:56,010 --> 00:31:58,720
But that kind of goes
hand in hand too, right?

772
00:31:58,720 --> 00:31:59,729
Time is money.

773
00:31:59,729 --> 00:32:02,145
AUDIENCE: Making drastic changes
is a lot cheaper on paper

774
00:32:02,145 --> 00:32:03,284
than it is the built system.

775
00:32:03,284 --> 00:32:04,110
PHILLIP TAN: Ah, OK.

776
00:32:04,110 --> 00:32:04,610
All right.

777
00:32:04,610 --> 00:32:08,832
You can sort figure out what's
broken and then make changes.

778
00:32:08,832 --> 00:32:10,720
AUDIENCE: It shows
the proof of concept.

779
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,511
PHILLIP TAN: It shows
the proof of concept.

780
00:32:12,511 --> 00:32:14,867
You can show it to
other people, and not

781
00:32:14,867 --> 00:32:15,950
just prove it to yourself.

782
00:32:15,950 --> 00:32:16,934
Right.

783
00:32:16,934 --> 00:32:19,394
AUDIENCE: It's a lot easier
to experiment and make changes

784
00:32:19,394 --> 00:32:21,227
that are necessary when
you're not committed

785
00:32:21,227 --> 00:32:22,850
to something like [INAUDIBLE].

786
00:32:22,850 --> 00:32:23,070
PHILLIP TAN: All right.

787
00:32:23,070 --> 00:32:24,350
You can try a lot of
different ideas, right?

788
00:32:24,350 --> 00:32:26,510
It's like, I'm not quite
sure which way I want to go,

789
00:32:26,510 --> 00:32:28,676
so I'm going to try a lot
of different alternatives.

790
00:32:28,676 --> 00:32:31,474
AUDIENCE: It helps you realize,
maybe, your flaws [INAUDIBLE].

791
00:32:31,474 --> 00:32:33,140
PHILLIP TAN: Catch
the big problems that

792
00:32:33,140 --> 00:32:34,570
are going to break your design.

793
00:32:34,570 --> 00:32:36,440
Yeah.

794
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:37,910
AUDIENCE: To move from 2D to 3D?

795
00:32:37,910 --> 00:32:39,650
PHILLIP TAN: To
move from 2D to 3D?

796
00:32:39,650 --> 00:32:42,630
You'll make a 2D
prototype, before taking it

797
00:32:42,630 --> 00:32:45,620
into a more complex design.

798
00:32:45,620 --> 00:32:47,970
All of those are
absolutely true.

799
00:32:47,970 --> 00:32:49,680
You know, just for
the general sense

800
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,340
of why you want to do a
prototype at all is to get

801
00:32:53,340 --> 00:32:55,240
feedback from other people.

802
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:57,320
And you get it early,
you get it cheap.

803
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,370
And of course, we talked
about making changes

804
00:33:01,370 --> 00:33:02,524
early on in the process.

805
00:33:02,524 --> 00:33:04,190
Usually, it costs
less money because you

806
00:33:04,190 --> 00:33:06,000
haven't committed anything.

807
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,870
You haven't invested a whole lot
of resources in something just

808
00:33:08,870 --> 00:33:11,819
to have to change it again.

809
00:33:11,819 --> 00:33:14,360
If you're not quite sure which
direction you want your design

810
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:18,050
to go, you want to be able to
have lots of different ideas

811
00:33:18,050 --> 00:33:20,890
on the table and actually
see how all of them

812
00:33:20,890 --> 00:33:23,460
work in one way or another.

813
00:33:23,460 --> 00:33:24,960
We talked about how
easy it is to be

814
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,190
able to change our ideas
when you're prototyping.

815
00:33:27,190 --> 00:33:30,310
But also, it's easy to
discard a prototype.

816
00:33:30,310 --> 00:33:33,590
It's easy to just say,
well, that was a bad idea,

817
00:33:33,590 --> 00:33:37,010
because you haven't really
spent all that much time on it.

818
00:33:37,010 --> 00:33:39,230
And in many ways,
that's something

819
00:33:39,230 --> 00:33:43,100
you're going to need to
do in game design a lot.

820
00:33:43,100 --> 00:33:45,100
You're going to pursue
some of these ideas, some

821
00:33:45,100 --> 00:33:47,260
of these ideas that you've
already been discussing.

822
00:33:47,260 --> 00:33:49,320
And you're going to start
prototyping it today.

823
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:51,500
And then you're going to say,
well, that was a bad idea

824
00:33:51,500 --> 00:33:53,666
and shove the whole thing
off the table into a trash

825
00:33:53,666 --> 00:33:57,430
can somewhere and start afresh,
because you've spent what?

826
00:33:57,430 --> 00:34:00,230
An hour designing this thing?

827
00:34:00,230 --> 00:34:02,050
It's not going to be
a whole lot of time.

828
00:34:02,050 --> 00:34:05,610
And then you can learn
from that process

829
00:34:05,610 --> 00:34:07,710
and build something new.

830
00:34:07,710 --> 00:34:09,730
So that is very
good mindset to be

831
00:34:09,730 --> 00:34:11,960
able to have in
early iterations,

832
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:13,880
that this thing
that you're making

833
00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:16,780
is meant to be informative.

834
00:34:16,780 --> 00:34:19,090
It's meant to teach you
something about this project

835
00:34:19,090 --> 00:34:23,530
that you're working on, but it's
also meant to be disposable.

836
00:34:23,530 --> 00:34:27,969
It's something that you do
not have to make look good,

837
00:34:27,969 --> 00:34:30,520
or you don't have
to make it last.

838
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:33,377
You don't have to
make it perfect.

839
00:34:33,377 --> 00:34:34,960
You are just trying
to learn something

840
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,170
through the process
of prototyping.

841
00:34:37,170 --> 00:34:39,110
Now, when you're
making games, this

842
00:34:39,110 --> 00:34:40,909
is what you're
trying to figure out.

843
00:34:40,909 --> 00:34:42,159
You're trying to find the fun.

844
00:34:42,159 --> 00:34:44,870
And we've talked about
games being a series

845
00:34:44,870 --> 00:34:47,620
of interesting choices.

846
00:34:47,620 --> 00:34:52,310
And when you're prototyping,
what you are trying to do

847
00:34:52,310 --> 00:34:54,840
is you are trying to identify
what are those few game

848
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,180
mechanics that are going
to be able to sustain

849
00:34:57,180 --> 00:34:59,850
the interest of your players
over a significant amount

850
00:34:59,850 --> 00:35:01,880
of time.

851
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:03,970
So the nice thing
about prototyping

852
00:35:03,970 --> 00:35:07,024
when you're, say, trying to
design a computer game using

853
00:35:07,024 --> 00:35:08,690
paper materials or
something is that you

854
00:35:08,690 --> 00:35:12,770
have to define those mechanics
down to the very purest form.

855
00:35:12,770 --> 00:35:15,110
So for instance,
I could say, oh,

856
00:35:15,110 --> 00:35:17,780
this is going to be a
game about space aliens.

857
00:35:17,780 --> 00:35:21,440
And you're going to
run around shooting

858
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,230
different kinds of weapons and
occasionally throwing grenades

859
00:35:24,230 --> 00:35:25,130
and taking cover.

860
00:35:25,130 --> 00:35:27,940
And you get to fly ships
and drive things around.

861
00:35:27,940 --> 00:35:32,460
But what I can do when I'm
prototyping is that, all right,

862
00:35:32,460 --> 00:35:34,990
I'm going to make a
game where you come out

863
00:35:34,990 --> 00:35:37,450
and take a few potshots,
go under cover,

864
00:35:37,450 --> 00:35:39,880
wait for your [? shoots ?]
to recharge, throw a grenade,

865
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:41,490
wait for [? shoots ?]
to recharge,

866
00:35:41,490 --> 00:35:43,760
come out and take
a few potshots.

867
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:45,390
That's basically what game?

868
00:35:45,390 --> 00:35:46,120
AUDIENCE: Halo.

869
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:47,990
PHILLIP TAN: That's
basically Halo.

870
00:35:47,990 --> 00:35:51,160
That's the thing that you
do every 20 seconds in Halo

871
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:52,180
all the time.

872
00:35:52,180 --> 00:35:54,070
And that's really
the thing that you

873
00:35:54,070 --> 00:35:56,650
have to nail and get
absolutely right.

874
00:35:56,650 --> 00:35:59,120
So when you are
making a prototype,

875
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,160
you can identify, oh,
this core little loop

876
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:03,500
is the thing that's interesting.

877
00:36:03,500 --> 00:36:05,400
And if we can
actually get it right

878
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,904
and tuned perfectly in
[? additional ?] game, then

879
00:36:07,904 --> 00:36:10,070
we know players are going
to do this over, and over,

880
00:36:10,070 --> 00:36:12,710
and over again, and
it's gong to feel good.

881
00:36:12,710 --> 00:36:14,340
So you're trying
to find that fun.

882
00:36:14,340 --> 00:36:16,673
So you're going to focus on
the small handful of choices

883
00:36:16,673 --> 00:36:20,140
that a player must make in
order to play your prototype.

884
00:36:20,140 --> 00:36:22,960
And you model the system
with a few basic rules

885
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,030
that creates interesting
choices for the player.

886
00:36:26,030 --> 00:36:27,870
Always ask a question
about your game.

887
00:36:27,870 --> 00:36:29,390
Make sure it's falsifiable.

888
00:36:29,390 --> 00:36:35,560
Anyone heard that term,
"falsifiable hypothesis"?

889
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:37,052
No?

890
00:36:37,052 --> 00:36:38,310
Yep.

891
00:36:38,310 --> 00:36:39,105
What's that mean?

892
00:36:39,105 --> 00:36:43,542
AUDIENCE: Basically, it
means some kind of opinion

893
00:36:43,542 --> 00:36:45,350
that can be proven wrong.

894
00:36:45,350 --> 00:36:46,100
PHILLIP TAN: Yeah.

895
00:36:46,100 --> 00:36:50,610
You could say, well,
say the question is

896
00:36:50,610 --> 00:36:53,270
that we think the players
are going to enjoy making

897
00:36:53,270 --> 00:36:54,650
these kinds of decisions.

898
00:36:54,650 --> 00:36:57,870
And the answer could
be, no, they don't.

899
00:36:57,870 --> 00:36:59,630
You want that information.

900
00:36:59,630 --> 00:37:03,360
It could be something like
this particular design

901
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,060
is going to save time, right?

902
00:37:06,060 --> 00:37:08,740
It's going to be less
of a cognitive load.

903
00:37:08,740 --> 00:37:11,040
Or it's going to be easier
for players to understand.

904
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,660
And it should be
that kind of question

905
00:37:13,660 --> 00:37:15,690
that you ask when you're
making a prototype.

906
00:37:15,690 --> 00:37:18,230
Your prototype should be
able to be designed in a way

907
00:37:18,230 --> 00:37:21,270
where you can sit someone in
front of it, play through it,

908
00:37:21,270 --> 00:37:26,850
and then tell you yes or no,
was that hypothesis true or not.

909
00:37:26,850 --> 00:37:29,240
Now, physical prototyping,
paper prototyping,

910
00:37:29,240 --> 00:37:31,640
doesn't give you insight
into everything that you

911
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:33,642
can achieve in a digital game.

912
00:37:33,642 --> 00:37:35,600
It doesn't say, for
instance, tell you terribly

913
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,530
much about the sensory
experience of playing that game

914
00:37:38,530 --> 00:37:41,440
or how feasible a certain
feature is going to be.

915
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,590
So you don't discover everything
through making a prototype,

916
00:37:45,590 --> 00:37:46,750
but you do get a lot.

917
00:37:46,750 --> 00:37:50,350
Now, the other thing that
a few people alluded to

918
00:37:50,350 --> 00:37:53,080
is the ability
for your prototype

919
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:56,170
to communicate to other
people, especially

920
00:37:56,170 --> 00:37:58,080
other people on your team.

921
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,610
So imagine getting into a
room full of developers.

922
00:38:00,610 --> 00:38:02,940
All of you are game developers.

923
00:38:02,940 --> 00:38:06,990
And you don't know what's in
each other's heads right now.

924
00:38:06,990 --> 00:38:12,710
You maybe have come
down to a certain theme.

925
00:38:12,710 --> 00:38:15,040
And all of you have
different versions

926
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:18,980
of that game floating
in your head somewhere.

927
00:38:18,980 --> 00:38:21,930
Now, if you want to be able to
explain that to somebody else,

928
00:38:21,930 --> 00:38:24,200
it can be near to impossible
to communicate that.

929
00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:25,570
You can try doing it verbally.

930
00:38:25,570 --> 00:38:27,580
You can try writing it down.

931
00:38:27,580 --> 00:38:29,630
But all of those
methods don't really

932
00:38:29,630 --> 00:38:32,130
compare very well to something
you can actually set somebody

933
00:38:32,130 --> 00:38:33,910
in front and play.

934
00:38:33,910 --> 00:38:36,450
So what you are
trying to do is you're

935
00:38:36,450 --> 00:38:38,720
trying to give you own
team, to start with,

936
00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:40,980
something solid to work from.

937
00:38:40,980 --> 00:38:44,030
It may not necessarily be--
it will almost certainly not

938
00:38:44,030 --> 00:38:46,390
be the idea that
you're going to end up

939
00:38:46,390 --> 00:38:47,725
implementing in the long run.

940
00:38:47,725 --> 00:38:50,100
But you're going to start
creating some sort of framework

941
00:38:50,100 --> 00:38:52,265
for you to then say,
well, I didn't like that.

942
00:38:52,265 --> 00:38:53,140
I should change that.

943
00:38:53,140 --> 00:38:55,990
Or I really like that,
and we should try

944
00:38:55,990 --> 00:38:59,300
to polish that a little bit.

945
00:38:59,300 --> 00:39:00,940
So it's a communication tool.

946
00:39:00,940 --> 00:39:05,720
And any kind of game
design definitely

947
00:39:05,720 --> 00:39:09,720
benefits tremendously from early
stages of physical prototype,

948
00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:12,810
because it forces you
to think through how

949
00:39:12,810 --> 00:39:14,520
your game is going to work.

950
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,680
Every little detail about how
your rules worked, at least.

951
00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:19,800
Maybe not how your
game looks, maybe not

952
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:21,810
what your input mechanism
is, but certainly

953
00:39:21,810 --> 00:39:23,976
what are the decisions
you're asking for your player

954
00:39:23,976 --> 00:39:26,740
and what are the consequences
of those decisions.

955
00:39:26,740 --> 00:39:27,970
You have to define them.

956
00:39:27,970 --> 00:39:29,720
You have to write
them down in rules

957
00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:32,730
that your players, as
well as your design team,

958
00:39:32,730 --> 00:39:34,410
actually understand.

959
00:39:34,410 --> 00:39:36,140
And then they're
going to try it out.

960
00:39:36,140 --> 00:39:37,514
And you're going
to see all kinds

961
00:39:37,514 --> 00:39:40,260
of emergent little dynamics
pop up when all of these rules

962
00:39:40,260 --> 00:39:42,850
are put together that you
didn't anticipate, and could

963
00:39:42,850 --> 00:39:45,371
be really cool or could
completely break your game.

964
00:39:45,371 --> 00:39:46,620
And you want to find that out.

965
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,340
I talked about
bringing in testers.

966
00:39:52,340 --> 00:39:54,919
And as we keep
harping on this class,

967
00:39:54,919 --> 00:39:56,710
and again, every single
class that I teach,

968
00:39:56,710 --> 00:39:59,380
testing's incredibly important.

969
00:39:59,380 --> 00:40:02,130
But the nice thing
about paper prototyping

970
00:40:02,130 --> 00:40:04,450
is that you don't really
need special skills.

971
00:40:04,450 --> 00:40:08,710
You need third grade arts
and crafts skills, really.

972
00:40:08,710 --> 00:40:10,100
Maybe MIT math.

973
00:40:10,100 --> 00:40:10,960
Sure.

974
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:14,070
But actual, we're
talking about using

975
00:40:14,070 --> 00:40:18,060
markers and scissors and
kindergarten counters and dice.

976
00:40:18,060 --> 00:40:20,310
And the nice thing about it
is that, as your team gets

977
00:40:20,310 --> 00:40:23,530
larger and larger, everyone can
still contribute to the paper

978
00:40:23,530 --> 00:40:24,100
prototype.

979
00:40:24,100 --> 00:40:24,730
It could be an artist.

980
00:40:24,730 --> 00:40:26,870
It could be a designer, a
producer, a [? quoter, ?]

981
00:40:26,870 --> 00:40:30,780
a QA tester, even someone that
you just brought in for a day

982
00:40:30,780 --> 00:40:33,210
to play your game,
can all contribute

983
00:40:33,210 --> 00:40:36,250
to the design of the game,
because it can give you

984
00:40:36,250 --> 00:40:39,490
feedback of, well, what if,
instead of rolling this dice,

985
00:40:39,490 --> 00:40:40,500
I roll that dice.

986
00:40:40,500 --> 00:40:43,080
Or what if the grid was
a little bit bigger?

987
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,430
What if my pieces were
a little bit larger

988
00:40:45,430 --> 00:40:48,100
and took up more
space, for instance?

989
00:40:48,100 --> 00:40:51,310
A paper prototype itself is not
just interactive in its play,

990
00:40:51,310 --> 00:40:52,970
but is interactive
in the design.

991
00:40:52,970 --> 00:40:57,610
You can just open up the
hood of your paper prototype

992
00:40:57,610 --> 00:40:58,450
and change a rule.

993
00:41:01,260 --> 00:41:03,600
Do not do that when
you're working with code.

994
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,170
In the middle of
a playtest, do not

995
00:41:05,170 --> 00:41:08,530
change your code, for god sake.

996
00:41:08,530 --> 00:41:10,550
But you can do that with
the paper prototype.

997
00:41:10,550 --> 00:41:12,802
And many times, you
might want to do

998
00:41:12,802 --> 00:41:14,010
that in the middle of a test.

999
00:41:14,010 --> 00:41:16,840
It's like, you're
playing a game.

1000
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:19,140
10 minutes into the game,
it's like, oh, my god,

1001
00:41:19,140 --> 00:41:23,300
this game is hurtling
downhill into a pit.

1002
00:41:23,300 --> 00:41:24,560
And you can see it.

1003
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:25,590
And the player sees it.

1004
00:41:25,590 --> 00:41:27,230
And you know there's a problem.

1005
00:41:27,230 --> 00:41:29,003
You can just change
a rule and just say,

1006
00:41:29,003 --> 00:41:32,127
what if we did this
instead, mid-game even,

1007
00:41:32,127 --> 00:41:32,960
and then try it out.

1008
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,287
And says, oh, that seemed to
maybe address the problem.

1009
00:41:35,287 --> 00:41:36,870
Then start the game
from the beginning

1010
00:41:36,870 --> 00:41:39,480
and see if it actually did.

1011
00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:43,030
But you can do that
with a paper prototype.

1012
00:41:43,030 --> 00:41:45,100
Paper prototypes,
in particular, are

1013
00:41:45,100 --> 00:41:47,970
very good at revealing
usability problems.

1014
00:41:47,970 --> 00:41:52,260
The simple issue of a
player has a decision,

1015
00:41:52,260 --> 00:41:54,420
knows what he or
she wants to do,

1016
00:41:54,420 --> 00:41:57,360
and has no idea how to
actually execute that.

1017
00:41:57,360 --> 00:41:59,710
It's like, does that mean
I roll first and then move,

1018
00:41:59,710 --> 00:42:02,340
or do I move first and
roll, which piece do I

1019
00:42:02,340 --> 00:42:05,780
move, things like that.

1020
00:42:05,780 --> 00:42:07,280
Paper prototypes
are very, very good

1021
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:10,470
in sort of just
laying that bare.

1022
00:42:10,470 --> 00:42:12,760
Your team will see where
those problems are, as soon

1023
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:14,190
as somebody who's
not part of your team

1024
00:42:14,190 --> 00:42:15,481
sits down and tries to play it.

1025
00:42:18,740 --> 00:42:20,120
Let's see.

1026
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:25,500
Now, players do tend to
more readily give criticism

1027
00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:28,432
when they see something that's
very clearly incomplete, very

1028
00:42:28,432 --> 00:42:30,390
clearly something that
you're still working on.

1029
00:42:30,390 --> 00:42:32,950
And if you've got a
hand-drawn cardboard paper

1030
00:42:32,950 --> 00:42:34,760
prototype in front
of them, they know

1031
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:37,060
you're right at the
beginning of this project.

1032
00:42:37,060 --> 00:42:39,940
They know that they can
tell you something about,

1033
00:42:39,940 --> 00:42:41,996
I really don't like how
this character looks.

1034
00:42:41,996 --> 00:42:43,120
And it's like, that's fine.

1035
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:45,840
We spent two minutes
drawing that character.

1036
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:48,470
We can completely redo that.

1037
00:42:48,470 --> 00:42:51,480
And they'll tell you that, if
it feels like you haven't spent

1038
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,230
a whole lot of time in it.

1039
00:42:54,230 --> 00:42:56,600
And that's a useful trick,
by the way, if you are doing,

1040
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,700
say, the digital version
of your games later on.

1041
00:42:59,700 --> 00:43:02,070
It can actually be
easier to get feedback

1042
00:43:02,070 --> 00:43:06,340
if you deliberately insert some
things that look incomplete,

1043
00:43:06,340 --> 00:43:10,307
a giant box that says Place
Order right there while you're

1044
00:43:10,307 --> 00:43:12,140
doing your testing,
just to get a little bit

1045
00:43:12,140 --> 00:43:16,024
more feedback from your testers,
so they feel, OK, yes, they're

1046
00:43:16,024 --> 00:43:16,690
working on this.

1047
00:43:16,690 --> 00:43:19,760
I can tell you that
character looks terrible.

1048
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:21,720
And it's like, we
spent three days on it,

1049
00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:22,860
but you don't say that.

1050
00:43:22,860 --> 00:43:24,440
You don't say that
in front of them,

1051
00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:27,270
because you want that feedback.

1052
00:43:27,270 --> 00:43:31,540
But when they give you
feedback, you take everything

1053
00:43:31,540 --> 00:43:33,810
that they're telling you
with a grain of salt,

1054
00:43:33,810 --> 00:43:35,760
because, in the
paper prototype, it's

1055
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,060
very, very easy for
a tester that says,

1056
00:43:38,060 --> 00:43:40,660
I don't like pieces
that are this color.

1057
00:43:40,660 --> 00:43:43,010
I want pieces that
are that color.

1058
00:43:43,010 --> 00:43:44,330
And it's, OK.

1059
00:43:44,330 --> 00:43:46,670
You could just make
the substitution.

1060
00:43:46,670 --> 00:43:50,320
But what you should do is you
should think back a little bit

1061
00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:53,230
and try to figure out
why they're giving you

1062
00:43:53,230 --> 00:43:54,940
this piece of feedback.

1063
00:43:54,940 --> 00:43:56,440
They may have a
personal preference,

1064
00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:58,941
and they think this is the
way how it should be executed.

1065
00:43:58,941 --> 00:44:00,690
But probably what
they're say is that they

1066
00:44:00,690 --> 00:44:04,250
have some sort of actual
problem with your game,

1067
00:44:04,250 --> 00:44:06,790
and that's the only solution
that they can think of.

1068
00:44:06,790 --> 00:44:10,040
So for instance,
why does this person

1069
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:11,840
want to change the
color of the pieces

1070
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:12,980
that they're moving around?

1071
00:44:12,980 --> 00:44:14,670
Is it because they're
having trouble

1072
00:44:14,670 --> 00:44:16,300
telling the pieces apart?

1073
00:44:16,300 --> 00:44:17,820
That may be the real problem.

1074
00:44:17,820 --> 00:44:19,902
And the solution may
not be change the pieces

1075
00:44:19,902 --> 00:44:22,110
to a different color, it
may be like change the piece

1076
00:44:22,110 --> 00:44:24,470
into a completely
different shape,

1077
00:44:24,470 --> 00:44:26,540
stick a little sticker on them.

1078
00:44:26,540 --> 00:44:30,020
On a computer, it's going to be
different kinds of solutions.

1079
00:44:30,020 --> 00:44:32,400
Vet every little
bit of information

1080
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:33,480
that comes into you.

1081
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:35,390
People can make
suggestions on how

1082
00:44:35,390 --> 00:44:37,710
you're going to
change your design,

1083
00:44:37,710 --> 00:44:40,000
but it's up to the team
to actually provide

1084
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:41,860
some sort of unified
direction on where

1085
00:44:41,860 --> 00:44:43,600
you want the game to go.

1086
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:45,450
So the feedback is valuable.

1087
00:44:45,450 --> 00:44:48,480
The solutions they're
providing may not

1088
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,840
be the solutions
you want to use.

1089
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,266
Any questions so far about
why we're doing prototyping?

1090
00:44:56,920 --> 00:44:57,620
No?

1091
00:44:57,620 --> 00:44:58,890
OK.

1092
00:44:58,890 --> 00:45:00,330
We'll have more questions later.

1093
00:45:00,330 --> 00:45:02,871
So here are the kinds of tools
that you're going to be using,

1094
00:45:02,871 --> 00:45:06,160
very large sheets of paper.

1095
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,080
This is probably the smallest
sheet of paper-- well,

1096
00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:11,730
we're going to be using
index cards as well.

1097
00:45:11,730 --> 00:45:13,980
A lot of you have seen this
before in my other classes

1098
00:45:13,980 --> 00:45:14,480
as well.

1099
00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:18,550
This is a square grid on one
side, hex squared on another.

1100
00:45:18,550 --> 00:45:20,604
For spatial games,
you can use this.

1101
00:45:20,604 --> 00:45:22,270
But sometimes, it's
much better to start

1102
00:45:22,270 --> 00:45:23,780
with a blank sheet of paper.

1103
00:45:23,780 --> 00:45:27,910
So don't immediately
start designing grid games

1104
00:45:27,910 --> 00:45:31,690
just because we happen to
have sheets of gridded paper.

1105
00:45:31,690 --> 00:45:34,650
But we do want them to be
large, so that everyone

1106
00:45:34,650 --> 00:45:36,900
around the team can
actually see what you're

1107
00:45:36,900 --> 00:45:39,530
working on at the same time,
as well as the people playing

1108
00:45:39,530 --> 00:45:41,150
the game.

1109
00:45:41,150 --> 00:45:44,147
If you're going to be designing
something like an iPad game

1110
00:45:44,147 --> 00:45:46,230
or something like that,
don't use something that's

1111
00:45:46,230 --> 00:45:47,660
literally the size of the iPad.

1112
00:45:47,660 --> 00:45:49,440
Use something a
little bit larger,

1113
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:51,160
so that everyone
around the table

1114
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,980
can see what the tester
is doing while they're

1115
00:45:53,980 --> 00:45:57,580
testing your prototype

1116
00:45:57,580 --> 00:46:01,090
We use index cards for a
lot of different things,

1117
00:46:01,090 --> 00:46:02,720
writing down rules.

1118
00:46:02,720 --> 00:46:06,350
You can shuffle them and
use them as playing cards.

1119
00:46:06,350 --> 00:46:09,510
You can record data on them.

1120
00:46:09,510 --> 00:46:13,440
They're very disposable, more
accurately, very recyclable.

1121
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:17,670
Please, please recycle
any paper material.

1122
00:46:17,670 --> 00:46:19,740
Dice, of course.

1123
00:46:19,740 --> 00:46:21,130
They can be tokens.

1124
00:46:21,130 --> 00:46:23,600
They can be used to help
keep track of stats.

1125
00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:25,910
But something that I've seen
a lot, that students like

1126
00:46:25,910 --> 00:46:29,060
to use a lot, is they
use two 10-sided dice

1127
00:46:29,060 --> 00:46:34,270
to keep track of a number
between zero to 99.

1128
00:46:34,270 --> 00:46:35,740
That's a really bad idea.

1129
00:46:35,740 --> 00:46:40,650
One brush of the hand, and
that variable is gone, right?

1130
00:46:40,650 --> 00:46:44,820
You can swap the tens and
the ones really easily.

1131
00:46:44,820 --> 00:46:46,470
It's like, was that 91 or 19?

1132
00:46:46,470 --> 00:46:48,130
I can't remember.

1133
00:46:48,130 --> 00:46:50,000
So if you want to
record variables,

1134
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:51,815
just gram an index card and
just write down the variable.

1135
00:46:51,815 --> 00:46:53,540
And then, whenever
the variable changes,

1136
00:46:53,540 --> 00:46:56,420
cross it out right
in your variable.

1137
00:46:56,420 --> 00:46:59,760
It's much better for
you to use a dice either

1138
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:02,930
as actual randomizers, or
you can use them sometimes

1139
00:47:02,930 --> 00:47:07,630
as tokens that move
around on the board.

1140
00:47:07,630 --> 00:47:08,190
Let's see.

1141
00:47:08,190 --> 00:47:11,070
What else?

1142
00:47:11,070 --> 00:47:13,800
Game bits, pieces
from other games

1143
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:18,400
are wonderful, but sometimes
a little irritating because,

1144
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:19,960
if you took them
out of the game box,

1145
00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:21,780
then you have to put them back
into the game box, otherwise,

1146
00:47:21,780 --> 00:47:23,530
you've just ruined
your copy of the game.

1147
00:47:23,530 --> 00:47:26,230
So I like using disposable
kindergarten counters a lot,

1148
00:47:26,230 --> 00:47:29,170
because I don't really care
about returning exactly

1149
00:47:29,170 --> 00:47:32,740
the same number I took out.

1150
00:47:32,740 --> 00:47:34,620
And there's usually
less assumption

1151
00:47:34,620 --> 00:47:37,350
about what a kindergarten
counter is supposed to be.

1152
00:47:37,350 --> 00:47:38,290
Is it a number?

1153
00:47:38,290 --> 00:47:39,680
Is it a person?

1154
00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:42,224
Whereas, if you use game bits,
that's kind of person-shaped,

1155
00:47:42,224 --> 00:47:43,140
[? meatball-shaped. ?]

1156
00:47:46,110 --> 00:47:47,610
Post-it glue and
notepads-- well, I

1157
00:47:47,610 --> 00:47:51,070
don't think we actually have
any Post-it glue right now,

1158
00:47:51,070 --> 00:47:53,700
but they're
basically glue sticks

1159
00:47:53,700 --> 00:47:56,480
that don't stick permanently.

1160
00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:00,730
So you put that on an index
card or on a piece of paper,

1161
00:48:00,730 --> 00:48:02,790
and suddenly, it
becomes a Post-it.

1162
00:48:02,790 --> 00:48:05,000
But what we do have are a
lot of Post-it note pads,

1163
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:06,320
both big ones and small ones.

1164
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:09,780
And these are useful for
you to simulate displays,

1165
00:48:09,780 --> 00:48:12,560
for instance, or variables and
information that a player is

1166
00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:13,400
supposed to have.

1167
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:17,850
And you don't want that to go
flying off if somebody sneezes.

1168
00:48:17,850 --> 00:48:19,584
Of course-- oh, right.

1169
00:48:19,584 --> 00:48:21,500
I have a picture of some
Kindergarten counters

1170
00:48:21,500 --> 00:48:24,734
up there-- pencils, pens,
markers, scissors, tape,

1171
00:48:24,734 --> 00:48:26,400
just to be able to
hold things together,

1172
00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:29,300
write down information.

1173
00:48:29,300 --> 00:48:31,810
Something else about
Kindergarten counters.

1174
00:48:31,810 --> 00:48:34,280
We have a particular kind
of Kindergarten counter,

1175
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:37,150
which is an interlocking cube.

1176
00:48:37,150 --> 00:48:38,440
You take it out?

1177
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:41,140
PROFESSOR: Every year, we've--

1178
00:48:41,140 --> 00:48:42,859
PHILLIP TAN: Well,
it is possible

1179
00:48:42,859 --> 00:48:45,150
that we took them out because
they're very problematic.

1180
00:48:45,150 --> 00:48:46,970
Because once I give
you interlocking cubes,

1181
00:48:46,970 --> 00:48:50,310
you make games about
interlocking cubes.

1182
00:48:50,310 --> 00:48:52,894
It's like handing LEGOs.

1183
00:48:52,894 --> 00:48:54,310
And then, the first
thing everyone

1184
00:48:54,310 --> 00:48:55,690
thinks of is let's
make it a game

1185
00:48:55,690 --> 00:48:57,690
where you put things
together and assemble them.

1186
00:48:57,690 --> 00:48:58,840
AUDIENCE: Like
stacking counters.

1187
00:48:58,840 --> 00:48:59,900
PHILLIP TAN: Stacking counters.

1188
00:48:59,900 --> 00:49:01,358
AUDIENCE: So you
make games about--

1189
00:49:01,358 --> 00:49:02,770
PHILLIP TAN: Stacking.

1190
00:49:02,770 --> 00:49:03,390
Yeah.

1191
00:49:03,390 --> 00:49:06,120
The pieces that you end up
prototyping with sometimes

1192
00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:09,520
ends up shaping the
direction of your game.

1193
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:12,830
And then, sometimes, if you
are dealing with a designer's

1194
00:49:12,830 --> 00:49:14,260
block, that can be helpful.

1195
00:49:14,260 --> 00:49:16,220
That gives you a path to follow.

1196
00:49:16,220 --> 00:49:19,330
But in many ways,
that's a distraction.

1197
00:49:19,330 --> 00:49:22,830
You start becoming constrained
by your tools, instead of

1198
00:49:22,830 --> 00:49:24,970
the idea that you're
trying to work with.

1199
00:49:24,970 --> 00:49:28,005
So if we managed to get rid
of the interlocking cubes,

1200
00:49:28,005 --> 00:49:28,630
that's awesome.

1201
00:49:28,630 --> 00:49:31,730
But if they're still in
there, by all means, use them.

1202
00:49:31,730 --> 00:49:34,140
But don't automatically
assume you

1203
00:49:34,140 --> 00:49:37,950
have to make a game
about interlocking cubes.

1204
00:49:37,950 --> 00:49:41,690
Now, don't forget to keep a
record of everything, including

1205
00:49:41,690 --> 00:49:43,690
all of the notes
that you've had.

1206
00:49:43,690 --> 00:49:47,160
Use your phone camera
doing the session.

1207
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:49,170
At the end of your
project, make sure

1208
00:49:49,170 --> 00:49:51,710
that you try to
get them scanned,

1209
00:49:51,710 --> 00:49:53,900
photocopied in some way.

1210
00:49:53,900 --> 00:49:56,920
There are a lot of photocopy
machines around campus now.

1211
00:49:56,920 --> 00:49:58,440
There are actually scanners.

1212
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:00,780
And you just put the
raw materials on top.

1213
00:50:00,780 --> 00:50:03,040
And instead of
generating a copy,

1214
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:06,880
you can have them email a color
scan to your email account.

1215
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:10,005
Those things are really useful
for your final assignment.

1216
00:50:10,005 --> 00:50:11,102
OK.

1217
00:50:11,102 --> 00:50:12,060
So those are the tools.

1218
00:50:15,340 --> 00:50:18,660
Who are the people
sitting around the table?

1219
00:50:18,660 --> 00:50:23,870
When you've actually
made a prototype, what

1220
00:50:23,870 --> 00:50:26,960
happens is-- I guess I got
some of my slides mixed up--

1221
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:29,620
this usually happens at
the end of having designed

1222
00:50:29,620 --> 00:50:31,325
a workable prototype
is that there

1223
00:50:31,325 --> 00:50:33,840
is going to be a bunch of
people sitting around the table.

1224
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:35,620
And each person has
a different role.

1225
00:50:35,620 --> 00:50:36,730
That's, of course, the
person who's actually

1226
00:50:36,730 --> 00:50:38,390
going to be playing
the game, preferably

1227
00:50:38,390 --> 00:50:40,080
somebody from a different
team or somebody who's

1228
00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:41,361
even outside of this class.

1229
00:50:41,361 --> 00:50:43,360
It could be one of us
instructors, for instance.

1230
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:46,340
It could be one
of the OCW people.

1231
00:50:46,340 --> 00:50:50,622
And somebody in your team is
going to be a facilitator.

1232
00:50:50,622 --> 00:50:52,330
This is the person
who's going to present

1233
00:50:52,330 --> 00:50:54,830
the rules to the person
who's going to play,

1234
00:50:54,830 --> 00:50:57,920
you know, tell them that we're
looking for your feedback.

1235
00:50:57,920 --> 00:50:58,919
Make them comfortable.

1236
00:50:58,919 --> 00:51:00,710
Make sure that they
understand what they're

1237
00:51:00,710 --> 00:51:04,720
supposed to be doing and
basically making sure

1238
00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:08,190
that the session runs
according to script.

1239
00:51:08,190 --> 00:51:12,280
That person, or somebody else,
can also be the computer.

1240
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:14,580
This is the person who is
actually making the prototype

1241
00:51:14,580 --> 00:51:19,630
work, updating variables,
moving the positions of pieces

1242
00:51:19,630 --> 00:51:22,510
on the board, revealing
new dialogue boxes,

1243
00:51:22,510 --> 00:51:27,160
or basically making the
board respond to what

1244
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:29,230
the player decides to do.

1245
00:51:29,230 --> 00:51:34,100
And the computer is trying
to do all the computation

1246
00:51:34,100 --> 00:51:36,110
that your actual
computer will do,

1247
00:51:36,110 --> 00:51:37,880
if you're making a digital game.

1248
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:40,380
The computer should not do
anything that a real computer

1249
00:51:40,380 --> 00:51:40,880
wouldn't.

1250
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:43,800
So for instance, if somebody
doesn't understand a rule,

1251
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:49,580
the computer person shouldn't
be correcting the player.

1252
00:51:49,580 --> 00:51:51,211
The facilitator could.

1253
00:51:51,211 --> 00:51:53,210
But sometimes, what I
find is really interesting

1254
00:51:53,210 --> 00:51:55,560
is that somebody thinks
a rule works differently.

1255
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:56,990
I let them play through it.

1256
00:51:56,990 --> 00:51:59,150
And that becomes like
a different iteration

1257
00:51:59,150 --> 00:52:00,210
of the game.

1258
00:52:00,210 --> 00:52:02,380
And sometimes, it
turns out to be better.

1259
00:52:02,380 --> 00:52:05,210
Then you can run
through the iteration

1260
00:52:05,210 --> 00:52:06,400
with the correct rule.

1261
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:07,342
Yeah?

1262
00:52:07,342 --> 00:52:09,092
AUDIENCE: So the person
who's the computer

1263
00:52:09,092 --> 00:52:11,590
does have to make a choice
at that point of whether they

1264
00:52:11,590 --> 00:52:15,302
would let them play according
to what they think the rule is?

1265
00:52:15,302 --> 00:52:16,010
PHILLIP TAN: Yes.

1266
00:52:16,010 --> 00:52:18,016
AUDIENCE: Or what
the computer-- like

1267
00:52:18,016 --> 00:52:20,196
if it were a real
computer, it would just

1268
00:52:20,196 --> 00:52:23,000
think [INAUDIBLE] something
that doesn't work [INAUDIBLE].

1269
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:24,590
PHILLIP TAN: And
it puts it in play.

1270
00:52:24,590 --> 00:52:27,146
And the computer says,
nothing happens, you know?

1271
00:52:27,146 --> 00:52:28,520
It's like you can
do that, right?

1272
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:30,780
It's like if the person
really doesn't [INAUDIBLE].

1273
00:52:30,780 --> 00:52:33,810
But if you notice, say,
this person is clearly

1274
00:52:33,810 --> 00:52:36,830
playing a really
sub-optimal strategy,

1275
00:52:36,830 --> 00:52:38,286
just respond like
a computer will,

1276
00:52:38,286 --> 00:52:39,910
lead them to
[? that loose ?] condition

1277
00:52:39,910 --> 00:52:43,250
or whatever it is that happens.

1278
00:52:43,250 --> 00:52:45,300
Because in many ways,
that's how an actual player

1279
00:52:45,300 --> 00:52:48,160
is going to learn how to play
your game in the long run.

1280
00:52:48,160 --> 00:52:50,290
They're going to make
a lot of bad decisions.

1281
00:52:50,290 --> 00:52:51,820
The computer is
going to respond,

1282
00:52:51,820 --> 00:52:53,861
and then they're going to
learn from the mistakes

1283
00:52:53,861 --> 00:52:57,900
that they made and then
try it differently.

1284
00:52:57,900 --> 00:52:59,832
Let's see.

1285
00:52:59,832 --> 00:53:01,290
Something else that
the facilitator

1286
00:53:01,290 --> 00:53:03,540
can do while the game
is going on-- say,

1287
00:53:03,540 --> 00:53:04,998
the player is
actually playing-- is

1288
00:53:04,998 --> 00:53:08,530
to encourage the
player to think aloud.

1289
00:53:08,530 --> 00:53:12,900
So the person that you
brought in to play your game

1290
00:53:12,900 --> 00:53:14,750
is trying to
understand your game

1291
00:53:14,750 --> 00:53:16,700
and is just like
sitting there in silence

1292
00:53:16,700 --> 00:53:17,800
looking at the board.

1293
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:20,470
And you don't know if they're
bored, confused, or really

1294
00:53:20,470 --> 00:53:21,500
into it.

1295
00:53:21,500 --> 00:53:24,850
So you ask them, what
are you thinking now?

1296
00:53:24,850 --> 00:53:27,734
And if they're saying,
what are all these pieces?

1297
00:53:27,734 --> 00:53:28,400
All right, then.

1298
00:53:28,400 --> 00:53:30,300
You know that they're confused.

1299
00:53:30,300 --> 00:53:32,840
The facilitator can
help, can say, all right,

1300
00:53:32,840 --> 00:53:35,150
let's start again,
and I'll explain

1301
00:53:35,150 --> 00:53:36,420
what all these pieces are.

1302
00:53:36,420 --> 00:53:38,880
They could be, ah, I've got
like five different strategies,

1303
00:53:38,880 --> 00:53:41,380
and I'm trying to figure out
which-- you know, I'm thinking,

1304
00:53:41,380 --> 00:53:43,220
maybe, if I move this here,
[? I move this out, ?] OK,

1305
00:53:43,220 --> 00:53:44,540
that person's into it, right?

1306
00:53:44,540 --> 00:53:47,810
That person's really thinking
hard about this problem.

1307
00:53:47,810 --> 00:53:50,502
Everybody else in your
team watching that board.

1308
00:53:50,502 --> 00:53:52,460
And this is the reason
why we have a big board.

1309
00:53:52,460 --> 00:53:54,560
As an observer, you
want to be able to see

1310
00:53:54,560 --> 00:53:56,120
what's going on in your game.

1311
00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:59,135
You want to be able to write
down the information in a note

1312
00:53:59,135 --> 00:54:03,231
book or on your laptop and try
to record whatever information.

1313
00:54:03,231 --> 00:54:05,480
Most importantly, look at
the face of the person who's

1314
00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:07,360
playing the game.

1315
00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:11,630
Again, that helps identify
whether they're confused

1316
00:54:11,630 --> 00:54:13,806
or whether they're
really into it

1317
00:54:13,806 --> 00:54:15,305
and trying to make
a tough decision,

1318
00:54:15,305 --> 00:54:16,350
or they're just bored.

1319
00:54:19,100 --> 00:54:20,995
Don't offer help to
the user, especially

1320
00:54:20,995 --> 00:54:22,370
if you're on the
development team

1321
00:54:22,370 --> 00:54:24,210
and you know all
about this game.

1322
00:54:24,210 --> 00:54:28,260
It can be a real temptation to
basically just tell the user,

1323
00:54:28,260 --> 00:54:30,030
this is what you want to do.

1324
00:54:30,030 --> 00:54:30,620
Don't do that.

1325
00:54:30,620 --> 00:54:31,430
Sit on your hands.

1326
00:54:31,430 --> 00:54:33,570
Bite your tongue.

1327
00:54:33,570 --> 00:54:35,200
It can be hard to
take notes when

1328
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:39,870
you're sitting on your hands,
but, you know, take notes.

1329
00:54:39,870 --> 00:54:43,210
And the person who's
being the computer

1330
00:54:43,210 --> 00:54:47,030
and being the facilitator really
doesn't have the bandwidth.

1331
00:54:47,030 --> 00:54:49,370
Those people do not have
the bandwidth to take notes.

1332
00:54:49,370 --> 00:54:51,594
So someone has to be
officially designated

1333
00:54:51,594 --> 00:54:53,760
with the job of actually
taking notes and observing.

1334
00:54:56,740 --> 00:54:59,790
What we're going to be
doing is a Wizard of Oz test

1335
00:54:59,790 --> 00:55:01,110
for your games.

1336
00:55:01,110 --> 00:55:03,900
And that is someone's
playing the computer.

1337
00:55:03,900 --> 00:55:05,950
It's very constrained in
terms of communication

1338
00:55:05,950 --> 00:55:10,060
between the computer and the
person who's testing your game.

1339
00:55:10,060 --> 00:55:12,486
The rules are
usually pretty rigid.

1340
00:55:12,486 --> 00:55:14,110
And the nice thing
about it is that you

1341
00:55:14,110 --> 00:55:19,180
can do a pretty deep
analysis of a game.

1342
00:55:19,180 --> 00:55:24,040
You can make a game that sort of
goes through multiple decisions

1343
00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:26,716
into sort of long-term
consequences.

1344
00:55:26,716 --> 00:55:28,090
That's not
necessarily what we're

1345
00:55:28,090 --> 00:55:30,549
asking you to do for Project 1.

1346
00:55:30,549 --> 00:55:32,090
I'm just telling
you this because you

1347
00:55:32,090 --> 00:55:35,560
might want to do this
for Project 2, 3, or 4.

1348
00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:37,930
A Wizard of Oz test
allows you to really

1349
00:55:37,930 --> 00:55:41,080
do a deep dive into how a
particular feature works,

1350
00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:43,320
for instance.

1351
00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:48,490
And since it's a human
simulating the back end,

1352
00:55:48,490 --> 00:55:50,210
simulating the
computing, you can

1353
00:55:50,210 --> 00:55:54,450
be very high-fidelity
with very little cost.

1354
00:55:54,450 --> 00:55:57,210
That's not, again, we're
asking you to do for Project 1.

1355
00:55:57,210 --> 00:55:59,670
We're asking you to do a
low-fidelity prototype.

1356
00:55:59,670 --> 00:56:02,940
And we'll go into a little bit
more detail about what that is.

1357
00:56:02,940 --> 00:56:03,570
Very important.

1358
00:56:03,570 --> 00:56:05,903
Don't let the player know
what the computer is thinking.

1359
00:56:05,903 --> 00:56:07,600
The computer only
displays information.

1360
00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:09,630
You do not reveal
how the computer

1361
00:56:09,630 --> 00:56:12,922
is coming to those conclusions.

1362
00:56:12,922 --> 00:56:14,880
There are a couple of
other kinds of prototypes

1363
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:15,660
that you could design.

1364
00:56:15,660 --> 00:56:18,076
I'm going to run through them
very quickly, because that's

1365
00:56:18,076 --> 00:56:20,740
not what happens in this class.

1366
00:56:20,740 --> 00:56:23,520
Player versus player, what
you'd expect in a board

1367
00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:25,440
game or a card game situation.

1368
00:56:25,440 --> 00:56:26,850
We have a class just for that.

1369
00:56:26,850 --> 00:56:30,124
And you can make cooperative
games, competitive games.

1370
00:56:30,124 --> 00:56:31,540
You can make games
where everybody

1371
00:56:31,540 --> 00:56:34,100
has the same role, a symmetric
game, or asymmetric game where

1372
00:56:34,100 --> 00:56:35,927
everyone has different roles.

1373
00:56:35,927 --> 00:56:37,510
The problem about
that is that there's

1374
00:56:37,510 --> 00:56:40,000
a lot of loose
miscommunication happening

1375
00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:42,370
between the people who are
actually playing your game.

1376
00:56:42,370 --> 00:56:44,200
And they may decide
on a house rule

1377
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:45,840
that was totally not
what you intended

1378
00:56:45,840 --> 00:56:48,240
or designed as developers.

1379
00:56:48,240 --> 00:56:49,680
And that turns
out to be the rule

1380
00:56:49,680 --> 00:56:50,690
that you end up playing with.

1381
00:56:50,690 --> 00:56:52,160
Again, what I like
to do is I like

1382
00:56:52,160 --> 00:56:53,676
to see them play
through that rule.

1383
00:56:53,676 --> 00:56:55,550
Then, at the end of the
game, I correct them,

1384
00:56:55,550 --> 00:56:56,920
and I have them play
through the rule

1385
00:56:56,920 --> 00:56:58,870
that I originally designed,
because sometimes,

1386
00:56:58,870 --> 00:57:01,327
the rule that they
came up with is better.

1387
00:57:01,327 --> 00:57:03,410
The facilitator, again,
helps to explain the rules

1388
00:57:03,410 --> 00:57:04,680
at the beginning of the game.

1389
00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:07,670
And then you kind of
just watch after that.

1390
00:57:07,670 --> 00:57:10,190
It's hard to get consistent
results across tests

1391
00:57:10,190 --> 00:57:11,770
when you're doing
a multiplayer game,

1392
00:57:11,770 --> 00:57:13,660
because it's very
hard to duplicate

1393
00:57:13,660 --> 00:57:15,070
exactly the same situation.

1394
00:57:15,070 --> 00:57:16,820
Whereas, you can do
that on a Wizard of Oz

1395
00:57:16,820 --> 00:57:18,384
test pretty easily.

1396
00:57:18,384 --> 00:57:20,050
But if you're making
a multiplayer game,

1397
00:57:20,050 --> 00:57:22,090
you have to do a
multiplayer test.

1398
00:57:22,090 --> 00:57:24,020
So this might actually
happen-- actually,

1399
00:57:24,020 --> 00:57:26,162
are we saying that you
can only do single player

1400
00:57:26,162 --> 00:57:26,995
games this semester?

1401
00:57:30,170 --> 00:57:32,650
I'm not quite sure
what the constraint is.

1402
00:57:36,200 --> 00:57:39,010
You can also do live
action, not for today.

1403
00:57:39,010 --> 00:57:42,319
But I actually enjoy
these where you actually

1404
00:57:42,319 --> 00:57:44,860
have predetermined rules that
are explained between the game.

1405
00:57:44,860 --> 00:57:46,820
And then you just
let real human beings

1406
00:57:46,820 --> 00:57:49,849
walk around and do stuff.

1407
00:57:49,849 --> 00:57:52,390
The problem with this is there's
a very limited communication

1408
00:57:52,390 --> 00:57:55,070
between people who are playing
a game or even the people who

1409
00:57:55,070 --> 00:57:58,740
are running the game, because
everyone's kind of physically

1410
00:57:58,740 --> 00:57:59,970
spread out.

1411
00:57:59,970 --> 00:58:03,157
But it can be really
useful for a game,

1412
00:58:03,157 --> 00:58:05,240
if your game is really
about a human being walking

1413
00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:07,335
through a space, such
like a stealth game

1414
00:58:07,335 --> 00:58:08,449
or something like that.

1415
00:58:08,449 --> 00:58:10,490
Yes, that's actually a
person in that U-Haul box.

1416
00:58:13,454 --> 00:58:14,940
All right.

1417
00:58:14,940 --> 00:58:17,440
So when you're actually
making your prototype,

1418
00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:19,440
here are the things
that you have

1419
00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:22,680
to make sure you do for
every single prototype.

1420
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:26,790
Keep it hand-drawn, because
hand-drawing is fast.

1421
00:58:26,790 --> 00:58:28,540
You want to keep it
really, really sketchy

1422
00:58:28,540 --> 00:58:30,620
and look really sketchy
and rough, again,

1423
00:58:30,620 --> 00:58:33,981
because that actually gets you
feedback from the people who

1424
00:58:33,981 --> 00:58:34,480
are testing.

1425
00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:36,180
You make it look
too pretty, people

1426
00:58:36,180 --> 00:58:38,940
are going to hesitate
on commenting on how

1427
00:58:38,940 --> 00:58:40,330
your game looks, for instance.

1428
00:58:40,330 --> 00:58:42,510
Or they may actually
hesitate on commenting

1429
00:58:42,510 --> 00:58:46,354
on how your game works,
even though that may not

1430
00:58:46,354 --> 00:58:47,770
be the prettiest
part of the game,

1431
00:58:47,770 --> 00:58:50,590
because they can tell you spent
a lot of time on this game.

1432
00:58:50,590 --> 00:58:52,570
Again, you want it to be big.

1433
00:58:52,570 --> 00:58:55,350
Everyone needs to be able to see
what's going on during testing.

1434
00:58:55,350 --> 00:58:59,660
And just use one dark color,
if you can for your inks,

1435
00:58:59,660 --> 00:59:01,430
for your markers.

1436
00:59:01,430 --> 00:59:03,980
It needs to be
dark, high-contrast,

1437
00:59:03,980 --> 00:59:07,630
so that everyone
can read it easily.

1438
00:59:07,630 --> 00:59:10,580
You can use different
color cards, for instance,

1439
00:59:10,580 --> 00:59:13,150
to be able to tell this card
is a different kind of card

1440
00:59:13,150 --> 00:59:16,360
from that card, but
don't use multiple colors

1441
00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:17,130
on the same card.

1442
00:59:17,130 --> 00:59:18,772
That's just not
worth the effort.

1443
00:59:18,772 --> 00:59:20,480
And again, it gives
people the impression

1444
00:59:20,480 --> 00:59:22,980
that you spent a lot of
time on this prototype.

1445
00:59:22,980 --> 00:59:25,110
And even if you
have, you don't want

1446
00:59:25,110 --> 00:59:28,600
to give them that impression.

1447
00:59:28,600 --> 00:59:29,900
You write your rules on cards.

1448
00:59:29,900 --> 00:59:31,929
So keep track of your rules.

1449
00:59:31,929 --> 00:59:33,970
Eventually, you're going
to end up typing it down

1450
00:59:33,970 --> 00:59:36,950
on your laptop, because that'll
make it easier for you to turn

1451
00:59:36,950 --> 00:59:39,070
in your work for Project 1.

1452
00:59:39,070 --> 00:59:41,132
But while you're
working on a prototype,

1453
00:59:41,132 --> 00:59:42,590
try writing your
rules on the cards

1454
00:59:42,590 --> 00:59:44,465
instead, because that
allows you to do things

1455
00:59:44,465 --> 00:59:49,300
like rearrange the steps in
which certain rules operate.

1456
00:59:49,300 --> 00:59:53,050
It allows you to change
out a rule really easily,

1457
00:59:53,050 --> 00:59:54,575
while keeping the
old rule around.

1458
00:59:54,575 --> 00:59:56,200
And you can just swap
things in and you

1459
00:59:56,200 --> 00:59:58,120
can try things differently.

1460
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:00,490
Every time you change a
rule, change the card.

1461
01:00:00,490 --> 01:00:03,680
If you are changing the number
of rules, instead of taking,

1462
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:05,182
say, take three
steps every turn,

1463
01:00:05,182 --> 01:00:07,640
you say take two steps every
turn, just cross out the three

1464
01:00:07,640 --> 01:00:09,700
and write two in there.

1465
01:00:09,700 --> 01:00:12,280
Now, periodically take photos
with your phone cameras.

1466
01:00:12,280 --> 01:00:13,690
And always try to simplify.

1467
01:00:13,690 --> 01:00:16,270
Always try to get
down to the smallest

1468
01:00:16,270 --> 01:00:20,010
set of rules that is necessary
for you to test your idea.

1469
01:00:20,010 --> 01:00:22,140
Part of that is just
to speed up testing.

1470
01:00:22,140 --> 01:00:23,850
You're going to test
within your team

1471
01:00:23,850 --> 01:00:26,780
first, just to be able to see
whether this basic mechanism

1472
01:00:26,780 --> 01:00:27,280
works.

1473
01:00:27,280 --> 01:00:30,360
And eventually, you're going to
end up testing with each other.

1474
01:00:30,360 --> 01:00:33,792
And the simpler your
rules, the less time

1475
01:00:33,792 --> 01:00:35,500
it is to be able to
start a new playtest,

1476
01:00:35,500 --> 01:00:37,130
because there's less
for you to explain

1477
01:00:37,130 --> 01:00:41,060
to somebody else who's
never seen your game before.

1478
01:00:41,060 --> 01:00:43,275
So try to get your rules to
be as simple as possible.

1479
01:00:46,444 --> 01:00:48,360
Also, if you have too
many rules and something

1480
01:00:48,360 --> 01:00:50,120
breaks in your game,
it's sometimes harder

1481
01:00:50,120 --> 01:00:53,074
to figure out which
rule was the culprit.

1482
01:00:53,074 --> 01:00:55,490
If you have fewer rules, it's
usually more obvious for you

1483
01:00:55,490 --> 01:00:58,010
to spot.

1484
01:00:58,010 --> 01:01:00,190
Now, we talked about
iterative design a lot.

1485
01:01:00,190 --> 01:01:03,070
And this is basically
the loop that we're using

1486
01:01:03,070 --> 01:01:06,200
while we are paper prototyping.

1487
01:01:06,200 --> 01:01:09,390
You start with a question,
a falsifiable question,

1488
01:01:09,390 --> 01:01:11,370
a yes/no question.

1489
01:01:11,370 --> 01:01:16,630
And what is this prototype
going to achieve?

1490
01:01:16,630 --> 01:01:20,600
Maybe in this particular
case it's going to be,

1491
01:01:20,600 --> 01:01:24,690
does this theme that we picked
actually have randomness in it

1492
01:01:24,690 --> 01:01:25,980
that you can plan for?

1493
01:01:25,980 --> 01:01:28,540
Or is it the randomness
so random to the point

1494
01:01:28,540 --> 01:01:30,390
where you can't plan for it?

1495
01:01:30,390 --> 01:01:33,010
Or is it really just very
deterministic, and when

1496
01:01:33,010 --> 01:01:35,840
you play the game, you can
really tell, yeah, here's

1497
01:01:35,840 --> 01:01:39,420
the optimal solution?

1498
01:01:39,420 --> 01:01:42,690
You can look at
axiomatic design--

1499
01:01:42,690 --> 01:01:44,330
anyone heard of this term?

1500
01:01:44,330 --> 01:01:48,180
[? Mackee, ?] in particular,
uses this a lot--

1501
01:01:48,180 --> 01:01:50,500
which is, basically,
you establish axioms,

1502
01:01:50,500 --> 01:01:52,520
which are things that you
are taking to be true,

1503
01:01:52,520 --> 01:01:55,470
a baseline that
need to be fulfilled

1504
01:01:55,470 --> 01:01:57,230
by any workable design.

1505
01:01:57,230 --> 01:02:01,490
So it could be we assume
that this game needs

1506
01:02:01,490 --> 01:02:05,750
to have some sort
of random condition

1507
01:02:05,750 --> 01:02:09,570
that's generated that
changes during the game.

1508
01:02:09,570 --> 01:02:13,630
And we need the
player to identify

1509
01:02:13,630 --> 01:02:17,310
that this number is changing
and anticipate where

1510
01:02:17,310 --> 01:02:19,410
that number might end up going.

1511
01:02:19,410 --> 01:02:21,540
And if your prototype
fulfills both of them,

1512
01:02:21,540 --> 01:02:23,152
then you know that
prototype worked.

1513
01:02:23,152 --> 01:02:25,110
And you can build a lot
of different prototypes

1514
01:02:25,110 --> 01:02:26,734
that fulfill those
same two conditions.

1515
01:02:26,734 --> 01:02:30,960
That's another way to
start with a question.

1516
01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:33,570
And then you actually
start designing, grabbing

1517
01:02:33,570 --> 01:02:36,860
those pieces of paper, writing
out your rules on cards,

1518
01:02:36,860 --> 01:02:39,790
brainstorming on what
your game's all about.

1519
01:02:39,790 --> 01:02:42,170
But you want to do this
as quickly as possible.

1520
01:02:42,170 --> 01:02:44,410
The less time you
can spend talking

1521
01:02:44,410 --> 01:02:46,896
about this, the more
different kinds of ideas

1522
01:02:46,896 --> 01:02:48,520
you're going to be
able to run through.

1523
01:02:48,520 --> 01:02:52,480
And that's what we're trying
to do during a prototyping

1524
01:02:52,480 --> 01:02:53,380
process.

1525
01:02:53,380 --> 01:02:56,480
If you're ever in
a situation where

1526
01:02:56,480 --> 01:02:58,897
you've got two different
options, this might be better,

1527
01:02:58,897 --> 01:03:00,480
or this might be
better, or you're not

1528
01:03:00,480 --> 01:03:04,560
quite sure, it's
usually faster in paper

1529
01:03:04,560 --> 01:03:07,910
prototyping to just start making
both prototypes, you know?

1530
01:03:07,910 --> 01:03:11,070
All right, you do this
version, you do this version.

1531
01:03:11,070 --> 01:03:13,650
Generate the cards, play
through both of them.

1532
01:03:13,650 --> 01:03:17,942
And you'll get actual evidence,
actual playtesting evidence

1533
01:03:17,942 --> 01:03:19,400
on which idea seems
to work better.

1534
01:03:21,950 --> 01:03:24,110
After you design,
you play through it.

1535
01:03:24,110 --> 01:03:25,610
First within your
team, and then you

1536
01:03:25,610 --> 01:03:27,395
grab somebody from
some other team,

1537
01:03:27,395 --> 01:03:28,670
or one of the instructors.

1538
01:03:28,670 --> 01:03:32,580
And we'll sit down and we'll
play a game and see where

1539
01:03:32,580 --> 01:03:35,410
the strength in this design,
where are the weaknesses.

1540
01:03:35,410 --> 01:03:36,910
Whatever you design
within an hour

1541
01:03:36,910 --> 01:03:41,326
is going to be clunky and
broken and really, really not

1542
01:03:41,326 --> 01:03:42,450
quite where you want to be.

1543
01:03:42,450 --> 01:03:43,600
That's find.

1544
01:03:43,600 --> 01:03:45,590
Do a playtest with
that expectation

1545
01:03:45,590 --> 01:03:47,480
that there are going
to be problems.

1546
01:03:47,480 --> 01:03:49,160
And you'll get a
lot more information

1547
01:03:49,160 --> 01:03:52,930
out of that playtest than
you will working on your own.

1548
01:03:52,930 --> 01:03:54,590
And then you use
that information

1549
01:03:54,590 --> 01:03:55,950
to revise your design.

1550
01:03:55,950 --> 01:03:59,640
Make changes, and then you
repeat this entire process

1551
01:03:59,640 --> 01:04:00,550
again.

1552
01:04:00,550 --> 01:04:03,160
Either you amplify
it on the strengths,

1553
01:04:03,160 --> 01:04:05,380
you figure out what
your weaknesses are

1554
01:04:05,380 --> 01:04:08,260
and you make big changes.

1555
01:04:08,260 --> 01:04:10,170
So you repeat that.

1556
01:04:10,170 --> 01:04:14,460
And here are a couple of tricks
that can work, sometimes,

1557
01:04:14,460 --> 01:04:17,600
if you have trouble figuring
out what sort of changes

1558
01:04:17,600 --> 01:04:19,490
to make in your design.

1559
01:04:19,490 --> 01:04:22,680
Killing a rule, just
like taking a rule out

1560
01:04:22,680 --> 01:04:25,750
sometimes fixes problems more
than trying to fix the rule

1561
01:04:25,750 --> 01:04:26,862
itself.

1562
01:04:26,862 --> 01:04:28,570
A certain thing is
bogging down the game,

1563
01:04:28,570 --> 01:04:30,650
a certain thing
is too confusing.

1564
01:04:30,650 --> 01:04:33,300
Just does the game work if
you just take that rule out?

1565
01:04:33,300 --> 01:04:36,250
Sometimes it does.

1566
01:04:36,250 --> 01:04:38,400
You can make a resource
that's limited, unlimited,

1567
01:04:38,400 --> 01:04:41,020
or make an unlimited
resource limited,

1568
01:04:41,020 --> 01:04:47,170
limited health, unlimited
health, limited ammunition,

1569
01:04:47,170 --> 01:04:49,500
money.

1570
01:04:49,500 --> 01:04:53,660
Player interference is more
for multiplayer games where,

1571
01:04:53,660 --> 01:04:57,710
sometimes, if everybody is
playing their own little solo

1572
01:04:57,710 --> 01:04:59,980
game and they're not
interacting with each other,

1573
01:04:59,980 --> 01:05:03,010
you'd come up with ways to
mess up each other's plans.

1574
01:05:03,010 --> 01:05:07,340
That doesn't always apply
with single player games.

1575
01:05:07,340 --> 01:05:11,160
But if you've ever played a
game like a role playing game

1576
01:05:11,160 --> 01:05:15,550
where you can delay an enemy.

1577
01:05:15,550 --> 01:05:18,870
Has anyone seen
one of those where

1578
01:05:18,870 --> 01:05:22,719
you can like cast slow
or something on an enemy,

1579
01:05:22,719 --> 01:05:25,260
and then they can't attack you
for another turn or something.

1580
01:05:25,260 --> 01:05:26,810
That's player
interference, right?

1581
01:05:26,810 --> 01:05:28,660
Only the player that
you're interfering with

1582
01:05:28,660 --> 01:05:31,170
happens to be the computer.

1583
01:05:31,170 --> 01:05:36,015
What can you do to basically
get into somebody else's plan

1584
01:05:36,015 --> 01:05:37,410
and change it?

1585
01:05:37,410 --> 01:05:40,950
And the computer can
have those rules too.

1586
01:05:40,950 --> 01:05:42,320
Mess with the play order.

1587
01:05:42,320 --> 01:05:43,930
Mess with the order
of your rules.

1588
01:05:43,930 --> 01:05:45,610
Just try rearranging
the order of rules.

1589
01:05:45,610 --> 01:05:48,700
And sometimes by grouping
things into logical chunks,

1590
01:05:48,700 --> 01:05:50,646
it can make the game
easier to understand.

1591
01:05:50,646 --> 01:05:52,770
Instead of saying, first,
you decide whether you're

1592
01:05:52,770 --> 01:05:53,610
going to do this.

1593
01:05:53,610 --> 01:05:55,420
Then you decide whether
you're going to do this.

1594
01:05:55,420 --> 01:05:57,378
Then you're going to
decide whether to do this.

1595
01:05:57,378 --> 01:06:03,270
Maybe you just say, make two of
these three decisions, right?

1596
01:06:03,270 --> 01:06:07,220
And every turn, you get
two out of these three.

1597
01:06:07,220 --> 01:06:08,900
Make them any order you want.

1598
01:06:08,900 --> 01:06:11,410
That's a way that you
mess up play order.

1599
01:06:11,410 --> 01:06:13,420
If you're going to
change variables,

1600
01:06:13,420 --> 01:06:15,460
either multiply or
divide them by two.

1601
01:06:15,460 --> 01:06:19,610
There is not enough
granularity in the prototypes

1602
01:06:19,610 --> 01:06:23,710
that you're making today
to do like a 10% change

1603
01:06:23,710 --> 01:06:25,219
in a certain
variable and then be

1604
01:06:25,219 --> 01:06:27,510
able to detect whether that
change was the right change

1605
01:06:27,510 --> 01:06:28,010
or not.

1606
01:06:28,010 --> 01:06:30,770
That's not going
be obvious enough.

1607
01:06:30,770 --> 01:06:34,069
Do like big multiples
of two, of three,

1608
01:06:34,069 --> 01:06:36,610
to be able to see whether that's
the change that's necessary.

1609
01:06:36,610 --> 01:06:39,150
You can tune things
later when you

1610
01:06:39,150 --> 01:06:42,570
are preparing the project for
the playtest on Wednesday,

1611
01:06:42,570 --> 01:06:43,630
for instance.

1612
01:06:43,630 --> 01:06:49,290
But when you're in this class,
do things by big multiples.

1613
01:06:49,290 --> 01:06:50,940
If your game's
really, really, really

1614
01:06:50,940 --> 01:06:53,910
kind of getting bogged down
and taking too long to play,

1615
01:06:53,910 --> 01:06:55,880
try to get down to
the core set of rules,

1616
01:06:55,880 --> 01:06:57,650
the minimum set of
rules that's necessary

1617
01:06:57,650 --> 01:07:00,100
even just for your game to work.

1618
01:07:00,100 --> 01:07:02,240
Just for the game
to run at all, try

1619
01:07:02,240 --> 01:07:05,530
to figure out what that core
is, the minimum set of rules.

1620
01:07:05,530 --> 01:07:08,080
And then you add in
each rule, one by one.

1621
01:07:08,080 --> 01:07:10,370
Reconstruct your game.

1622
01:07:10,370 --> 01:07:12,880
That's one way to identify
where the main problems are

1623
01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:16,620
in your game because, as you
add the problematic rule,

1624
01:07:16,620 --> 01:07:19,160
things start to break.

1625
01:07:19,160 --> 01:07:22,230
And finally, be willing to
just throw away everything

1626
01:07:22,230 --> 01:07:24,820
that you generate in
the next hour, OK?

1627
01:07:24,820 --> 01:07:27,150
Anything that you
make in the next hour

1628
01:07:27,150 --> 01:07:28,880
might, in fact,
just be terrible.

1629
01:07:28,880 --> 01:07:30,500
And you're going to learn that.

1630
01:07:30,500 --> 01:07:31,680
And that's fine.

1631
01:07:31,680 --> 01:07:33,138
That's why we're
making prototypes,

1632
01:07:33,138 --> 01:07:34,680
so that they can be disposable.

1633
01:07:34,680 --> 01:07:37,510
That's how I started this talk.

1634
01:07:37,510 --> 01:07:39,801
So any questions before we
actually start making stuff?

1635
01:07:45,580 --> 01:07:47,060
Coming up with rules?

1636
01:07:47,060 --> 01:07:50,010
You're going to grab
pieces and create

1637
01:07:50,010 --> 01:07:53,610
some sort of a play
surface or cards

1638
01:07:53,610 --> 01:07:55,460
that people are
going to play with.

1639
01:07:55,460 --> 01:07:59,470
You don't need to put
anything on a board.

1640
01:07:59,470 --> 01:08:02,390
And before everybody runs
down and grabs things,

1641
01:08:02,390 --> 01:08:05,440
I guess we're going to go
back and remind people what

1642
01:08:05,440 --> 01:08:08,169
a low-fidelity prototype is.

1643
01:08:08,169 --> 01:08:16,153
[SIDE CONVERSATIONS]

1644
01:08:16,153 --> 01:08:18,320
PROFESSOR: --terrible as
long as you're aware of it.

1645
01:08:18,320 --> 01:08:20,736
AUDIENCE: I thought I replaced
it with a stacking counter,

1646
01:08:20,736 --> 01:08:22,141
so I guess it didn't work.

1647
01:08:22,141 --> 01:08:29,640
[SIDE CONVERSATIONS]

1648
01:08:29,640 --> 01:08:32,140
[? ANDREW GRANT: All right. ?]
So we just have a couple more

1649
01:08:32,140 --> 01:08:34,250
minutes left of class.

1650
01:08:34,250 --> 01:08:36,689
A couple of things to
remember before you leave.

1651
01:08:36,689 --> 01:08:39,640
Take pictures of all of
your brainstorming notes.

1652
01:08:39,640 --> 01:08:43,069
And keep your notes with you,
so take them away with you.

1653
01:08:43,069 --> 01:08:46,470
Make sure everyone on your
team can access those notes.

1654
01:08:46,470 --> 01:08:49,020
Make sure you know the email
addresses of the people

1655
01:08:49,020 --> 01:08:52,550
you're on your team with,
so you can talk them again.

1656
01:08:52,550 --> 01:08:56,069
And before you leave
the classroom today,

1657
01:08:56,069 --> 01:09:00,020
start up a document and
enter your change log.

1658
01:09:00,020 --> 01:09:04,117
So put in what
you designed today

1659
01:09:04,117 --> 01:09:06,200
and what problems you found
by the end of the day.

1660
01:09:08,970 --> 01:09:10,950
So I'm going to repeat
that one last time.

1661
01:09:10,950 --> 01:09:16,350
Before you leave class
today, start up a document,

1662
01:09:16,350 --> 01:09:19,560
open it up, and start up
your new design change log.

1663
01:09:19,560 --> 01:09:20,790
Put the date.

1664
01:09:20,790 --> 01:09:22,990
Put what you did
today, so a brief, two

1665
01:09:22,990 --> 01:09:26,590
or three-sentence description
of what you designed today

1666
01:09:26,590 --> 01:09:29,460
and what are the problems
you're facing now.

1667
01:09:29,460 --> 01:09:32,660
That'll be important to you
both for when you meet as a team

1668
01:09:32,660 --> 01:09:35,300
again to remember what
you did, but also later

1669
01:09:35,300 --> 01:09:38,689
on to have a full history of
everything that you've done.

1670
01:09:38,689 --> 01:09:40,840
OK?

1671
01:09:40,840 --> 01:09:41,560
One more thing.

1672
01:09:41,560 --> 01:09:42,210
Yes?

1673
01:09:42,210 --> 01:09:44,120
SARA VERRILLI: One more thing.

1674
01:09:44,120 --> 01:09:44,620
Tomorrow--

1675
01:09:44,620 --> 01:09:45,090
[? ANDREW GRANT: Wednesday. ?]

1676
01:09:45,090 --> 01:09:45,787
SARA VERRILLI:
Wednesday, rather, we

1677
01:09:45,787 --> 01:09:47,415
are going to have playtests.

1678
01:09:47,415 --> 01:09:50,270
We're going to be playtesting
all the prototypes.

1679
01:09:50,270 --> 01:09:54,449
So you need a playable prototype
for Wednesday, 3 o'clock.

1680
01:09:54,449 --> 01:09:56,240
[? ANDREW GRANT: And ?]
then we're starting

1681
01:09:56,240 --> 01:09:59,320
Wednesday's class off with
discussions about the gaming

1682
01:09:59,320 --> 01:10:02,600
tutorial, so bring
your problems,

1683
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:05,300
bring your questions about the
engines that you were assigned.

1684
01:10:05,300 --> 01:10:07,650
And we'll talk about them.

1685
01:10:07,650 --> 01:10:08,150
All right.

1686
01:10:08,150 --> 01:10:10,020
See you Wednesday.