1.
Teaching Game Design to Teach Interaction Design
Let’s Play
@cwodtke | cwodtke@eleganthack.com
www.eleganthack.com
CHRISTINA WODTKE

2.
I teach at CCA
I use game design to teach Interaction design

3.
You may think Game design
is all about fancy equipment
and softare

4.
Let’s make a game
Exercise via Brenda Romero

5.
Draw a path

6.
Create a way to
move
• Dice roll
• Answer a trivia question
• Everyone moves
• Person behind moves
• Roshambo
• Card draw
• Pass, but gain currency
• Physical skill

7.
Design Conflict
• Speed people up
• Slow people down
• Extra turn
• Lose a turn
• Swap places
• Block

8.
Add anything you need
to make it playable
3 minutes

9.
Playtest

10.
You won!
You made a game. Was that so hard?
Was it fun?

11.
Sure I worked at Zynga… but I
worked on platform!
I was nerveous teaching game
design too…

12.
It all started with
Story
Time Studio 1: Story that is….

13.
Students made pop-up
books, exploring how to use
interaction for emotional
effect…

14.
Students made Interactive
Fiction, exploring dystopias

15.
IF software
will teach
you about
interaction
flows

16.
And IF teaches you how to
consider story in space over
time

17.
Interaction Design and Game
Design are Fraternal twins
First video game 1958

18.
Shared Knowledge
You need the same skills for both

19.
AFFORDANCES (signifiers)
Things that look pushable, get pushed. Things that look pullable, get pulled.

20.
AFFORDANCES
Buttons that look pushable, get pushed

21.
But check out these
affordances

22.
Feedback

23.
Alphabear won’t embarrass me socially

24.
Direct
Manipulation

25.
Harry Potter Years 1-4 on Ipad
Direct Manipulation
Harry Potter Years 5-7 on Ipad
Virtual Controller

26.
Concept Models to
Communicate to team

27.
Architecture concept model
Architecture concept model

28.
How areas of site interlock
Via Andrew Hinton
@inkblurt
Consider conceptual
models over sitemaps

29.
Stone
Librande’s One
Page Designs
are concept
models
(Spore)

30.
https://www.interaction-
design.org/literature/article/what-
is-information-architecture

31.
The IA of Minecraft

32.
The IA of Kingdom Rush

33.
Same but better
Playtesting, Prototyping, and RITE done Right

34.
A game is
unknowable
until it is
played

35.
Board games are HUGE!

36.
Paper prototyping

37.
More iteration

38.
Different & New
Ideas
Look to Game Design to stretch us in new directions and explore
difficult topics

39.
MDA
Mechanics,
Dynamics,
Aesthetics

40.
CAMP
Context, Architecture, Mechanics, Poetics

41.
Luck and skill

42.
Irregular Reward Schedules

43.
Irregular Reward Schedules

44.
continuums

45.
Art?

46.
Culture

47.
Ecology

48.
Craft

49.
Empathy

50.
You learn when you care

51.
They will save the world

52.
And have fun doing it

53.
Required Reading for Educators

54.
Thank
You
@cwodtke | me@cwodtke.com
www.cwodtke.com
CHRISTINA WODTKE