Avian Gamers Network

So,
I'm teaching a night class to a bunch of programmers. Most of it is in XML, Java, .Net and Flash.

I got permission to give up to a two-hour lecture on Game Design in two weeks... what should I teach in it?

I'm thinking:
- Theory of Fun (exerpts by Raph Koster)
- Concepts of multiplayer game technology
- Maybe a case study of Golga/Obo's "dig" game
- A case study in some large-scale multi-player game like SWG or WoW
- An overview of military simulation technologies

Does this sound fun? Interesting? I haven't started putting the lecture together, and would love any suggestions.

Just one question: where can I sign up?

To answer your question, Yes, this does sound fun...as well as interesting.

A refinement of one of your ideas might be to compare various aspects of a generally accepted 'successful' MMO to those of a not-so-hot MMO. One suggestion might be a discussion or paper regarding the effect junk-ware (cheap, mass-produced games) has on the gaming industry and our perception of current games.

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Liro
"The english language is not a wedding gown, it doesn't get better the more lace you add. It is instead a thong. Less is more." From /.
I need to remind myself of this regularly.

sounds like an excellent class.

When talking about an MMO you may want to start top-level as many may not know what they are. Even if they know what they are they may not know how MMOs differ from any other genre of games.

MMOs are share many aspects of a website or online application: they are ever growing communities, ever expanding ideas filled with functionality, they work to solve multiple tasks accross a varied and complex architecture and play an vastly different role from user to user.

Talking about the likeness of MMOs and other online apps may be a great opening to help people not only understand them better but to allow them to explore ways they can enhance there future online applications as well.

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Moge

If I were to choose, I would say Theory of Fun. It's just so abstract from programming and requires a completely different take on the subject of building games that I think it's lessons trancend game-making.

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Dr. Golga Bolg
SWTOR - Golga
Rift - Gnarlwood: Golgar Golgantua Golgate - Retired
WoW - Dalaran: Bolg Golga Virrok All Retired
SWG - Golga Bolg - Doctor (Resident) Retired
Eve - Edge Finn - Limbo
Section 2 - (Former) Director
What am I playing now?: The waiting game

Looks good!

The only comment I would make is the following: I've come to be disappointed with under-grad and even some graduate courses that don't put the education in context with the real world in terms of jobs. For example, I wonder if it would be valuable to spend 5 minutes putting the gaming industry in context in terms of the entry level positions that programmers and non-programmers typically have available to them to break into the industry so to speak.

Just my 2 cents.

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dbakke,
Good idea. All of the students are already employeed and taking night classes in addition to their jobs making $80k/year. This lecture will be hand-in-hand with an assignment to make a working game that uses XML and Web Services... so hopefully it will be very applied learning.
Even so, I think I'll preface the lecture with a summary of job types and an industry overview, and a listing of how much $$ the game industry brought in last year.

So next questions, what should their game project assignment be?
Right now, I'm thinking these five constraints:
- It must be fun
- It must be playable within 5 minutes of time
- It must consume an external XML resource
- It must use data from a Web Service within the game
- ?