The University of Melbourne INFO30009 Game Design 2024_S1
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Final Examination – INFO30009 Game Design, 2024
Instructions
This is a take-home examination paper.
• This exam represents 30% of your final assessment.
• This is an individual assignment.
• There are Two sections. Both sections must be completed.
• Each section is worth 15 marks.
• Answers must be clearly labelled.
• Start each section on a new page.
• Word counts have been provided for each section. Words more than 10% over these
limits may not be assessed.
• The word count for each section must be included at the end of the response to each
section.
• Referenced material must be clearly cited in the body of the text and listed at the
end of each section in a bibliography (not the end of the exam paper). The
bibliography is not included in the word count for each section.
• You must upload your completed exam in a single PDF file.
• Submit the file via LMS by 11:59 pm Friday 7th June 2024.
This is an open book exam. You may use any reference materials to assist you in answering
the questions. However, all submitted work must comply with university policy on Academic
Honesty and Plagiarism (http://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/). AI generated content
may not be used for this assessment. It is strongly recommended that assignments are
checked for originality before final submission.
Assessment Criteria
Each section will be assessed according to the following criteria:
Relevance Is the response relevant to the question?
Completeness Does the response answer the question fully?
Insight Does the response demonstrate critical thought and analysis?
Clarity Is the response clearly structured, well written and logical?
Breadth Does the response make appropriate use of relevant scholarly literature
and reference it appropriately?
The University of Melbourne INFO30009 Game Design 2024_S1
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Section One – Argumentative Essay (800-1000 words, excluding bibliography)
Section overview: Write a short, argumentative essay addressing the following essay
prompt.
Essay prompt: In the book, Games Design Workshop, Tracy Fullerton (2019) has suggested
that “[t]he role of the game designer is, first and foremost, to be an advocate for the player.”
(Fullerton, 2019, p.3). Discuss how this role can be fulfilled in the game development
process. In your answer discuss the perspectives, principles and practices a game designer
should adopt to be an “advocate for the player”.
Where possible, use your experience with the game design project this semester, and/or
other examples, to support your arguments.
The University of Melbourne INFO30009 Game Design 2024_S1
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Section Two – Designing a Core Gameplay Loop (800-1000 words, excluding bibliography)
Section overview: Select a story for a tabletop game and design the mechanics for a core
gameplay loop (Zubek 2020, ch. 5) that reinforces the selected story (and vice versa). Justify
your design decisions in your response.
Background: Jesse Schell (2015) has suggested that games consist of four essential
elements: story, mechanics, technology and aesthetics. Schell argues that it is important to
design these four elements so that they work in harmony and reinforce one another (Schell
2015, Ch.5).
Engelstein and Shalev (2020) have provided an extensive classification and discussion of
game mechanics for tabletop games.
The SMeFT deck is a tool to help game designers during the ideation stages of game design.
Figure 1 presents six “story” cards drawn from the SMeFT deck (Rogerson et al. 2023). Each
card suggests a possible story for a game.
Figure 1: Six story cards drawn from the SMeFT deck (Rogerson et al. 2023)
Task: Choose one of the story cards in figure 1 and design the mechanics for a core
gameplay loop that is in harmony with and reinforces the selected story. Write a report that
presents and justifies the design of the story and mechanics for your core gameplay loop.
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Your report should include:
• The Game: Your story and core gameplay loop will be part of a game. Present an
overview of the game you are designing. It must be a tabletop game.
• Story: What is the story for your game? Using the selected story card as a prompt,
elaborate a story and/or premise for your game.
• Mechanics: Provide a detailed design of your proposed mechanics and how they will
create your core gameplay loop. Where possible, use the terminology provided by
Engelstein and Shalev (2020).
• Harmony: Justify your design decisions. Discuss how your mechanics and story
support and reinforce one another to create a coherent player experience.
• Bibliography.
Bibliography
Engelstein, G. and Shalev, I. (2020). Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An
Encyclopedia of Mechanisms. CRC Press: link.
Fullerton, T. (2019). Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative
Games (4th edition). CRC Press: link.
Rogerson, M.J., Sparrow, L.A. and Freeman, S.O. (2023). The SMeFT Decks: A Card-Based
Ideation Tool for Designing Hybrid Digital Boardgames for Distanced Play. In Proceedings
of the 34th Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (OzCHI '22). ACM
Press, 298–309: link.
Jesse Schell (2015). The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lens. CRC Press: link.
Zubek, Robert (2020). Elements of Game Design. MIT Press: link.