Articles

"Back to Basics" in issue 203 of the Escapist advocates a non-digital approach to game design education, specifically a curriculum that involves playing outside to stress game design fundamentals. It's easier to make games when the "making" doesn't involve spending years on polishing graphics.

Teaching Level Design

I'm not a professional level designer and I don't have any credentials of any sort... But I teach video game level design as part of a student-initiated course program called "DeCal" (Democratic Education at Cal) at the University of California, Berkeley.

Cohort I: Spring 2008

It was my first semester running the course, and these students / brave guinea pigs surprised me time and time again with their ingenuity, sense of design, and stunning good looks.


But hey! Their levels were pretty cool too! Take a look:


Overall, a great semester. Congratulations, guys.

Cohort I was: Allen Han, Amy Hanoa, Angela Santos, Austin Chambers, Brian Liu, Dylan Case, Geoffrey Lee, Gil Navarro, Gregory Tseng, James Curatalo, Joshua Bishop-Moser, Mark Wong, Nicolaas Van Maerssen, Peter Currier, and Scott Leong.

Cohort II: Fall 2008

My second semester running the course. The larger class size proved to be a bit too ambitious on my part; I had to resort to lecture-based methods instead of the small group discussion activities I usually employ. I didn't like it so much.

The continued difficulties in getting some concepts across led to my development of the "Come Out and Play" outdoor game design class, as detailed in my "Back to Basics" article. Fortunately, my students were patient with me.

Cohort II was: Adam Goldberg, Albert Baek, Anthony Parker, Brian Park, Bryan Shen, Calvin Hsiao, Christopher Chen, Deborah Wang, Garrett Edell, Garvin Lee, Jacob Newman, Joey Durkin, Julius Bendo, Kenny Lo, Kevin Giarla, Kevin Ho, Matthew Waid, Mona Behroozi, Nicolas Oliver, Taylor Dawson, Stevens Xu.

Cohort III: Fall 2009

A survey course currently in development with the Architecture department. It'll consist of three modules: an FPS portion (using Sauerbraten), an RTS portion (using Glest), and a racing portion (using Trackmania Nations). In a small 10 person seminar, we will investigate the intersection between these three genres of level design and their relation to the built environment. No previous design experience necessary; if you can send an e-mail, you can design a level.

If you're an interested UC Berkeley student, check the course listing at the beginning of Fall 2009 to sign-up and be prepared to attend the first class meeting about a week into the semester.

Cohort IV: Spring 2010

Assuming the Fall 2009 survey course goes well, probably more of that.

About the DeCal program and this class

DeCals have a unique role in the university: we're both course and non-course. Many students don't perceive us to be "real" classes, and indeed we aren't! All DeCals are graded on a Pass / Fail basis under supervision of a professor, and us student instructors don't exactly have degrees yet.

So, without the threat of failure and letter grades to motivate students to participate, we have to get creative. We must offer students an experience outside of normal lecture courses and engage them with the material. This is why we are called "facilitators" - we exist to facilitate the students' desire to learn, not to instruct "at" them as in most lecture based courses.