COMP 585 Spring 2016

Overview

This course is taught as three different courses: COMP 585, COMP 585H, and COMP 185H. This website is the website for all three courses. There is a different syllabus for each course.

Serious Games are training, learning, or propaganda games used in schools, the military, companies, and the public service sector. The premise behind studying serious games is three-fold:

First, games are a legitimate artistic media and just as we teach and preach through other forms of art, we can do so through games as well. Because people learn through doing, it is a way for players to absorb concepts in an efficient and memorable manner.
Second, games are a natural way for "digital natives" to interact with concepts. If we want to engage this population, we should do so in a media that interests them.
Finally, if people are going to play games, perhaps we can give them some games with additional value beyond entertainment (think classics vs. romance novels).

This course is intended as a broad introduction to the field of serious games. We will look at a number of examples of existing serious games in order to learn through case studies. The focus will be on game design but we will also look at development issues. We will explore both serious game design and development and how the components of games may be applicable to other areas.

In order to study serious games, however, we also need to study games. We will therefore look at the design of games in general.

The course project this semester is a game that is developed for an outside client. These are people with identified needs They will be your domain experts who understand the needs, the objectives, the audience and the way to evaluate the result. They are also the people who will need to be adding content to the game.

Attendance: You are expected to be at all classes when your classmates are presenting. Attendance will be taken on those days. You may receive up to a 5 point grade penalty for unexcused absences.

Class Meeting

Tuesday Thursday 12:20-1:35
Sitterson 011

Instructors

Professor
Diane Pozefsky
FB 146
pozefsky@cs.unc.edu

TA
Ryan Doyle
SN 304
rpdoyle@cs.unc.edu

Team Members

Slothonut: Wei-Jen Yang, Sophie Rowland, Fred Landis, Max Daum
Marketeers: Ray Kim, Matthew Kerber, Ethan Ewing, Kyle Bullins
Team Liger: David Oliver, Kevin Aguilar, Kingsley Chanakira, Stokes Lassiter
Chinese Learning Game: Jade Enns, Sam Lewis, Trey Howie, Matt Bigelow
Team Planet: Luke Tannenbaum, Andrea Stewart, Mary Thurman, Zach Rounds
Concussed: Jocelyn Keung, Vijay Rajkumar, Matthew Krause, Luke Fernandez
Smart Towers: Thomas Allen, Franz Dominno, Stephen Yan, Andrew Ross
No More Burns : Jon Schwartz, Zach Wallace, Jay Aichelman, Harrison Evert
For Want of a Nail: Michaela Deguzman, Luiza Culau, Matthew Cleveland, Jeff Forbes
Hidden History: Daniel Chiquito, Lochlan Belford, Kendall Bagley, Josh Altman
Team Adaptive: Raza Samimy, Prashanth Sai Sankar, Josh Lovell, Zoe Wang
Neurotics: Pranavi Sanka, Dana Elhertani, Chen Zhang, Turker Bulut
TravelNet: Marianne Cruzat, Katherine Ham, Yingying Wu, Peter Wang
Planet Mogul: Zach Dvorak, Nik Caryl, Savannah Dunn, Nathan Weatherly
Cosmic Fire: Kate Friedheim, Judy Chung, Seth Pyle, Anastasia Lalamentik

Team Meetings

Team Meetings are weekly, but you will alternate between meeting with the professor and the TA.

Meeting Times

Day	Time	Group A	Group B
Monday	9:05		Team 11: Team Adaptives
	10:10		Team 9: For Want of a Nail
	11:15	Team 4: Chinese Learning Game	Team 6: Concussed
	1:35	Team 3: Team Liger	Team 12: Neurotics
Tuesday	8:30	Team 1: Slothonut	Team 10: Hidden History
Tuesday	10:00	Team 14: Planet Mogul
Wednesday	11:00		Team 8: No More Burns
Wednesday	1:35	Team 5: Team PLanet	Team 7: Smart Towers
Thursday	5:00	Team 15: Cosmic Fire
Friday	9:00	Team 13: TravelNet
Friday	10:10	Team 2: Marketeers

Groups Meeting With ...

Week	Pozefsky	Doyle
Jan 25-29	B	A
Feb 1-5	A	B
Feb 8-12	B	A
Feb 15-19	A	B
Feb 22-26	B	A
Feb 29-Mar 4	A	B
Mar 7-11	B	A
Mar 21-25	A	B
Mar 28-Apr 1	B	A
Apr 4-8	A	B
Apr 11-15	B	A
Apr 18-22	A	B
Apr 25-27	B	A

Interesting Links I've Been Sent

People send me interesting links about games. This is where I will share them with you.

Amazon free game development platform: Amazon Lumberyard is a free AAA game engine deeply integrated with AWS and Twitch – with full source. It is built on CryEngine and integrated witn Amazon Gamelift. Builds to PCs and consoles.
Serious Play Conference Submission: The Serious Play Conference will be hosted at Sitteson July 26-28. This recognition program honors outstanding titles that deliver a high quality of engagement and measurable training or learning opportunities. There is a student competition and the fee will be waived for UNC students. This link is how you should submit.
Soldier's Playing Cards: Soldier's Playing Cards (Ft Macon). These cards have aircraft silhouettes to teach soldiers how to recognize different aircraft. Photo by Ryan Doyle.
AlphaGo Wins: In a landmark battle between man and artificial intelligence (AI), the world champion of the game Go was narrowly defeated by his computer opponent.
Medical Minecraft: Article is about Medical Minecraft, which was built by students at an at-risk high school, but links on the page to a lot more about what is happening at IBM. Video
ARG Spices Up Professional Development: During a recent online professional development session, Jeff Borden was talking to some three dozen instructors about the history of U.S. public education when there was a loud banging on his door. 'Oh, dear — I've got to go. I'll be back as soon as I can,' he told participants. And with that, he fled — leaving behind his assistant, Greg Kunzweller, to explain that Borden had uncovered a possible 'shadow government' conspiracy dating back to the 1930s, designed to hold back education reform.
I'm Positive: Winner of CDC & HHS Games for Health Game Jam 2014. The CDC is conducting a study on the efficacy of the game.

COMP 585