General provisions

The course is part of the Master's Programme in Game Design, 120 Credits.

Entry requirements

Bachelor's degree with in-depth subject study in a main field of study specialising in games or gaming and knowledge of English corresponding to English 6.

Learning outcomes

Upon completing the course, students will be able to:

• Identify design goals and effectively plan a playtest
• Formulate research and survey questions to gather data for design iterations
• Demonstrate effective ways to present evaluation findings
• Make informed choices between usability and playtesting methods to reach design goals
• Assess and evaluate different playtesting strategies for prototypes
• Identify, assess and discuss potential risks that informs the strategy for testing software or games

Content

This course provides an introduction to working with prototypes for game research. It allows students to learn how to develop prototypes to answer specific scientific questions, and how to perform playtests with prototypes using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. During the course, students will formulate a research proposal, and develop a prototype that they will use to answer that question. Students are also encouraged to present their prototypes and scientific work at the Gotland Game Conference.

Instruction

Teaching consists of lectures, mandatory seminars and workshops.

Assessment

The course grades are Pass with distinction, Pass, or Fail. The course uses formative assessment over a series of written reports. Students are expected to produce a written research proposal, three written reports on studies performed using their prototype(s), and a final report which acts as a capstone to the previous reports. The course grade is decided by the final report, which is graded according to the three-grade scale Pass with distinction, Pass, or Fail.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Uppsala University does not accept cheating or plagiarism. Suspected incidents of cheating or plagiarism are reported to the Vice-Chancellor, which may issue a formal warning to the student or suspend the student from studies for a certain period.