GAME 1303 — Introduction to Game Design & Development

Course Plan — Fall 2026 (revised structure)

Collin College | Media Arts | Animation & Game Art Tuesdays, 9:00 AM – 1:50 PM · 16 weeks Sections: 001 Unity 6.x · 002 Unreal 5.8

1. Design of the course

The mini-game tutorial and the four numbered projects are retired. In their place:

• 10 weekly design-skill exercises — one core game design competency per week, delivered as a short in-class exercise with a submitted artifact.
• 6 milestone weeks interleaved between exercise weeks, each dedicated to a graded project deliverable reviewed live in class.
• 2 online homework assignments (One Sheet, Game Design Doc) submitted in Canvas, not class time.

Every class period runs the same three-part shape:

Each exercise is placed the week before the milestone it feeds:

• Ex 2 + Ex 3 → Core Game Mechanic (Wk 5)
• Ex 5 → Level Map (Wk 8)
• Ex 7 → Screen Layout (Wk 11)
• Ex 10 → Game Build (Wk 15)

Game Pitches sit in Week 2, live in class, so student interests are known before the syllabus of engine topics commits to depth in 2D, 3D, narrative, puzzle, or VR.

2. Semester schedule

3. The 10 design-skill exercises

Every exercise is written in two parallel versions — one for the Unity section, one for the Unreal section — with identical design content and engine-specific implementation steps and screenshots.

4. Milestones

Canvas homework

5. Grade sheet

Grade scale: A ≥ 90 · B ≥ 80 · C ≥ 70 · D ≥ 60 · F < 60

6. Project tracks

Students choose one track at pitch. The milestones are identical across tracks; only the exercise deliverables and lab support differ.

7. Canvas file manifest

Two module sets, one per section. Filenames use -u for Unity, -e for Unreal.

/course
  syllabus.md
  course-schedule.md
  grade-sheet.md
  project-tracks.md

/weeks                      (16 × 2 = 32)
  week-01-u.md  week-01-e.md
  ...
  week-16-u.md  week-16-e.md

/exercises                  (10 × 2 = 20)
  exercise-01-deconstruct-and-ideate-u.md   ...-e.md
  exercise-02-the-verb-u.md                 ...-e.md
  exercise-03-rules-and-states-u.md         ...-e.md
  exercise-04-juice-it-u.md                 ...-e.md
  exercise-05-space-and-pace-u.md           ...-e.md
  exercise-06-story-in-the-world-u.md       ...-e.md
  exercise-07-screen-flow-u.md              ...-e.md
  exercise-08-point-of-view-u.md            ...-e.md
  exercise-09-curves-and-locks-u.md         ...-e.md
  exercise-10-test-and-iterate-u.md         ...-e.md

/milestones                 (6 × 2 = 12)
  milestone-1-game-pitch-u.md               ...-e.md
  milestone-2-core-game-mechanic-u.md       ...-e.md
  milestone-3-level-map-u.md                ...-e.md
  milestone-4-screen-layout-u.md            ...-e.md
  milestone-5-game-build-u.md               ...-e.md
  milestone-6-post-mortem-u.md              ...-e.md

/assignments                (2, engine-neutral)
  assignment-one-sheet.md
  assignment-game-design-doc.md

/lectures                   (16 × 2 = 32, phase 2)
  lecture-01-u.md  lecture-01-e.md  ...

Weekly page template: objectives → lecture outline → exercise brief + rubric → lab goals → what's due → next week prep. Exercise template: skill → why it matters → in-class steps → deliverable → 2-point rubric → examples → further reading. Milestone template: deliverable → requirements by track → submission format → rubric → common failure modes.

8. Build order

1. course-schedule.md, grade-sheet.md, project-tracks.md — the spine
2. assignment-one-sheet.md, assignment-game-design-doc.md — needed by Wk 4
3. Milestones 1–6 (both engines)
4. Exercises 1–10 (both engines)
5. Week pages 1–16 (both engines) — assembled last, linking everything above
6. Lecture outlines (phase 2)
7. Updated syllabus PDF + grade sheet PDF