Game Design Club @ Experimental Game Cultures

As a university assistant at the Experimental Game Cultures department of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, I created its Game Design Club. The first edition ran for about twelve sessions, each with 10 to 25 students.

2023 Professional Table

Students sit around a table playtesting a paper game while others stand nearby in a classroom.

Each session starts with a short talk on game design methods, a discussion of design mindsets or an analysis of existing games. Then the students build playable prototypes, playtest each other’s projects and iterate on their ideas.

The sessions are playful and come with constraints and rules, to spark creativity and avoid blank-page paralysis. For the theory we read chapters from Game Design Workshop, A Theory of Fun for Game Design, Rules of Play, The Art of Game Design and more.

The goals:

  • Gaining confidence in the methods of game design
  • Discussing different design mindsets
  • Making playable prototypes
  • Playtesting and iterating on ideas
  • Hands draw colored hexagon game pieces on paper around a table with markers and scissors.
  • Hands and game cards around a cardboard board with tokens and handwritten notes on a table.
  • Students playtest a tabletop game prototype around a table in a classroom.
  • Hands and tools surround paper game prototypes, scissors, markers, and an open box on a tabletop.
  • Students sit around a table playtesting a paper game while others stand nearby in a classroom.
  • A white poster shows eight game design concepts in a 2x4 grid with icons and short text blurbs.