Exploration: A Closer Look at the Microgame API

This hands-on course continues the exploration of Perlenspiel’s application programming interface (API) begun in the previous course. A wide assortment of commands for controlling the appearance and behavior of beads, the grid and the status line are presented and demonstrated, together with the subsystems supporting animation, faders, images and pathfinding.

Session 1: Time Isn’t Holding Us, Time Isn’t After Us 
Students are introduced to the concepts and vocabulary of three practices essential to the successful development of digital games: Scoping, Iteration and Testing. Session 2: After The Money’s Gone 
Strategies for estimating the appropriate scope of a digital game are studied and applied by creating a treatment for a project with specific resource restrictions. Session 3: Same As It Ever Was, Same As It Ever Was 
Iterative design practices are applied to the creation of a working prototype game, based on a previously submitted treatment. Session 4: And You May Tell Yourself, “This Is Not My Beautiful House!” 
Methods for automated and “live” testing digital games for operational correctness, player satisfaction and the achievement of experience goals are described and applied.