CS 377E: Designing Characters for Computer Games (Spring 2002)

Place and time
Time: Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00-12:15
Place: Building 380, Room 380Y (Mathematics)
Credits: 3 (letter grade or pass/fail allowed)

Characters have gradually become more common in computer interfaces, albeit with mixed success. The one area in which they have been integral for many years is computer games. There they have gradually evolved from crude icons to sophisticated embodiments giving the convincing appearance of personality, emotion, and purpose. High-quality characters have been the success of many of the bestselling games of recent years. With interest in characters growing, both in games and for other interfaces, the underlying principles of character design are worth examining in some depth.

In this course we'll analyze what makes a strong character, looking at examples from many game genres. Building on readings drawn from computer science, interface design, animation, drama, psychology, and literature, we will develop a framework for analyzing the function of a character in a game, the properties it must possess to fulfill its role, and for determining how to build a character with those properties. We'll apply this framework first to do analysis of existing games, and then to the creation of your own characters. We will also use it to look at applications of characters in other areas beyond entertainment.

Assignments will include weekly readings, extensive game analysis, and a final team project proposing a character design for a game or other application. Students will be expected to participate actively and to keep up with the readings; this is a computer science course and you must be prepared to defend your analyses with more than intuition and personal experience.

Prerequisites: CS 147 (Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction) or by permission of instructor. We welcome students from other disciplines (art, education, psychology, etc.) with comparable maturity in their fields.

• Course Information
• Course Schedule
• Thought Questions
• Downloadable Files (handouts, slides, etc.)
• Discussion Forum
• Library Reserve Materials
• Related Sites

Required texts:
   • Coursepack (available from the Stanford Bookstore)
   • Game Design: Theory and Practice, Richard Rouse et al. (at Bookstore, but less expensive online)

Current reading assignment (for 5/28):
  • Coursepack, pp. 92-143 (Kelly)
  • Coursepack, pp. 54-59 (Gard)
  • Coursepack, pp. 54-59 (Gard)
  • Online Microsoft Character Design Guidelines

Current writing assignment:
  • Final Project (due Friday, June 7th at 3:30 pm)