The 3-session seminar “Introduction to Mixed Realities” is part of the MANDATORY CORE ELECTIVE MODULE 3.2 – GAME DESIGN, BA Digital Games / Semester 6

(open to CGL students and faculty only)

Course Description

The course will introduce students to the specific challenges when designing for mixed reality. Aside from forming definitions and terminologies, students will analyse existing games in regard to their specifics in the reality-virtuality-continuum. In two practical units the class will observe and document a predefined location in detail and investigate its opportunities for a prospective game scenario. Furthermore the sensory capabilities of a common smartphone will be laid out in detail to explore its current and future potential as “extension of men” (cf. M. Mc Luhan (1964)). For the final session students are supposed to develop game concepts based on the two pillars “location” and “technology”.

Course Objectives

The participants will acquire insights in:

• research techniques (location scouting)
• advanced theory and terminology of mixed reality experiences
• developing concepts for location-based games

SESSION 1 – Location

A) Reimagining physical places as play spaces.
Using a location as protagonist, students will systematically explore a pre-determined place
and will present their findings to the group. The goal of the class is to come up with different
angles on how to perceive a real world location.

• Categorizing observations
• Discussion about instrumentalizing and fictionalizing a location

B) Definition
• Stages of the Reality-Virtuality Continuum
• What does mixed realty mean and how do we use the term in the context of this seminar
• Different existing forms of Mixed Reality