Designing Games: From Game Theory to Your First Playable Prototype
Learn the mathematics of strategic decisions and turn it into hands-on design skill for board games, card games, and turn-based video games. You'll build, test, and refine real prototypes while picking up the core game theory concepts that make choices feel meaningful. By the end you'll have a playtested game of your own and the vocabulary to keep improving it.
What Makes a Game a Game
Build a shared vocabulary for rules, choices, goals, and fun before touching any math.
Unit Test: What Makes a Game a Game
8 questions · pass at 75%
Game Theory Essentials for Designers
Learn the classic tools of game theory using nothing more than tables and simple logic.
Unit Test: Game Theory Essentials for Designers
8 questions · pass at 75%
Information, Chance, and Fairness
Master the levers of uncertainty that separate chess from poker from Candy Land.
Unit Test: Information, Chance, and Fairness
8 questions · pass at 75%
Core Mechanics Toolkit
Survey the proven building blocks designers combine into new games.
Unit Test: Core Mechanics Toolkit
8 questions · pass at 75%
From Idea to Prototype
Turn a concept into physical or digital components you can actually play this week.
Unit Test: From Idea to Prototype
8 questions · pass at 75%
Playtesting and Balancing
Develop the discipline of testing, measuring, and revising your design.
Unit Test: Playtesting and Balancing
8 questions · pass at 75%
Polish, Publish, and Keep Going
Refine the experience layer and choose a path for sharing your finished game.
Unit Test: Polish, Publish, and Keep Going
8 questions · pass at 75%
Final Exam: Designing Games — From Game Theory to Your First Playable Prototype
Final Exam: Designing Games — From Game Theory to Your First Playable Prototype
15 questions · pass at 75%