DRAMA 480 A: Game Design for Live Performance

DRAMA 480A Game Design for Live Performance

Winter Quarter 2025

Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, 3:30pm – 5:20pm

Hutchinson 130

Instructor:             Assistant Professor Adrienne Mackey, School of Drama

Office:                 Hutchinson 213

Email:                     amackey1@uw.edu

This is by far the best way to contact me. Email and I will respond within 48 hours.

Office Hours:        Fridays 1:30 – 3:15 and by appointment.

I’m generally available before and after this class. I don’t take meetings on Thursday.

Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.

–  Abraham Maslow

Class Description:

The presence of immersive and interactive plays has exploded on the theater landscape. Participatory dramas activate the superpower of LIVENESS: they’re stories that unfold in response to what audiences do, asking them to truly "be there." As theater artists bravely explore this exciting territory, questions about how best to offer such experiences quickly arise. How do we get audiences involved without giving over to chaos? What if viewers don’t do what we expect? How do we keep audiences and artists safe as we give up some control?

This is where GAMES come in! Game design offers tools to structure interactive storytelling, build compelling relationships between participants and the fictional worlds they enter, and activate one’s sense of play. This course offers students a basic foundation on game design tools that are useful to theater makers, studies examples of genre-bending game/theater hybrid artworks from current theater and game makers in the field and gives hands-on practice at making these kind of artworks. 

Questions to explore:

• What makes a play a play? What makes a game a game? How are they similar and where do they differ?
• What can game design teach theater about making participatory performances?
• What might theater makers teach gamers about embodied experience?
• What are the unique opportunities of creating in the interdisciplinary space between these two mediums?
• What are the “superpowers” of an artform that supercharges the experience of “liveness”?

Required Materials:

• Most important: An open mind!
• Nothing required for purchase! All materials will be shared in class or on Canvas.

Class Structure & Tentative Schedule:

Generally, each week will include a Monday lecture that introduces a topic to be explored in the following week or two. Wednesdays are a wild card: anything from completing lecture content, workshopping in-progress creations or hearing from guest speakers. On Fridays we’ll generally play a game or watch an interactive performance connected to our current theme. Midway through the quarter (on Projects 2 & 3) we’ll begin playtesting in class to get real-time feedback on the works YOU create.

Week 1: Introductions, Defining Games and Theatre

In the first week we’ll create community guidelines, talk about class structure and student goals and then dig into some definitions of game and theater as art forms. 

Weeks 2-3: Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics in Interactive Design

Our first major topic of exploration will be learning about a dominant theory of game design called “MDA” and how it applies to immersive and interactive theater. We’ll define the concept of “mechanics” and explore how to use rules and systems to structure the overall mission and experience for audiences in participatory performances. Using this newly acquired info, we’ll create our first game.

• Project 1 – Life Hack

Weeks 4 – 5: Embodiment, Interaction and Structuring Narrative

This section of the class will look at what kinds of stories a second-person art form uniquely serves. We’ll talk about how audiences experience performances that ask viewers to be a part of the story. Last, we’ll look at the structure of narratives in this realm and how we might imagine them differently than the traditional script.

• Project 2 – CHOOSE Traversing a Narrative Landscape OR “Escape” “Room”
  • Includes a Peer Review!

Weeks 6 – 8: Participation & Role Play, Building Agency, and Creating Characters

Having explored how we shape stories in game/theater works, we’ll move into the concept of audience agency and how to design choice. We’ll look at how to build rules that teach people to play our games effectively and what ethical concerns we need to consider when designing a journey. This will culminate in an exploration of role-play and creating characters in performance. 

• Project 3 – Casting the Audience
  • Includes a Peer Review!

Week 9 – 10: Iteration, Emergent Play, and Synthesis

In the final weeks, we’ll look at how to take existing works and refine them through iteration. You’ll consider your personal interests in using the material covered in your future (both within the artistic realm and beyond). Time depending, we may also take a deeper dive into a topic the group finds exciting. The final offers an option to re-work a previous game with the context of all you’ve learned since you started the class.

• OPTIONAL Project 4 – Redesign ANY previous game for a higher score

Note: This schedule is an approximation and subject to change.

Grading and Class Work:

AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO START WITH! One of the MOST central aspects of the game design process is iteration: taking an idea, testing it to see how audiences respond and making changes to get closer to one’s goals. In our time together I HOPE and EXPECT we’ll discover new and exciting opportunities for learning. Because of that, I’m intentionally leaving room for emergent play to arise throughout the course.

A SECOND IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW! I don’t want grades to be your dominant focus in this class. I want this space to be rigorous and fun, a class where you get to try and fail, a course you LOVE coming to, one where you can wrestle with new and difficult ideas without also having to worry about “winning” the game of percentage points. Since grades are a non-negotiable design constraint of the UW system, I choose to award you more for consistent effort and less the “quality” of the products you make. I try to make it straightforward how to do well in this class academically: show up, submit your responses, and stay genuinely game to play. Know that I’m always more interested in present-tense effort than procrastinated perfect attempts down the road.

With this in mind, here’s the “rules” for how grading works:

1) CLASS DISCUSSION & PARTICIPATION (28 classes, 1 point each, 28 points total)

This class includes LOTS of discussion and real-time collaboration. It is highly practical in nature – these tools are learned by DOING. As such, you will receive a point for every day you show up for a full day of class (including today). My hope is that we come to rely on each other to share ideas, inspiration, and feedback. In class you’ll be playing games and experiencing interactive performances to get first-hand understanding of how they work. In the second half of the quarter, expect lots of “beta testing” of each other’s games - giving and getting feedback.

In addition, I’ll post readings, games, videos, etc. you’ll familiarize yourself with outside of class that we’ll then unpack together live in class. I like to think of this as “homeplay” rather than homework.  These assignments are generally available two days ahead of the class that will explore the materials they introduce.

If you aren’t present, there’s no way make up the live experience. Because of that, in my ideal world, you’re present for every class. If you miss a day, I will expect you to spend an equivalent amount of time studying the materials posted to Canvas and checking in with fellow learners to get a sense of what we did. I do not offer make-ups of live content. I ask you do your utmost to come on time, for yourself and for the focus of those you share the space with. This is not a hard class to do well in, but if you know you need a course with a high degree of flexibility around in-person learning, this will not be a good fit.

That said, knowing your “real” lives (work, sickness, family) intersect with school, I offer two excused absences per quarter. I will document these absences (usually within a week of their occurrence) so you know when I’ve counted them as used. Unless you’ve set up an adjustment for a documented disability or religious accommodation, any absences beyond your first two will not be excused, so use them judiciously throughout the term. Please email and let me know you’ll be out at least two hours before the class start (ideally a full day before) so I can adjust plans for collaborative work. You do not need to tell me why you are missing class. Your two missed classes are your choice and I need no justification for them.

If you arrive late, that will impact your day’s participation score an equivalent portion of the day. (In other words, if you’re 30 minutes late to our 120-minute class, that will pull your attendance down by 25%). If you accumulate lateness that’s equivalent to a class, I will apply the absence waiver to that collective set of days. (For example, if you arrive halfway through the class on two days, that’s the equivalent of one whole day of absence and I’d apply the absence waiver to that “day’s” worth of missed material.)

2) HOMEPLAY DISCUSSION FACILITATION (2 times per quarter, 2 points each, 4 points total):

After the first week, I’ll begin handing off the facilitation of our homeplay discussions to YOU. Twice during the quarter, you will be in charge of leading the class through an unpacking of the material covered in homeplay. You will be required to send me at least three questions you’d like the room to discuss by the start of class and then moderate the conversation on those questions. This moderation may be solo or shared with another student, depending on class size.

Sign-ups for moderation will be offered after week 1 of class. If you miss class on a day you’ve signed up to moderate homeplay, you will also lose these points.

3) WEEKLY REFLECTIONS (10 responses, 1 per week, 2 points each, 20 points total):

Each week I’ll pose you a reflection prompt based on the material from the week’s theme to integrate classwork and homeplay. These may be turned in as written responses or audio recording. Your opinions are not on trial, but honest, critical thinking is expected. I’ll expect you to keep on top of the deadlines listed in Canvas for when these are due.

4) MAKING STUFF! (3 projects, one worth 10 points, two worth 15 points, 40 points total):

In addition to merely studying these topics, you’ll create three works of interactive art using the tools we explore. Two of these projects will be presented in class so that you can get hands on experience making something and seeing how people respond. You can undertake these as solo works of art or group efforts, depending on what works best for your idea and schedule. Details on these will be provided later in the term but each project will have a rubric with a point breakdown.

5) PEER RESPONSES (2 peer reviews, 4 points each, 8 points total):

For your second and third projects, you’ll be assigned a peer creator to give detailed feedback to. For one of your peer responses you’ll share thoughts digitally. For the second you will meet in person and relay the results of your discussion to me in a reflection.

Guidelines for these responses will be shared once the projects are assigned.

Grading Scale:

100 – 96 (4.0): A+                 95 – 93 (3.9 – 3.8): A             92 – 90 (3.7-3.5): A- 

89 – 87 (3.4-3.3): B+             86 – 83 (3.2-2.9): B                82 – 80 (2.8-2.5): B-

79 – 77 (2.4-2.3): C+             76 – 73 (2.2-1.9): C               72 – 70 (1.8-1.5): C- 

69 – 67 (1.4-1.3): D+             66 – 60 (1.1-1.0): D                          

Anything below this receives a failing grade.

You can email me if you’re unsure about your progress or want feedback about your work.

Conduct In Class:

The following agreements are part of my expectations for this class. If you stay in this course, you are expected to follow these guidelines:

• Phone Policy. A critical skill game designers need to learn is removing unnecessary distractions from the player experience. In this vein, I do not allow phones to be used during class. Don’t worry about them getting lonely! I’ve made a safe and luxurious Phone Spaä where they can get some needed rest. Upon entering the room, all phones, including mine, will be placed in the Phone Spaä where they will be kept until the end of our session. If you use a phone during the class, you will automatically lose your participation point for the day. Even if you have a medical or family emergency, you must discuss it with me prior to class and leave your phone in Phone Spaä before and after the call.
• Avoid distractions. If you take notes on a laptop CLOSE YOUR INTERNET BROWSER.
• Be respectful of other classmates. Making stuff is hard and uneven in its progress. To be creative requires support and mutual trust, so let’s offer each other dignity and kindness to each other as best as we are able in our work together.
• No discrimination of others on the basis of gender, sexuality, race, class, ability, nationality, age, etc. This includes “teasing” or “joking,” even if your intention is to be friendly. It will not be tolerated.
• Please call ME in if you feel like I’m not creating a class in which you can be your full self. As a person who walks through the world with a wealth of privileges, I know I have blind spots. To invoke activist and educator Jay Smooth, I subscribe to the “dental hygiene” model of anti-discrimination: I don’t brush my teeth once and assume they are forever good to go. The same goes for my approach to creating an inclusive educational space. It’s ongoing the practice of learning, listening and making changes towards inclusivity that’s the measure of success. Therefore, if something I do harms you or makes you feel excluded, I very much hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to let me know. I’ll do my best to listen with open ears and THANK YOU for being generous enough to offer that perspective.
• Approach the work with bravery and curiosity. Exploring new creative territory requires you to dare to go places that are unknown and, hopefully, exciting. I ask that students are willing to try to the best of their ability, even if an exercise seems strange. If you are confused about why we’re doing something, ASK! Chances are your questions are those of others in the room and offer an opportunity to learn together.

Academic Honesty:

Students at the University of Washington are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic conduct. Cheating, plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct are considered serious offenses and could result in a variety of disciplinary actions, including suspension or permanent dismissal from the University.

Please note that submitting material produced by AI essay generating apps as your own work, without explicitly naming it as such, counts as academic dishonesty. If AI is used to generate part or all of an essay, it must be explicitly stated and keep in line with the core principle that reflection writing is aimed at assessing YOUR understanding of the course material.

For more information on Academic Honesty (Cheating and Plagiarism) see:

http://depts.washington.edu/grading/pdf/AcademicResponsibility.pdf

For information on Student Standards of Conduct see:

https://www.washington.edu/cssc/for-students/student-code-of-conduct/

http://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/WAC/478-121TOC.html

Statement on Consent, Power Dynamics and Exploration of Sensitive Material:

Theater and Game-making is, by nature, an act that asks great vulnerability from its audiences. Participatory art asks people to engage in affective and emotional storytelling in live time, actively using our bodies and minds. It’s important to engage in care and responsibility when making choices about how we ask others to take part in our works. As a teacher I’m a firm believer that our greatest growth comes not when we’re scared of our environment, but when we feel centered, empowered, and supported in taking risks we understand the parameters of and have agreed to. Later in this course we will talk a LOT about how designers ethically make choices about consent and agency. For now, the mantra for our work together is:

COLLABORATION AT THE SPEED OF TRUST

All this said, as game designers we quickly learn that we can’t always anticipate how choices impact people in real time. In art (and life) we won’t always be perfect, and often as designers we won’t know what will feel weird to someone until it happens. It’s simply a fact of life that we will cause discomfort we don’t mean to. Though it’s not the job of someone on the receiving end of a mistake to fix it, I know from my own journey as an artist that it can be MASSIVELY helpful to get feedback that helps us know how their actions are impacting others. (Providing, obviously, that the person receiving feedback does the critical work of listening with openness and curiosity.)

If something happens in class, I believe it absolutely can be possible to back up, repair, rebuild trust that’s stronger than before. The key to long term trust and consent isn’t pretending no one mistakes will ever get made, but instead committing to a robust collaborative space where when smaller issues arise, we’ve instilled the practice of talking about and addressing them to avoid ongoing or systemic problems of mistrust and abuse.

Above all:

• If you’re feeling unsettled about something that’s happened in class, know that I am always here to listen.
• It can be uncomfortable or feel weird to share your needs in mixed groups, especially when you’re just getting to know each other. Resist the temptation to minimize or dismiss your experience! Take the daring creative step to name these collaborative “design issues” and learn to solve them together!
• Reframe the act of naming when someone does something that bothers you as a gift that allows them a chance to fix and adjust something they may not be aware of!
• If someone from within the School of Drama (fellow undergrad, graduate student, staff or faculty member) is making you feel sexualized, that is unequivocally not ok and is a violation of the program’s philosophy.
• I am here to be a support and advocate. If you need especially timeline assistance with something related to consent, rehearsal process, etc email me with the phrase “TIME SENSITIVE ASAP” in the subject line and I will respond as soon as I can.

Voicing A Concern:

All students have a right to engage and work in the School of Drama without being sexualized or harassed. If you are in a class, and you feel like you are being sexualized or harassed in any way, you can get help through the resources linked below.

• School of Drama voicing a concern policy: https://drama.washington.edu/process-voicing-concerns 
• Safe Campus: https://www.washington.edu/safecampus/
• Counseling Center: https://wellbeing.uw.edu/
• Title IX: https://www.washington.edu/titleix/

By utilizing the School of Drama’s Voicing a Concern process, students can voice a concern to any faculty member, instructor, or staff member. The faculty member, instructor, or staff member will also file a record of your complaint or concern with the School of Drama, unless you ask them not to. This record can remain anonymous if you wish. If you have requested a response, you can expect one within 30 days.

Class Content and Student Conduct:

Throughout history, theatre and performance have grappled with the world’s most complicated subject matter. Theatre has acted as a forum where the world’s conflicts can be contemplated and discussed, and can often be a tool for positive change. As such, the School of Drama believes the formal classroom environment and related academic activities, including productions, lectures, and other events, should be respectful spaces where sensitivity to personal backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs can be balanced with rigorous and thoughtful discourse. If you believe material and/or experiences in the course will compromise the success of your learning, please consider one or more of the following options:

1. Approach your instructor and share your concern: you may be able to find a suitable alternative arrangement or assignment
2. Speak with the program area head or Executive Director about your concern
3. Contact a Livewell Student Advocate in Health and Wellness who will help determine how a past incident may be impacting your academic success and will work with your courses and professors: hwadvoc@uw.edu
4. Contact UW Student Coaching and Care, which has staff trained to help students in distress and in need of multiple levels of support: ajmyhre@uw.edu.

Respect for Diversity Statement:

The diversity students bring to this class (including gender identity, sexuality, dis/ability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, and culture) should be honored as a resource, strength and benefit. I will do my best to create an environment in which each class member is able to hear and respect others. If something is said or done in the classroom, in a discussion, or in the group project process, by myself as an instructor or by other students, that is troubling or causes discomfort or offense, the impact of that experience is something important, deserving of attention and I would like to know about its occurrence. The School of Drama has developed the following resource that can help you navigate how to proceed if you would like to voice a concern beyond one of us as your instructor:

https://drama.washington.edu/process-voicing-concerns

Academic Accommodations and Wellbeing:

Your experience in this class is important to me. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please activate your accommodations via myDRS so we can discuss how they will be implemented in this course.

 If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), contact DRS directly to set up an Access Plan. DRS facilitates the interactive process that establishes reasonable accommodations. Contact DRS at disability.uw.edu.

Similarly, if you are experiencing mental health issues, please alert me to discuss how to move forward in the best fashion. The university has resources or health and wellness, please take advantage of them if you want or need to. https://wellbeing.uw.edu/ 

Religious Accommodations:

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodation.... Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/.

Disability Resource Services:

The process of artistic creation should be equally available to every student regardless of disability! If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

The UW Food Pantry:

A student should never have to make the choice between buying food or textbooks. The UW Food Pantry helps mitigate the social and academic effects of campus food insecurity. We aim to lessen the financial burden of purchasing food by providing students with access to food and hygiene products at no-cost. Students can expect to receive 4 to 5 days’ worth of supplemental food support when they visit the Pantry. For information including operating hours, location, and additional food support resources visit https://www.washington.edu/anyhungryhusky/the-uw-food-pantry/

Safety:

Safe Campus: https://www.washington.edu/safecampus/

Call SafeCampus at 206-685-7233 anytime – no matter where you work or study – to anonymously discuss safety and well-being concerns for yourself or others. SafeCampus’s team of caring professionals will provide individualized support, while discussing short- and long-term solutions and connecting you with additional resources when requested.

Land Acknowledgement:

The University of Washington sits on the territories of the Coast Salish, a land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Puyallup, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. Please take a to honor the original caretakers of this land, recognize the histories of land theft, violence, erasure, and oppression that has brought our institution and ourselves to this place, and also celebrate their stewardship, since time immemorial and into the present day, as critical. To learn more please visit https://native-land.ca/