1. Game Industry: Born global, innovative, and digital
Miikka J. Lehtonen, Fernando Pinto Santos, Irina Mihailova

2. Who we are

3. Why this course now?
OUR AMBITION IS TO CREATE A GLOBALLY LEADING NETWORK OF RESEARCH ON THE GAME INDUSTRY, FROM A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE. WE AIM TO FACILITATE RESEARCH ON THIS DOMAIN, CREATING AND DISSEMINATING KNOWLEDGE THAT CAN ADVANCE ACADEMIC UNDERSTANDING, DEVELOPING MEANS TO INCREASE HIGH QUALITY TEACHING AND EDUCATION IN THIS FIELD, AS WELL AS PROVIDE VALUABLE OUTCOMES TO THE INDUSTRY PLAYERS.  THIS NETWORK IS PARTICULARLY TIMELY DUE TO THE RECENT WORLDWIDE GROWTH OF THE GAME INDUSTRY SECTOR, ITS ACKNOWLEDGED IMPACT IN CONTEMPORARY ORGANIZATION PRACTICES AND THE INCREASING CHALLENGES THAT ARE ARISING TO DIFFERENT ENTITIES RELATED WITH THIS DOMAIN: PRIVATE FIRMS, PUBLIC SECTOR AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

4. Practicalities: what will we be doing during this course?
MyCourses:
Grading: participation (10%), assignments (70%), final presentation (20%)
Learning diary: There are no strict guidelines regarding the structure (writing, drawing, prototyping, etc.), but we expect you to produce reflexive thinking worth of one A4 for each week.
Teamwork: Group work is built around your team’s game idea, and the business model you will create to turn that idea into a sustainable business.
No class on 29 Sep, but: attend an event!
List of events to be provided later on this week on our website + MyCourses, AND the idea is to include that in your learning diary on the week during which you attend the event

5. Practicalities 2: schedule
14 Sep
Introduction
5 Oct
Branding, marketing
15 Sep
From an idea to a game proposal + Finnish game industry
6 Oct
Internationalization
21 Sep
Prototyping
12 Oct
A holistic view of the industry
22 Sep
User testing and quality assurance
13 Oct
Finalize the game idea
28 Sep
Business model, funding
19 Oct
Gamification and beyond
29 Sep
NO CLASS
20 Oct
Pitching event

6. Who are you?
When they introduce themselves, ask them also to write it down on a piece of paper with the following info: NAME and MAJOR
Major, learning goals for this course, relationship to games

7. #1: What is a game? Discussion and ideation
Write down your ideas on a post-it, and attach it to the wall
Discussion and ideation

8. #2: Who is a player? And why should we care about it
Write down your ideas on a post-it, and attach it to the wall
And why should we care about it

9. 15 minutes break

10. Spoon exercise
Two minutes, come up with as many ideas as possible on alternative uses for a spoon

11. Team formation!

12. Time to generate game ideas!
Keep it quick and dirty: 5 ideas
One idea / A4
No strict format guidelines, but list down the following aspects: idea, inspiration, player, purpose
Bring your team’s ideas with you to tomorrow’s session

13. Some helpful creative methods #1
Make it personal: The Simpsons based on teachers, problems your kids are going through, things that happened to you as a kid – Al Jean
Ingledew, J. (2016) How to have great ideas

14. Some helpful creative methods #2
Fence yourself in: come and ask us for constraints
Ingledew, J. (2016) How to have great ideas

15. Some helpful creative methods #3
Embrace absurdity: The chief enemy of creativity is “good” sense – Pablo Picasso
Ingledew, J. (2016) How to have great ideas

16. Some helpful creative methods #4
Explore your surroundings: Shigeru Miyamoto came up with an idea for the Zelda franchise by walking in the forests of Kyoto
Ingledew, J. (2016) How to have great ideas

17. Thank you and see you tomorrow!
Miikka, Fernando, Irina -