MIT CMS.611J Creating Video Games, Fall 2014

CMS.611J / 6.073 Creating Video Games is a class that introduces students to the complexities of working in small, multidisciplinary teams to develop video games. Students will learn creative design and production methods, working together in small teams to design, develop, and thoroughly test their own original digital games. Design iteration across all aspects of video game development (game design, audio design, visual aesthetics, fiction and programming) will be stressed. Students will also be required to focus test their games, and will need to support and challenge their game design decisions with appropriate focus testing and data analysis. Created by MIT OpenCourseWare.


Average Course Length

45 hours


Skill Level

Intermediate



Pick a lesson


1: Introduction
2: Project 1, Low Fidelity Prototyping
3: Game Engines
4: Project 2, Digital Prototype with Project Management
5: Agile Software Development
6: Agile Project Management
7: Testing and Guest Lecture with Genevieve Conley of Riot Games
8: Project 2 Presentations, Project 3 (Digital Prototype II: User Interface)
9: Guest Lecture with SWERY of Access Games
10: UI and Usability
11: Guest Lecture (EA) on Development and Best Practices
12: Project 3 Presentations, Project 4 Introduction (Small Game Project)
13: Serious Games, Simulation and Abstraction
14: Aesthetics
15: Guest Lecture (Scot Osterweil of MIT Game Lab)
16: Team Dynamics
17: Working with Artists (Guest Lecture by Luigi Guatieri)
18: Fiction and Narrative in Video Games
19: Working with Sound Designers (Guest Lecture by Richard Ludlow and Andy Forsberg)
20: Writing in Games (Guest Lecture by Heather Albano and Laura Baldwin)
21: Cutting Features; Scope
22: Team Discussions
23: Running a Game Studio (Guest Lecture by Michael Carriere and Jenna Hoffstein)
24: Getting Players to Your Game (Guest Lecture by Sean Baptiste)
25: Final Presentation Rehearsals
26: Final Presentations
27: Instructor Introduction: Philip Tan
28: Instructor Introduction: Andrew Haydn Grant
29: Instructor Introduction: Richard Eberhardt
30: Instructor Introduction: Sara Verrilli
31: Instructor Interview: Teaching Students How to Solve Creative Problems as Teams
32: Instructor Interview: Sequencing Learning Experiences
33: Instructor Interview: Teaching the Iterative Process
34: Instructor Interview: Fostering Diversity of Voices
35: Instructor Interview: Assessing Students' Projects
36: Instructor Interview: Refining the Course
37: Instructor Interview: Advice for Educators
38: Instructor Interview: Postmortem Analysis
39: Client Interview: Pablo Suarez
40: Student Interview: Tej Chajed
41: Student Interview: Matthew Susskind
42: Student Interview: Miriam Prosnitz
43: Student Interview: Lauren Merriman
44: Student Interview: Lenny Martinez
45: From Pitch to Product: The Development of Hello Waves