The content of the course was great, but forcing people to wait for peers to grade (which in my case took a week per assignment) is ridiculous and clearly just drags out time to make you pay more for the monthly subscription. Remove this feature or require fewer peers.

This course starts off a bit degrading with the puppets and such, which can make you feel like you're being talked down to like a child, but if you stick with it, the course actually pans out nicely and has some decent topics to cover. I genuinely enjoy the instructor and actually went out to get a couple copies of his Deep Dark Fears anthologies; Fran's attention to detail and imagination is a joy to experience.

I found that the peers performing the reviews of my assignments were a bit too focused on the hard and fast requirement of the assignments, rather than keeping their eyes on the figurative prize, that being the "fun" factor; rather than focusing on the level of enjoyability, which I view as paramount, I found time and time again that my peers were steadfastly grasping the submission's guidelines until they got proverbial white knuckles.

The fact that not only the game board, but also the pieces and rules all on one sheet of paper must all fit to one single-sided sheet of paper is a catch 22 here, as whenever I crammed it all into one sheet, I got negative feedback that (nomater how much brevity was exercised) it felt cramped, whereas when I provided supplemental materials to address said issue, I was docked points for going beyond one single-sided sheet of paper.

I find this incredibly frustrating and in direct spite of the fundamental point being conveyed throughout this course. I very much expected to see the assignment allow for more sheets of paper as we progressed, so I found this incredibly limiting, and served as a distraction from the points I was meant to explore.

I really liked that course! You should think about it as an introduction class, otherwise you will be really disappointed with its content. Speaking for my academic experience, I already know how to program a game, but I never had the chance to study the Game Design field. This course forced me to use a creatively thinking process to focus on some important aspects, like rules, multiplayer, and more.

Do not take this class if: you are looking for academic resources, books references, lot of theory to study.

Take this class if: you are looking for some challenges, with motivational contents, that can push you to express yourself with your own force and skills!

Videos are also very fun to follow! I think that Frank is an awesome teacher, with great communication skills.

Fran Krause's "Introduction to Game Design" is a must-try for anyone intrigued by the world of games. With clear and enjoyable explanations, Fran simplifies complex concepts, making them accessible even to beginners. The course, focusing on the fundamentals, requires only a pencil and paper, catering to all levels without the need for programming skills. Fran's teaching style is both fun and understandable, turning learning into a delightful experience. The four linked assignments build progressively, offering a hands-on approach to crafting compelling game concepts. As a passionate instructor, Fran Krause made this course an absolute joy, earning my enthusiastic 5-star rating!

I enjoyed this course very much, it was insightful since it clarified some preconceptions I had about Game Design. I honestly did not know what to expect from this course, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well structured it is and how much it offered. The instructor did this course in such a way that it seemed uncomplicated even if he was dealing with some core concepts of Game Design, so it was easy to understand why certain things had to be done a certain way. I loved the peer review because it helped me understand what I could improve and what I did well. People were overall polite, very helpful and friendly.

This is an exceptionally really goods course. It's a nice, simple introduction to Board Game Design. It doesn't require you to use any software or animated drawing programs, you can achieve the course by using a Pen and A Piece of Paper. In this course, Fran uses simple language, and humour to aid the learning. I cannot draw at all, but found the content to learn, and the assignments easy to complete. I thoroughly recommend this course to anyone looking at Board Game Design, or those of you who are Concept Creators (Logos) etc, as it has helped me to develop my skills and knowledge. Robert Cooper (UK)

The course is AMAZING! it deals with a complex topic in a very simple way that allows you to build a game quickly while understanding the rules and basic strategies of game design. The only feedback i would like to give is regarding the faculty lack of interaction in the discussion forums. I feel they did not answer some of the questions sent to them in the specified forums and this lack of interactions diminishes the impact of the course. The course is still great, so i did not remove one star because of this, as i want to think the faculty will address the point above in future courses.

Although I do have a wee bit of experience in game design, I came into this course with an open mind, a clean-slate approach, and a willingness to learn and better myself. This course focuses on some of the fundamentals of game design, and does so in a very fun, very engaging way. You'll never feel like the assignments are "work" - instead, at the beginning of each Week, you'll be chomping at the bit to get to the assignment. All the assignments are really fun and you'll love getting peer-reviewed because your peers on this course are most likely going to be fellow game enthusiasts!

I learned a lot about this course. You kinda get fooled by the title of it but in all reality, learning the basics of Game Design is essential to getting your feet wet. I, myself, am someone that looks to move forward and fast, so taking the time to learn basic things really brought me down a level and to work patiently. It also helps when you get feedback from those that are similar and different in game styles and creativity. Thanks! This was my first experience taking an online class and I enjoyed it 100%! Thanks Fran and thanks to those who helped me with reviews!

This one-month course is best who are starting/going to start their career in Game Design. This course provides the basic knowledge and understanding of how board games and video games are made. This course also answers some basic questions like what kind of characters are there in the video game, and how can we balance out. The course instructor really provided useful information in a fun and interactive way. Every topic is covered overall in a very concise manner through less duration. So the students don't get overwhelmed by long content.

The course instructor was such a fantastic teacher! Being a beginner at game design, I found myself learning a ton despite the short videos (though these videos were so fun and entertaining to watch). I definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in getting started in game design! After completing this course, I feel much more confident about taking my game ideas to the next step. I now even have a rough draft of a board game that I created throughout the course, which I plan to eventually turn into a polished 2 or 3-player game!

A good introduction to game design concepts, for gamers that are absolute beginners in game design. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Reviewers have varying degrees of commitment but in general more engaged in reviewing than in creative writing courses I've taken. Other pluses compared to prior experiences are, the assignment platform works more smoothly, and the course instructions are clearer. Finally, I liked the friendly and non-assuming demeanor of the teacher. To me, the more non-assuming the person, the more knowledgeable they are.

This was my first course on COURSERA and first course about game design. It has really opened my mind to many characteristics of game design. It a super helpful course if your starting in game design(which I am!). You'll have the opportunity to review others and be reviewed, which is very important! The feedback I got really helped me to go forward, and reviewing others gave me the opportunity to see many different designs and ways to build game mechanics. It's very great.

I liked the content that was provided and I enjoyed the assigments! I think that some improvements could be implemented in the Review Homework system, as it is quite common to receive some unhelpful feedback from our peers... I think there should be a way to validate a feedback. Many people just write things like: "nothing" or "..." and so on. Also, I think that it would be nice to have a wider variety of examples of games in classes. It would help to clarify some topics.

Amazing course! It helped me better understand the visuals and skills for game design! Fran Krause and his muppets character made me laugh through out the video, it was well entertaining and worth the time for learning all of the skills required in the course! The assignments were bread and butter, I was able to pass them all thanks to my pre written ideas! I recommend people who are planning to make a game, please take this course! It's well worth it for your time! :)

I really enjoyed the course. The instructor knows what he is talking about, and he leaves you room to be creative. Game design is all about being creative, it is like any art. I believe the instructor can not physically tell someone how to be creative, it is something that is within us all. I am grateful to have had the oppotunity to go through with this course and create some table top games as a basis for game design. Excited for the future of this course.

I found the course to be very well structured and interesting; it was very exciting to learn all the basics of game design. The teacher was very engaging and the homework, while basic enough for beginners, was challenging enough to keep things interesting. My only suggestion is, if possible, also have a teacher grading our projects and not just peers. As much as valuable and important peer feedback is, I think it doesn't replace an expert's evaluation.

Very good material, visually and content wise. It could have had more content to make it denser, but I guess it has enough to be an introduction course. What I enjoyed the most were the assignments. Having to think how to implement what the video lectures explained was a good challenge. But above all, receiving peer reviews to improve on the ideas, and also trying out the games of other peers is the best part of the learning experience, in my opinion.

It actually was the introduction so no complain about the few things I've learned, but the course was fun and completely understandable. The most important thing we need to know was mentioned and it was a good thing as an assignment we used our own ideas to create a game. I just wanted to say thank you for giving me the financial aid to pass this course and made me more aware of what I have chosen for my future job!

Content is great, the exercises are thought provoking, and I actually made a pretty decent game at the end. The only shame is that enrollment was very, very low when I took it. I hope that the next time the course is offered Coursera/CalArts advertises it more, share it more on social media, and really garner interest in it. It's a good course and many people would be interested in it if they knew it existed.

It's honestly a very fun class to take, some of these principles are definitely applicable to building regular products as well. Only thing is I wish we would get some feedback from the teachers as well and not just class assessment, I feel like class assessment can be a hit or a miss.

Some people give great feedback which is useful while others just say something to mark their homework as complete.

Overall the presentation of course materials was excellent, and I feel like I learned a lot through both the video lectures and the peer-reviewed projects. My one caveat is that occasionally some of the feedback from the peer review was either unhelpful or didn't seem entirely fair, but that's a general fault with the nature of being graded through peer review and not the course itself.

This is such a fun course, first of all! All of the lessons and assignments were really clear, and it's such a great beginning step towards game design as a whole. Everything was easy to understand, and really fun to work on! Fran is a fantastic teacher and I highly recommend this course if you want to get into some form of game design/development but you may not be sure where to start.

It was a nice course since I'm a complete beginner. Although certain things may seem like obvious, for a person who is only starting off altogether, there are interesting thoughts in the course. I liked the homework. It depends on the person: if you're a complete beginner and you take things seriously, you can complete this class in two weeks and gain knowledge from it.

It was a well presented course that was easy to follow but offered a lot of information. It helped me put my gaming activities and plans to get into the industry into context. I thoroughly enjoyed the assignments and making a paper based game for my peers to review. I highly recommend taking this course. The use of the puppet was an inspired and well chosen addition.