780.224 (20W) Issues in Game Studies: Cyberpunk

Wintersemester 2020/21

Registration deadline has expired.

First course session
12.11.2020 18:00 - 20:00 online Off Campus
... no further dates known

Overview

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be necessary to make changes to courses and examinations at short notice (e.g. cancellation of attendance-based courses and switching to online examinations).

For further information regarding teaching on campus, please visit: https://www.aau.at/en/corona.
Lecturer
Course title german Issues in Game Studies: Cyberpunk
Type Lecture - Course (continuous assessment course )
Course model Online course
Hours per Week 2.0
ECTS credits 4.0
Registrations 25 (35 max.)
Organisational unit
Language of instruction English
Course begins on 12.11.2020
eLearning Go to Moodle course

Time and place

Please note that the currently displayed dates may be subject to change due to COVID-19 measures.
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Course Information

Intended learning outcomes

Critically explore cyberpunk as a concept in artistic reception and production. Read, watch, and play key artworks of the genre and analyse their shared motifs, tropes, and worldbuilding strategies. Supplement your understanding with theoretical texts. Examine how the experience of cyberpunk can be captured in game design. Realise your own contribution to cyberpunk videogames based on your analytical insights.

By the end of the semester, you will be able to identify artworks as belonging to the cyberpunk genre, to critically understand the importance of their main features, and understand in general how to adapt genre markers for your own game design routine.

Teaching methodology including the use of eLearning tools

Important notice: The seminar is going to be held fully online. Detailed instructions on how this class is going to function are going to be provided by your lecturers on Moodle or via e-mail.


Block sessions featuring discussions, student presentations, and shared game lab sessions.

Course content

The seminar gives students an overview of the most important works of the cyberpunk genre. It focuses on three types of cultural artifact: prose literature, film, and videogame.

A full list of artworks discussed will be provided with a syllabus during the first session.

Literature

The seminar draws from various artistic and intellectual sources. Shorter texts, mostly in shape of theoretical secondary reading, will be provided on Moodle.

Students are expected to buy or otherwise familiarise themselves with specific artworks relevant for their examination.

Foundational works for the seminar are:

  • Bartle, Richard. 2003. Designing Virtual Worlds. San Francisco: New Riders.
  • VanderMeer, Jeff. 2018. Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction. London: Abrams & Chronicle Books.

Examination information

Im Fall von online durchgeführten Prüfungen sind die Standards zu beachten, die die technischen Geräte der Studierenden erfüllen müssen, um an diesen Prüfungen teilnehmen zu können.

Examination methodology

The seminar features three central assessments. Students must

  • present a film or book
  • host a game lab focused on a videogame
  • make a research poster and turn it into a prototype game project.

Furthermore, the final grade is shaped by student participation.

Examination topic(s)

Film or book presentation: Students (either alone or in a group, depending on number of participants) must present a film or book chosen from a canon of cyberpunk artworks. (Worth 20% of the final mark)

Game Lab hosting: Students (either alone or in a group, depending on number of participants) must host a game lab featuring a videogame that is chosen from a canon of cyberpunk artworks. This means that they ought to familiarise themselves with a videogame, then present and play it together with all seminar participants during a seminar session. (Worth 20% of the final mark)

Research poster and prototype game projects: Students ought to collect their understanding of what defines a cyberpunk world on a scientifically founded, self-created poster early in the seminar. At the end of the seminar, the contents of this poster must be turned into a prototype game project. This means that the content of the poster must be adapted into an interactive artwork, allowing players to exert agency with, or influenced by, cyberpunk tropes and topics. Students may work as a group and base their project on one poster or a combination of their posters if proper documentation is provided. The interactive artwork may be analogue or digital. Students of the master’s programme Game Studies and Engineering are advised to conclude the seminar with a digital project. (Worth 50% of the final mark)

Participation. (Worth 10% of the final mark)

Assessment criteria / Standards of assessment for examinations

Presentation:

  • Content relevance
  • Inclusion of research literature
  • Selection of quotes or scenes
  • Relevance of discussion questions
  • Discussion management

Game Lab:

  • Content presentation
  • Provision of gameplay experience
  • Portrayed expertise
  • Inclusion of seminar participants
  • Relevance of discussion questions
  • Discussion management

Poster and Prototype Game Project:

  • Outlining critical insights of the seminar (poster)
  • Reliance on additional resources (poster)
  • Adapting poster content to interactivity
  • Demonstrating critical thought in said adaptation process
  • Provision of 600-word post mortem (an informal report describing the design work)

Participation:

  • Attendance
  • Properly announcing/excusing missed attendance
  • Contributions to discussions, both in class and online

General remark on our code of conduct and plagiarism policy:

Provide properly cited sources (latest Chicago Manual of Style format) on all your assignments.

Have a look at the departmental policy: (https://www.aau.at/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/anti-plagiarism-declaration_english-department.pdf)

Students caught plagiarising will be removed from class immediately.

Read the Code of Conduct on our departmental homepage (https://www.aau.at/en/english/study/code-ofconduct/). Violation of this code will result in your immediate removal from class.

Grading scheme

Grade / Grade grading scheme

Position in the curriculum

  • Master's degree programme Visual Culture (SKZ: 655, Version: 18W.2)
    • Subject: Visuelle Medien zwischen Fakten und Fiktionen (Compulsory elective)
      • 6.2 Transmediales visuelles Erzählen ( 0.0h VC / 6.0 ECTS)
        • 780.224 Issues in Game Studies: Cyberpunk (2.0h VC / 6.0 ECTS)
  • Master's degree programme Game Studies and Engineering (SKZ: 992, Version: 17W.2)
    • Subject: Game Studies (Compulsory subject)
      • Issues in Game Studies ( 0.0h VC / 4.0 ECTS)
        • 780.224 Issues in Game Studies: Cyberpunk (2.0h VC / 4.0 ECTS)
          Absolvierung im 1. Semester empfohlen

Equivalent courses for counting the examination attempts

This course is not assigned to a sequence of equivalent courses