The Composition Box: From Collaborative Ideation to Exploratory Playtesting Judeth Oden Choi, Jodi Forlizzi, Jessica Hammer, Michael Christel, MacKenzie Bates
Working with a diverse team to create an experience as complex as a game is challenging. So often the most difficult part is moving from the ideation phase to the creation of a prototype that addresses the needs and embodies the ideas of all involved. Together we will engage in a process that will help us refine our game’s goals, consider how the game’s “ingredients” work to fulfill those goals, and use bodystorming to generate multiple sketches, or “compositions,” of our game experience. Adapted from Anne Bogart’s approach to composition for the stage (Eckard, 2006), our compositions will help us move toward building a prototype and generating testable questions about the effective execution of our game’s goals and the player’s experience.