Project Horseshoe Workgroup Report Index

*Project Horseshoe Reports*
2012	ENTIRE PROJECT HORSESHOE 2012 REPORT
	Training for the Game Design Olympics
	A discussion of the skills involved in game design, a description of exercises that can cultivate and improve these skills, and a list of design "rules of thumb"
	Toward a More Civilized Teabagging
	A description of principles and best practices which enable designers to create game systems that better facilitate and incent civil play.
	Opening the Kimono
	An exploration of the design aspects that satisfy the different needs of male and female gamers in a romantic fantasy game environment
	Divine Design
	A deconstruction of the functional mechanics at play in successful religions and a look at how games may or may not utilize similar approaches to improve user acquisition, reach, and player retention
	Crux
	An approach to designing games that deal with sensitive topics in a way that both respects and edifies players, regardless of political or ideological leanings
	Design Feedback Loops for Successful Independent Productions
	A presentation of an independent game production model and a summary of the comments on this model from select members of the Project Horseshoe community
	Game Jam 2012
	The presentation of five new games, designed or advanced at Horseshoe, addressing specific attributes that this workgroup felt were underserved in the market relative to the enjoyment potential, and a list of prototyping "pro-tips"

2011	ENTIRE PROJECT HORSESHOE 2011 REPORT
	Practical Psychological Manifesto
	A manifesto to instill fear and lust in academic and game industry leadership, motivating them to push for collaboration
	How to Reinvent a Genre
	Defining a process by which game designers can bring about radical reinvention of new genres and providing the tools necessary to reduce the risk of genre innovation
	Topics, Tactics and Tools for Building Authentic Long-term Engagement Mechanisms
	An exploration of engagement mechanisms with an eye toward offering game makers new possibilities in meta-structural mechanisms which might change the current landscape and help us migrate toward more authentically integrated long term play experiences
	Emotions Through Rules And Systems
	Exploring the problem space represented by the extreme use of physical mechanics, absent story context, to convey emotion to the audience
	Location-Based Games
	Presents a working understanding of the variety of considerations for the design and development of location-based games by industry professionals, with the goal of helping this field of development become commercially successful via a "killer app"

2010	ENTIRE PROJECT HORSESHOE 2010 REPORT
	Using Games as a Delivery Vehicle for Political and Cultural Messages
	Guiding principles, tools, and techniques for successfully delivering political and cultural messages in games
	Making Online Multiplayer a Better Place
	Methodologies to greatly reduce player loss due to the intimidation and frustration faced by newcomers in a competitive online multiplayer game
	In Search of Better Narrative in Games
	An exploration of game narrative, including discussion of types, techniques, and player reception
	Designing Games for Many Colocated Players
	A discussion of game design for many players gathered in a single place, with examples
	The Renaissance of Game Designers
	A discussion of game design as a profession

2009	ENTIRE PROJECT HORSESHOE 2009 REPORT
	Choosing Between Right and Right: Creating Meaningful Ethical Dilemmas in Games
	Providing a framework for understanding and implementing ethical dilemmas in games.
	How to make Social Games Better
	A discussion of the current state and future possibilities in the social games arena.
	Free Your Inner Suit: A Capitalist's Guide to Survival in 21st Century Game
	An examination of community as product in the games industry.

2008	ENTIRE PROJECT HORSESHOE 2008 REPORT
	Concept Sketches for Game Design: Best Practices for Prototyping within the Game Industry
	Explores the process and benefits of using a prototyping process throughout development, as it relates to everyone who has a stake in the game's success.
	Multiplayer Game Atoms
	Addresses the following questions: Can game grammar be extended to the rich universe of multiplayer games? Are skill atoms a pragmatic tool for working designers?
	Game Designer as Artist
	Discusses the transformation of game design into an art form, including problems and solutions involved in that transformation.
	Please, Let Me Play the Game I Bought
	A discussion of players' inability to experience all of the product they have paid for due to their own deficiencies in either skill, time or ability.
	The Gaming Date
	An examination of video gaming's general exclusion from the culture of courtship and dating, including the issues that prevent this and how they can be addressed.
	Dramatic Choices
	A discussion of how a sandbox virtual world system for story construction with semiautonomous avatars might be enhanced to cater for dramatic choices.
	Game Designer's Bookshelf
	Proposes the creation of a website which lists, categorizes, reviews and provides basic publishing information on resources for game designers.
	Project Unity
	Proposes the creation of an online social site to address real world humanitarian needs.

2007	ENTIRE PROJECT HORSESHOE 2007 REPORT
	FabulaRasa: Story in Games
	Looks at ways to mediate meaningful experiences that lead to a player’s story.
	Games that Encompass a Diverse and Unusual Range of Emotions
	An examination of emotions not typically used in modern game designs and examples of game ideas for these emotions.
	Interactive Natural Language Artistic Experiences
	Presents two case studies of games that use interactive natural language artistic experiences.
	Professionalizing Game Design
	Looks at how we can define the designer’s role, standardize the expectations and necessary skill sets, and provide a framework for developing future designers to a professional standard.

2006	ENTIRE PROJECT HORSESHOE 2006 REPORT
	Online People's Revolutionary Army of Horseshoe
	Addresses the current deficiencies in online game design, technology, business models, social management and customer service.
	Building Innovative Games That Sell
	A discussion of business practices that prohibit innovative game designs and a study of methodologies to support financially responsible design creativity & experimentation.
	The Legitimacy of Games
	An examination of the legitimacy of games as a form of art and creative expression.
	The Creation of Radically New Game Experiences
	Presents new game design approaches in an effort to bring experiences generated by games much further then they have gone to date.