A course on how science and research findings can help one create better games. Covers topics such as emergence, economics, balancing, psychology, perceptual-motor control.

Currently called “Game Analysis” in Aalto’s curriculum. The course name will be updated in Fall 2026.

Contents

Introduction

What are games and game design? What interesting things lie at the fringes of the definitions? How can research and science help in creating games?

Lecture slides (my speech transcribed as notes which you can view by clicking “view original” or downloading the pdfs):

Intro to game analysis and research_2025.pdf

Emergence and game design

Lecture slides (my speech transcribed as notes which you can view by clicking “view original” or downloading the pdfs):

MDA_and_emergence_2025.pdf

Game design math, balancing, analytics

Part 1: Business & Economics

Lecture slides

(My speech transcribed as notes which you can view by clicking “view original” or downloading the pdfs):

gdmath_2025_part1.pdf

Spreadsheets