Skip to main content

MITx: 11.126x Introduction to Game Design

Frequently Asked Questions

THE COURSE

What time is it?

In order to coordinate with your peers from around the world, this course uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The current time is shown here and you can use this site to convert to your own time zone.

Are there any prerequisites?

It will be helpful for participants to have some familiarity with board and video games, as well as interest in designing and understanding how games work. We also hope that participants will be willing to experiment with digital prototyping. 

How do I pass this class?/How do grades work?

In this course, we have shifted the emphasis away from grades. What’s important is the effort you put in and the experiences you have. This especially means engaging with the community of your peers, and working on personally meaningful projects. These things don’t lend themselves to automated evaluation, but benefit greatly from discussion and reflection. For this reason, the course has you focus on peer evaluation and the honor system to earn your certificate.

At the end of each week's content, there will be a completion checklist for you to keep track of activities and assignments completed. Completion checklists are due the last day of the course, June 15, 2016. If you selected a verified certificate, you must make sure you have completed the checklists by the due date or your progress will not be reflected correctly. See the section in the FAQ on certificates for more information. The more you do, the more you will get out of the course, but you should also feel free to tailor your experience in the course to your own interests and goals.

What kind of certificates are there for this course? Do I have to pay?

EdX offers verified certificates, which are available for a fee that varies by course. For 11.126x, the fee is $99 (USD). You will be required to verify your identity before you can receive your certificate. You can also audit any edX course, including 11.126xx. You do not receive a certificate if you audit a course, but you can print your progress page for the course if you want evidence of your achievement. In the past, edX also offered honor code certificates. These certificates are no longer available for new courses. If you earned an honor code certificate in a previous course, you still have access to your certificate through your dashboard.

Please note that if you want the Verified Certificate, you must choose it and complete the ID verification process by June 1, 2016. 

You must complete 50% or more of the assigned work and indicate that by filling out the appropriate checklists by the course end date, June 15, 2016 to pass the course and earn a Verified Certificate.

When are assignments due?

Each assignment will list an 'expected' due date in its description - usually a week after its assignment.  However, the assignments in the course won't close until after the course is over - you can turn in your assignments, and review your peer's assignments, up till the last day of the course.

However, we strongly encourage students to turn in their work within a week of its assignment, and ask for peer reviews to be completed within about four days of the 'expected' due date.

When does the course end?

11.126x officially ends on June 15, 2016 and certificates will be generated around June 22, 2016. However, an archived version of the course will be available after that date.

Where should I go if I have questions?

  • If you have technical questions about the edX platform, try using the "Help" tab in the upper left corner of every page.
  • If you don't find your answer there, or if you find bugs or issues with the forums site, please post your question in the Technical Help thread in the forums.
  • If you have non-technical questions, we encourage you to post them in the appropriate discussion on the forums.
  • Or, if all else fails, you can email the 11.126x staff at 11.126x@gmail.com. We'll do our best to help you out, though we can't guarantee a timely reply given the massive nature of this course.

THE COURSE FORUMS

The Official Course Forums are open to everyone in the course and follow the course (organized by week and activities for that week). So, in a specific week, there are places for you and your classmates to talk about the assignments, activities and readings for that week.

How do I make a post?

First, determine the subject of your post. Does it pertain to a specific assignment, activity, or reading? If so, navigate your way to the specific forum for that topic. To make a post once you’re in the right forum, either click the pink New Topic button or scroll down to the bottom of the page and submit your post there.

How do I find other people?

If you already know someone’s username, you can click on the button labelled “Members” in the top menu bar and then search the name.

Otherwise, you can join groups to find people of similar interests and friend request them.

How do I have a private conversation?

In order to private message someone, first navigate to their profile page (through your friends list or the members page), and then click the private message button to the right of their avatar.

You will have the option to add additional recipients for your message on the next page and enter in a subject and message body.

You are also able to publicly message/mention someone by clicking the public message button next to the private message button or by writing “@” followed by their username in your status update box (found under the activity tab in your profile).

GAMEBLOX

Gameblox is a blocks-based programming environment for making games online for the web and mobile devices. It's being developed at the MIT STEP Lab and is used in afterschool clubs and by edX courses, including 11.126x.  We strongly recommend you use Google Chrome when using Gameblox. Experience with Scratch or AppInventor will be useful, although Gameblox is its own unique environment.  Gameblox is on a seperate site from edX; links in the course will direct you to the site ( https://gameblox.org ) . You will need to register with Gameblox separately, or use your Google account. 

Getting Help With Gameblox

There is a separate forum dedicated to supporting Gameblox users at https://forums.gameblox.org (different from the main 11.126x forums). There, you can find basic information about Gameblox, technical support, as well as a place to report bugs and problems. While there are course TAs dedicated to providing support for Gameblox, we encourage students to offer their own solutions and advice to each other as you learn the Gameblox system.