Sessions
The twelve-week teaching schedule: what happens in each session, what to prepare, and what leaves the room.
The internal collection and URL stay sessions. Set the visible singular and plural names once in src/site-config.ts and use the language your course deserves everywhere readers see it.
The frustration-curve log
Playing a punishing case and a cheating case back to back, and logging where each one earns or loses the player's trust
Week 1 · 22 February 2027
The unreliable-narrator workshop
Writing three item descriptions for an original boss, each one testimony from a narrator the death mechanic has already made unreliable
Week 2 · 1 March 2027
The map-and-guidance workshop
Hand-drawing a micro-dungeon with real shortcut loops, then redesigning a cluttered map screenshot using visual guidance instead of icons
Week 3 · 8 March 2027
The combat drill
Frame-by-frame reading of one boss attack, footage in hand, to separate a learnable telegraph from an unreadable one
Week 4 · 15 March 2027
The two-phase boss workshop
Building the boss from Week 2's item-description exercise into a two-phase encounter with an earned transition
Week 5 · 22 March 2027
Midpoint review and Final Project launch
No new subsystem — a recap of the map, combat and narrative triangle so far, peer review of Boss Blueprints, and the Final Project brief released
Week 6 · 29 March 2027
The alternative-build workshop
Allocating 50 attribute points to a deliberately unconventional build and drafting the pitch copy that sells it
Week 7 · 12 April 2027
The death-currency workshop
Designing a corpse-run-style currency mechanic and calculating how much risk it actually asks a player to carry
Week 8 · 19 April 2027
The message-template workshop
Writing deceptive and helpful message templates for five dangerous locations, using only a fixed, templated vocabulary
Week 9 · 26 April 2027
The HUD-subtraction workshop
Redesigning a cluttered HUD screenshot Souls-style, by removing elements rather than adding better ones
Week 10 · 3 May 2027
The three-endings workshop
Writing three 50-word endings — good, bad and true — for your original boss's world, in item-description style
Week 11 · 10 May 2027
The final showcase
Presenting the Final Project one-pager for peer review, submitting Death Notes, and the semester's closing address
Week 12 · 17 May 2027