Resources to teach strategy game design
  • Welcome to kathleenmercury.com!
    • About Kathleen
  • Kathleen's Games!
    • Greece Lightning
    • Dirty Birdy
    • Valkyrie
  • Distance Learning Resources
  • Teaching Resources
    • Intro to Games Through Play
    • Quick Game Design Workshop
    • Introduction to Strategy Games
    • Establishing a Game Design-Friendly Classroom
    • Teaching Games to Each Other
    • Game Mechanics >
      • What Are Mechanics
      • How I Teach Mechanics Now
      • How I Used to Teach Mechanics
      • Mechanics, Categorized
      • Game Mechanics & Groups
      • Learning Mechanics Using Unpub
      • Mechanics Student Packet
    • Conflict in Game Design
    • Game Goals >
      • Teach Goals Using a Game
    • Theme Development >
      • Theme Brainstorming & Research
      • Fairy Tale Game Design Project
    • Choosing Your Mechanics
    • Prototyping >
      • Recommended Materials
      • Blank Game Templates
    • Playtesting
    • Providing Feedback on Prototypes: the WINQ
    • Writing Rules
    • Final Assessment
    • Movies about Game Design
  • Game Design Projects Shortcut
  • Recommended Games
  • Press
    • Games in Schools and Libraries
  • Rationale
    • What Is a Strategy Game?
    • Why Games?
    • Why Teach Game Design
    • The Design Process
  • Unit Timeframes
  • What Students Say
  • Student Game Examples
  • Links
  • Conference Presentations
    • UMSL Grand Seminar
    • Tabletop Network Lightning Game Design Jam
    • Gifted Association of Missouri conference 2017
    • GenCon 2017 Trade Day's Engineering a Strategy Game
    • How I Teach Game Design in a Semester (GenCon 2015 Trade Day Presentation)
    • Finding a Place for Gaming, Modifying Curriculum
    • GenCon 2020: Board Games in the Classroom
    • NASAGA 2020
  • Running a Game Club
  • I Teach a Lot of Geeky Stuff
    • Cosplay Unit
    • RPG Design Unit
    • International Politics
  • My Random Stuff
    • MET Portfolio >
      • Themes & Outcomes
      • Resume
      • Teaching Philosophy
      • Academic Showcase of Learning
      • Key Assessments >
        • Graphic Design 5040
        • Desktop Publishing 5070
        • Web Design 5550/5555
        • Curriculum Design 5460
        • Digital Movies 5290
        • Technology & Ethics 5900
      • Evidence of Growth
  • MSA Game Design
  • woo

How I used to teach Mechanics

I'm always changing and improving on what I do, but in case y'all want the old stuff, here ya go.

Really, though, the new stuff is better.

If you want the old Mechanics presentation I used to use, here ya go: Game Mechanics Google Slides Presentation. This one has slides for each mechanic with games I have that also have the mechanics. Keeping this up to date was a pain and was ultimately not really helpful for students.
​

​OLDER VERSIONS OF THE MECHANICS PACKET THAT I DON'T USE

​students are to draw a symbol or keyword to help them remember the mechanic.  Next, they use the middle box to apply the mechanic to a practice theme.  I try to keep my classroom fair, open, and democratic, but we often use The Kindly Secular Man Who Delivers Random Gifts In the Winter, and it's a really good one because you can brainstorm a million mechanics (and thus games from there).   They turn it in when they complete it, and after we brainstorm theme and it's time to think about mechanics for their chosen theme, they will do the same thing in the third box in the packet.  I hope that's not too confusing.

The regular packet has 42 mechanics and the modified has 20.  The smaller packet has the more common mechanics (unless all you want are economic mechanics then the full packet is for you!). The instructions are written a little differently, and the modified packet has only the first two boxes  (symbol/keyword and practice theme brainstorming).  I'm a big picture thinker, most of the time, and I struggle to be specific sometimes as to what I want kids to do.  I hope this all makes sense. 
student_mechanics_packet.docx
File Size: 381 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

modified_student_mechanics_packet.docx
File Size: 382 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

Use this to keep track of your games' Mechanics

This Excel file shows all the games' mechanics so if a student is interested in a particular mechanic, they can go to the spreadsheet and look at what you have.
strat_game_mechanics.xls
File Size: 64 kb
File Type: xls
Download File

Mechanics Quiz

I used to give kids a quiz over mechanics. Now, I use UnPub for them to brainstorm them, and it's more fun AND they kids really think about the different mechanics and how they can be used. But if you want to give them a quiz, use this one. 

I really suggest you modify it. It's probably not that great.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.