My Teaching Resources
Designing a Game: The Process
Here is the process we take in designing games. There are other assignments and mini-challenges sprinkled throughout, but here is the main structure of the game design process.
Before we design games, we play a lot of games and talk about them.
The design process isn't linear but a spiraling process between theme, mechanics, and prototypes.
My Students' Game Requirements and Restrictions
As a teacher in a middle school, I've put these requirements and restrictions in place because of the school setting and I want my students to think beyond obvious means of conflict in games.
Students' games will include:
Students' games may include:
Students' games may NOT include:
As I keep teaching game design, more and more will be added. If you look under the "Teaching Resources" tab, there are subpages with specific lessons or mini-units.
I've been using the Google productivity platform as part of my schools' Google integration, thank you dark overlords, so I'm posting less files and more links.
As I change Slides presentations and Documents to fit my changing needs, the posted documents will update on here as well. This means that if you love something just the way it is, make a copy and save it for your own use so you can have it just as you like it. This way, you can also make changes.
Here is the process we take in designing games. There are other assignments and mini-challenges sprinkled throughout, but here is the main structure of the game design process.
Before we design games, we play a lot of games and talk about them.
- Introduction to Games Through Play! I have my students play short, innovative games that they can learn on their own and play in 50 minutes. They start building an understanding of games, especially ones that are different than the games that most kids are familiar with (Sorry!, Candyland, Clue, etc.).
- Quick Game Design Workshop A good, active start, and you can use this to preassess students' gaming and design skills. I used to use this Prototyping a 10 Minute Game, so it's here if you want a slightly different approach that uses Rock Paper Scissors.
- Learning about Mechanics Mechanics provide the physical and mental ways players play the game. Knowing the different types of mechanics helps you become a gamer when you play games, and helps you choose the mechanics that will work best in your game.
- Playing games You will play a wide variety of games so you can see the wide range of mechanics used in strategy games and how they are incorporated into different themes.
The design process isn't linear but a spiraling process between theme, mechanics, and prototypes.
- Theme & Conflict We discuss theme briefly before we talk about conflict. Understanding how conflict must be present in the game as a whole, as well as on players' turns, helps to define the game.
- Choosing a Theme You will brainstorm different themes to generate many different options for your game. Your theme’s conflict will be carefully analyzed to explore its large-scale and small-scale possibilities.
- Choosing Your Mechanics We will revisit the mechanics that we discussed at the beginning to explore how they will fit your chosen theme by written and sketches of your brainstorming.
- Prototype Development Using provided materials and materials of your own as necessary, you will create a quick physical prototype with the board and bits as needed. Students learn that they won't be building to scale, but will adapt their prototype to model the choices and conflict for their players.
- Playtesting Playtesting is the iterative process of playing a game, evaluating what occurred, fixing the game prototype, pieces, or rules, replaying, reevaluating what occurred, many many times, so that the game plays consistently according to your intentions and as the rules dictate. You will playtest your game alone and in small groups, and all playtesters will provide written evaluations to designers. This process repeats itself several times. Playtesting requires students share ideas, and communicate the about the game effectively--how to play, problems, possible solutions. They gain and give feedback that can a dramatic effect on future iterations of the game, which reinforces the importance of feedback and collaboration. Students also learn that good game design takes a lot of iterations to create a finished project, and must learn how to embrace the process, not just the final product.
- Writing Rules Players should draft rules as they play and test their games, but formal rule writing will follow as another important development step.
- Creating the final prototype and ruleset
- Share your game!!! Have a game night with your students and families so they can play their games!
My Students' Game Requirements and Restrictions
As a teacher in a middle school, I've put these requirements and restrictions in place because of the school setting and I want my students to think beyond obvious means of conflict in games.
Students' games will include:
- Integrated theme, objectives, and mechanics
- A complete typed set of rules including setup instructions
- Professional quality board, and pieces
- A design on the game box that advertises your product (optional)
Students' games may include:
- ONE luck element (draw pile, dice, spinner) that enhances game play but allows a player’s decisions to be the determining factor of the outcome.
Students' games may NOT include:
- A sports or war theme
- Player movement through rolling of dice
- No physical violence between playing pieces or pawns
- No implements of physical violence (guns, knives, etc.)
- No overt killing—pieces may be eliminated or knocked out, but you must think more creatively than just destroying other players.
- Event decks
- Player elimination
As I keep teaching game design, more and more will be added. If you look under the "Teaching Resources" tab, there are subpages with specific lessons or mini-units.
I've been using the Google productivity platform as part of my schools' Google integration, thank you dark overlords, so I'm posting less files and more links.
As I change Slides presentations and Documents to fit my changing needs, the posted documents will update on here as well. This means that if you love something just the way it is, make a copy and save it for your own use so you can have it just as you like it. This way, you can also make changes.
