Why Teach Game Design?
Our gifted program has an interdisciplinary, constructivist, process-oriented approach to student learning. This means that I look for complex problems for students to solve using critical, creative, and innovative thinking. I want our students to become the creators of content--the future designers, builders, and artisans.
This isn't easy, for my students or for myself. This can be a very intense, frustrating endeavor, because there is no right or wrong answer. The student, given the parameters of the project, must design, build, and test their games in an ongoing engineering cycle. Sometimes the game works, but isn't fun. Sometimes it's fun, but way to short. Sometimes it doesn't work, and figuring out how to fix that can take a lot of deep thinking, prototyping, and play testing.
But it's meaningful project-based learning. The students create real games. They learn how to manage a project, plan their time, and learn how to push forward through difficulty and deadlines. And gaming keeps it fun.
Academic Skills
Life Skills
Game design goes beyond academic concepts into the larger, wider world of skill development necessary for the 21st century learner. Game design supports the development of
One important caveat--If you want students to design games, let them become gamers!
Play a lot of games in your class as you design games. Most students' exposure to mechanics and themes are very limited in childhood, mostly deduction games (like Clue) or roll and move games like Chutes and Ladders, even Candyland. To help them see the potential of what games can be, have students play games.
When it comes time to design, students must get their hands dirty. Avoid letting students ruminate too long on design ideas--encourage active prototyping and play testing. Transforming students from abstract thinkers into problem-solving doers is a critical step in the process, and the more you get students working with physical components, the better.
This isn't easy, for my students or for myself. This can be a very intense, frustrating endeavor, because there is no right or wrong answer. The student, given the parameters of the project, must design, build, and test their games in an ongoing engineering cycle. Sometimes the game works, but isn't fun. Sometimes it's fun, but way to short. Sometimes it doesn't work, and figuring out how to fix that can take a lot of deep thinking, prototyping, and play testing.
But it's meaningful project-based learning. The students create real games. They learn how to manage a project, plan their time, and learn how to push forward through difficulty and deadlines. And gaming keeps it fun.
Academic Skills
- Communication arts: writing and reading rules, technical writing
- Social studies: researching content for games
- STEM: devising strategy, creating balance, the engineering design process (design, build, test, analyze)
- Arts: creating the game board, bits, visual arts
- Business: the economics of publishing
- Economics: manage resources, create balance
- Math: basic math, probability, risk management, scoring systems
- Psychology: create specific emotional responses, how do you want people to behave, how can you empathize with your players to create a playable game they want?
Life Skills
Game design goes beyond academic concepts into the larger, wider world of skill development necessary for the 21st century learner. Game design supports the development of
- Creativity: the student chooses the theme, mechanics, objectives as well as builds the physical prototype. They creatively create a world and determine how others will interact with it.
- Perseverance: the student learns how to work through those times when challenges seem overwhelming and inspiration is hard to find.
- Communication: the student learns how to explain procedures both verbally and in writing, in addition to conflict resolution and collaboration as they help each other design, build, and play test their prototypes.
- Affective skills: the student learns how to actively think about what others are thinking: what do others like? What do others find fun? How can I explain my ideas in a way that makes sense to someone else? How do I respond when what I think makes sense, doesn't make sense to others?
- Self-Awareness: the student learns about what is important to him or herself individually, how they need to process information and to generate solutions. The student learns how to find their voice as a designer, as they create games that reflect their interests.
One important caveat--If you want students to design games, let them become gamers!
Play a lot of games in your class as you design games. Most students' exposure to mechanics and themes are very limited in childhood, mostly deduction games (like Clue) or roll and move games like Chutes and Ladders, even Candyland. To help them see the potential of what games can be, have students play games.
When it comes time to design, students must get their hands dirty. Avoid letting students ruminate too long on design ideas--encourage active prototyping and play testing. Transforming students from abstract thinkers into problem-solving doers is a critical step in the process, and the more you get students working with physical components, the better.
