About As you work with students to identify a game concept, brainstorm things they already like to do in the “real world” or things they fantasize about doing in imaginary worlds. The goal is to encourage students to think about what’s naturally “cool” or “fun” and encourage them to tease out a game concept from those starting points. One way to do this is to ask your students what is already game-like, or playful in the topic they are starting with. Identifying a solid starting point will help students to focus and motivate them to learn during the design process.
You may find these tips useful as you get students started:
The more the merrier (and more effective): encourage students to work with a partner or in teams; they will gain from working with collaborators — The devil is in the details: remind students that they should never assume play will “magically happen” and that they need to provide details and examples of what the game experience will really be like
Avoid hand-waving: make sure students develop clear rules and constraints — Expect the unexpected: encourage students to anticipate what the player may need to know and/or want to do in the game; make sure they outline conditions and prompts in rules, navigation/interface, and set-up and scripting
Less is more: sometimes the biggest mistakes occur when designers make things too complicated or over design, throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the proposed experience. Remind students that simple can be better than complicated, complex and confusing.
Have fun: while game design is challenging, young designers should have as much fun as the players who might ultimately play their creation; keep reminding them that if they’re not having fun, then players might not.
Game Genres, User Interface, and Environments Although teachers may feel out of their element in discussing “what’s hip” across the vast landscape of today’s games, they can learn a tremendous amount from their students. Listen to what kinds of games students like to play – puzzles, simulations, first-person shooters, online role-playing games, sports and action/adventure games — and why they like to play them. What is it about them, what they get to do, how they develop strategies, where they can communicate or collaborate with others that make certain games more fun than others?
Play Testing and Technical Tools
Instinctively, students will want to touch and feel the game that is emerging in their collective imagination as soon as possible. Their goal will be to technically implement their vision as soon as possible, which is exciting.
Tools such as Scratch, Alice, GameStar Mechanic, StarLogo TNG, and Kodu have made it easier for non-programmers to begin building digital games. All are available free as basic packages (more features can be purchased at nominal costs). Each of these incredibly potent resources offers documentation and support, which you can review with students, depending on their technical proficiencies and creative abilities. Here are a few headlines on each:
GameStar Mechanic (http://gamestarmechanic.com/)—An easy-to-use platform for young or inexperienced designers and programmers to get started; with a solid set of tools to enable certain kinds of game mechanics, more advanced young designers may feel constrained by limited programming and customization options. A great place to get started!
Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu/)—For slightly more advanced young designers with some awareness or introduction to programming logic; a rich community of contributors and collaborators nicely supports newcomers; Scratch is a more powerful environment for designers who want more flexibility and customization options for their designs.
StarLogo (http://education.mit.edu/projects/starlogo-tng)—Like Scratch, StarLogo TNG provides a graphical programming environment that allows novices to create their own computer games. StarLogo TNG provides a rich 3D world and (with the imminent release of version 1.5) will allow student designers to import their own 3D shapes or use those from the Google 3D warehouse.
Kodu (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/)—A wonderful introductory tool for developing console games; although new and still in early development, Kodu’s graphics and user interface make it easy for young designers to develop important logic paths for interactive design.
Alice (http://www.alice.org/)—A more advanced tool that enables young designers to create games and learn programming fundamentals in an easy-to-use 3D environment; an excellent option for students who are more technically advanced, but not yet full-fledged programmers.
Before beginning any programming, it is important to encourage students to work with good old fashioned paper and pencil – and possibly timers, dice, cards, paper clips, clothespins (just about anything really) – to work out myriad details and rules, enabling students to “touch and feel” the game in the analog world before they move it into a digital space. The conversations that emerge from playing a game around a table are invaluable in helping students recognize what needs to go into their technical programming, as well as art and sound production.
Once students have a firm handle on overall game direction, as well as the details they can document through the development and testing process, they should move quickly into technical implementation so they can refine the concept and get to a greater sense of timing and balancing of digital play.
