Media Literacy: Game Design

Today we started our game design unit and I must thank  fellow educator Kevin Hodgson for his ideas and his suggestion of using gamestarmechanic.com. This site is fantastic! Take a look at their intro video and I think you'll see why I like it so much!

I have created a page on this site that outlines in more detail the program and what we will be doing with it. (This page includes the full package handout, which in turn includes curriculum expectations and also my success criteria 'look fors', if you are intersted in seeing those.)

Today we started discussing the elements of game design, which include Space (the look of the game), Components (parts of the game, like enemies, avatars and blocks), Mechanics (actions, like jumping or collecting), Goals and Rules.

In addition to reviewing what makes a game good or bad (an idea we discussed already when we did game reviews), we took a preliminary look at some popular, classic arcade games (an idea I got from fellow teacher Kevin Hodgson!). We only had time today to for a quick look but in our next session,  students will be evaluating them (which ones are good or bad? why?) and also determining how the elements of game design are used in these games.

Then we will move into learning about gamestarmechanics and creating (and then evaluating) our own games.

This project involves both creative and instructional writing, and also advertising (persuasive writing) as students design their packaging and 'promote' their games (an idea for which I must thank fellow educator Jennifer Detrich, who is using gamestarmechanics in a social studies context).

Keep checking in as I will continue to document this process!

Also, if you are interested,  several educators (many from Ontario) have joined my gaming in ed wiki, where we are outlining many of these teaching ideas and applications. There are some very cool things happening in schools in terms of gaming! So please check it out!