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Soliciting Suggestions for Game Design Class

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Jonsan
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Joined: 02/09/2010

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on this site, and I'm not 100% sure this is the correct forum for this question, so please excuse me if I picked the wrong one.

I have made my own card and board games and tweaked my favorite games throughout childhood and beyond. I am leading a once-a-week class for a group of six kids (ages 8 to 13) to conceive, design, and create their own board or card game. We will be using thegamecrafter.com to make playable copies available to the kids and their families when they are done.

I'm popping in here to ask for suggestions. I've got a good outline for the class topics each session, but I'm wondering if anyone here has experience doing something like this or would just like to throw in their $.02 about ideas I ought to cover or stuff I should do to help the kids get rolling and stay motivated.

Thanks in advance,
Jonathan

truekid games
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Joined: 10/29/2008
"challenges for game

"challenges for game designers" is a book designed for teaching game design. it's certainly not something you'd want to plop down and have the kids read, but it can give you ideas for topics, as well as tons and tons of possible activities.

simons
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Joined: 12/28/2008
My $.02

Brainstorming activities would be a good one. Maybe along the lines of a theme.

Maybe have them bring in their favorite game and talk about why they like it. Maybe also have them bring in a game they don't like and say why. Maybe even give them a day of trying new games.

I know when I was younger I took a video game designing class, and one of the things I thought it lacked was critique from others. It might be a good activity to have them make the game, play it with others, and then come up with ideas for how to make the game better.

Also, you will probably need to have at least one lesson in how to write rules (I remember my instructions from that age were, well, sparse).

Simon

schmanthony
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Joined: 12/18/2008
Sounds Fun

I'm a bit envious of this activity. It sounds like something I'd like to do. How did you get the opportunity?

Anyway, I've always felt it would be interesting to have a game design class or even a contest for novices or children where "anything goes" except a few key overused traditional elements. These would be strictly off-limits:

* Roll-and-move
* First to the end of a track wins
* "Chance" type cards that you draw blindly, which force you to perform some action without allowing any other options.

Disallowing these would encourage the participants to be inventive and break away from obvious choices and bland, stereotypical designs.

In the first class I'd emphasize the concept of decisions. What is a decision? What are some games that present a lot of decisions? What are some games with few decisions? Are there some games that don't involve any decisions at all?

It might even be neat to require that the game designs present decisions on every turn - or most turns.

Jonsan
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Joined: 02/09/2010
Info

truekid games wrote:
"challenges for game designers" is a book designed for teaching game design. it's certainly not something you'd want to plop down and have the kids read, but it can give you ideas for topics, as well as tons and tons of possible activities.

Thanks! Looks like a good read.

schmanthony wrote:
"I'm a bit envious of this activity. It sounds like something I'd like to do. How did you get the opportunity?"

My wife and I homeschool our children. We were part of a homeschool coop that fell apart, so we opened up our house to some other homeschool families one day per week. I am leading the game design class in the morning and the kids take a brain science class and a short story class led by other parents in the afternoon.

Here is some information about the class:
We have had two classes so far. The first class we talked about key terms: Concept, Setting, Objective, Physical Components, Design Elements, and Play Mechanics. We differentiated between the look and feel of a game (Design Elements) with the actual rules (Play Mechanics). The kids had fun answering the question "What if you replaced the gingerbread men figures in Candyland with army soldier figures?" We talked about how the rules could be the same but the feel of the game would be different. We also talked about possible new rules for calling in gumdrop air strikes.

We discussed the difference between random and ability play mechanics and how most games use a combination of the two. We identified that random mechanics make gameplay decisions for the player and ability mechanics allow the player to make the decisions.

This week we brainstormed together. I wrote down everyone's ideas on a white board and asked questions to keep the conversation going. When we started running out of creative steam I suggested taking any two ideas and mashing them up. We ended the class with two viable game concepts to choose from: "Cafeteria food fight with trivia and different characters" or "pets in spaceships defending the earth from aliens".

The kids will eventually be making their own prototypes with cheap materials so we can playtest and change the game eaily over time. Once we get a decent design made we will make a few copies so they can take one home and test it with their families. There will be at least one class devoted to writing the rules. Once we are satisfied with the game we will submit everything to thegamecrafter site so we can order our own copies.

I expect our big stumbling block will be the graphic design for any cards and board. I do not have skills of an artist and we will need to create computer graphic files to send in when we are ready to have the game made. Right now, my master plan is to search for an artistic volunteer who will turn our idea into a .pdf reality.

Next week we will discuss the iterative design process, decide which game concept to use, and start making decisions about the objective, components, design, and mechanics.

Anyone with ideas or thoughts to contribute please feel free. This is my first time leading this class, but I am hoping it will go well enough that we do it again in the future.

CloudBuster
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Joined: 04/14/2009
Good so far!

"I expect our big stumbling block will be the graphic design for any cards and board. I do not have skills of an artist and we will need to create computer graphic files to send in when we are ready to have the game made. Right now, my master plan is to search for an artistic volunteer who will turn our idea into a .pdf reality.

Anyone with ideas or thoughts to contribute please feel free. This is my first time leading this class, but I am hoping it will go well enough that we do it again in the future. "

Sounds pretty good so far!

I too (unfortunately) share your lack of ability in the art department. Therefore, I have resorted to using either clipart, or Google Images for prototyping. I use paint.NET (http://www.getpaint.net/) to create and/or manipulate all my images. If you don't know about it, paint.NET is free and it's got pretty good support. It took me a while to get used to how it functions, but with some patience and some experimenting I have been able to create a board and some cards that I'm happy with (for now). The images on the cards came from Google Images or I created them myself from paint.NET using the many tutorials available. For existing images, I just took 'em and manipulated them (hue, brightness, cropping the pieces I needed, etc.) Since these are just being used as placeholders, I don't think it's a problem. If and when I ever decide to try to publish this game, I'll get a professional artist to do original artwork. So...you don't necessarily need to have an artist draw stuff up for you. You can use what's already there and simply drop your art onto the cards, or the board, or whatever.

Here's an easy tutorial for creating your own planets: http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=29882

There are also tutorials for creating a starfield and other space related things. Those are what I focused on because my game is space based, but there are lots of tutorials for a variety of effects. No real artistic talent required! Just follow the tutorials and you'll see where you can experiment to make your own, unique stuff!

I hope this is helpful and good luck with your class curriculum!

-CB-

hoywolf
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Joined: 01/27/2009
Stock Photos

Quote:
I expect our big stumbling block will be the graphic design for any cards and board. I do not have skills of an artist and we will need to create computer graphic files to send in when we are ready to have the game made. Right now, my master plan is to search for an artistic volunteer who will turn our idea into a .pdf reality.

I great place to get art are stock photo sites. Just Google the term "Stock photo," there are some that are free, some that require you to pay. Overall if you want to just get some easy to obtain art, they are photos are not hand drawn/made artwork; but I feel this is a good way to do it if you want to prototype. A picture is still a picture.

I really like your idea, I wish I could be teaching about games and game concepts. :) I wish I was a bit more artistic skill, I would lend a hand for sure if I did.

simons
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Joined: 12/28/2008
art

Jonsan wrote:
I expect our big stumbling block will be the graphic design for any cards and board. I do not have skills of an artist and we will need to create computer graphic files to send in when we are ready to have the game made.

Silly question, but what 8 year old kid isn't a budding artist? If the whole idea is to give them a chance to design their own games, rather than publish it, it doesn't need to be perfect.

I think about it this way: most art that a 10 year old does is not good enough to be sold at a gallery, but is more than good enough to be hung up in the kitchen fridge. Why should game art be any different?

Computer art design might be a stumbling block, or a learning opportunity. What better excuse to they have to learn Paint or Photoshop? But, if your kids would much rather draw in pencil and paper, why not let them do that and then scan the images in (at your house or at a local copy shop)?

InvisibleJon
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Joined: 07/27/2008
Kid art in a kid-designed game.

simons wrote:
What 8 year old kid isn't a budding artist? If the whole idea is to give them a chance to design their own games, rather than publish it, it doesn't need to be perfect.

Computer art design might be a stumbling block, or a learning opportunity. What better excuse to they have to learn Paint or Photoshop? But, if your kids would much rather draw in pencil and paper, why not let them do that and then scan the images in (at your house or at a local copy shop)?

I agree wholeheartedly with Simons' comment above. If the kids/students are creating the game, why not include their art. It's a feature, not a flaw. =)

Jonsan
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Joined: 02/09/2010
Update

Thanks to everyone who posted for the input regarding the game art. I agree that the kids will come up with some creative designs. My concern was that they may get a finished product and be upset if it is not on a similar level with commercial games they normally play. For now I am putting that issue aside. If the kids want to seek outside help they can, and if they want to do the art by themselves then great. It will be up to them.

In case anyone was wondering or cares, the class is still going well. We recently had a two week hiatus due to weather and vacation, but over the past two classes the kids learned about creating flow charts to graphically represent a game's sequence and turn sequence. They hit a stall point in generating ideas for the their game so I suggested we start with a simplistic version of the rules they were working on and just start play testing.

Yesterday we played the game for the first time. While it certainly needs lots of work, everyone agreed that the basic idea was quite fun. Two of the kids became quite upset when they're ideas were not implemented during our first play test. They were thinking of neat stuff, but the ideas were too complex to add in the moment and still be able to play through. I assured them that everyone would have an opportunity to add and change rules before future play tests so hopefully they will see over the next few weeks that their voices were not being ignored. Doesn't help that one of them has Asperbergers.

I'll post again in a few weeks and update the evolution of their game.

red hare
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Joined: 11/09/2009
what a great idea

Your class is a great idea. Sounds like alot of fun.

I'm sure you already have plenty of activities, but one possible class activity would be about making one type of game. For example, the assignment could be to make an "area control" game or a "bidding" game.

Using just one type of game and allowing them to come up with their own theme, components, etc., could give your class a fair amount of structure while giving them enough room to come up with their own ideas. It could also give an even basis for the students to be able to compare their games to each other's since they're basically working under similar requirements. They can critique fairly since they will be able to see how one theme is better or one game is funner to play, and they can also see how their design choices affected their game.

Just a thought,

Good luck with the class...!

bluepantherllc
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Joined: 07/29/2008
Graphic art sources

Clipart.com offers a one week subscription for about $15.

Make a list of the art you need before you go on the site, then you have a week to get it - millions of images, some quite good, others more "cartoony" on many diffferent subject areas.

Since you have more than one game design being worked on, that would make it a few bucks per game for art. About as cheap as it can get.

mwhelehan
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Joined: 02/25/2010
Sorry I'm a bit late

But I wanted to also add my commendations to this thread. Great idea to have kids design a game in its entirety: art, mechanics, etc. This is a great exercise in creativity, citizenship, and of course critical thinking.

I've also just read excerpts of the book "Why Gender Matters" regarding the various learning styles of children based on gender. After reading this thread I was thinking of how some of these differences would affect the design of a game. For example, I could see boys liking dexterity games that require one to spin, toss, flick, etc.

Good luck and I can't wait to see the final product.

royalfa
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Joined: 03/26/2010
Balanced Mechanics

Hi there

I agree some other post at the moment.

If the game "belongs" to the kids the art must be his artwork.
I'm too would like to have a "game design" class at any level!! lol

I have two questions:

First For the class
How the kids make the "balanced mechanics" of the game??
They understand the need of a "fair" game??

I have some years now making games and I do some for my class ("kids" from 12 to 16 years old) in some cases with some formulas to maintain the games balanced.
Please fill me in.

Second About Clipart.com
I really need art for the games I'm making. As other posters I don't have the arts skills to do it.
The question is: clipart has good and enough "fantasy" art?? A need a lot of this for a TCG game

Thanks and good luck with the kids
Roy

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