[Edu] Game design project in a classroom

[miyu]

Our game design project has been under way for a week now and appears to be
going well.



All students were given a rubric that the final game will be judged on.  Here
is a link to the rubric online:
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=1511921&



Each group was given 2 tubes of Treehouse, any extra dice they wanted, and
one free choice from my "treasure chest" of assorted toys and game pieces.  Of
the three groups, one chose a chessboard, one chose a cache of fake money,
and the third group chose a plastic bag of small farm animals.



They then had a few studio days to work on the first iteration of their game
and come up with a prototype.  They played their prototype for 2 days making
tweaks and then typed up a draft of the rules.



To run the playtest sessions in an organized fashion I did playtests for 3
days.  Group A was having group B test their game.  To do this group B was
handed all the materials and typed rules and had to learn it on their own
with no interaction from the creators.  Group A watched the entire game
session and took notes on where group B made mistakes or had problems.  There
was a 5 minute debriefing session at the end where the game creators (Group
A) asked the testers any questions they wanted.  Finally Group B gave the
designers any notes or comments on the game that they wanted.



While all of this was going on Group C was instructed to play their own game
and "try to break it." They enjoyed trying to twist their own rules and see
if the game could stand up on its own.



Of all the games, the one using the chessboard seems the easiest for anyone
to pick up and play.  If they allow me to I may even post the rules to that
game for others on here to give a shot.  It was the most "pyramid-heavy" of
the three games.



                                  -Ryan


-- 
Ora, lege, lege, lege, relege, labora et invenies.
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