Digital Imaging - Game Production (Period 3)

GAME PRODUCTION COURSE

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of video games design - the creative design process from concept through documentation and production - art, programming, and marketing. In this course students will learn to design a successful game that includes: systems thinking; creative problem solving; art and aesthetics; writing and storytelling; user experience design; communication, collaboration and cultural literacy.

 

This course walks students through the creative and iterative process needed to design an effective game. Students will design a game from inception to execution including pitching ideas, writing design documents, creating original game art, programming, presenting marketing plans and budgets all of which reinforce the engineering development cycle.

 

This course was developed to reflect the game design introductory course offered at USC’s  Game Design program from the school of Cinematic Arts.  To model industry game development, students will collaborate in groups, adhere to timelines and participate in the process of testing, reviewing, and revising the games they develop.

 

Course Goals and Student Outcomes

• Students develop Technical skills and foundational game design knowledge including graphic design and animation, programming, testing / debugging, product management and other skills that are needed for game development but are also transferable to all types of industries.

• Students experience the engineering cycle used to design games and solve various types of problems.

• Students apply their research skills and are able to report on the career options available to them, as well as the training and education needed for those careers.  They develop their own personal career building tools (resumes, games, portfolios).  They understand the nature of the ever-changing digital gaming industry, and have the ability to think ahead to keep their skills current with new advances. Students demonstrate their reading and research skills in the development of their game design  proposals and connections they make to genre and the history of games.

• Students apply physics & math theories to their games and connect the large role it plays in  making games playable

• Students apply skills in Mathematics, Physics, English Language Arts, Social Science, and Entrepreneurship and apply the theories, principles, facts and structures learned to their own game production projects.

• Students learn the twenty-first century skills of creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and technical expertise, which will increase employment capacity across the job market.

• Students prepare for both entry-level employment and additional postsecondary training needed for advancement in the highly competitive game design industry.

• Students develop communication skills through pitching, marketing, presentations, crowdsourcing

• In presentations to the class and to clients, students show their ability to speak with clarity, confidence and personal involvement.

• Students form cohesive production groups, understanding the purpose of each team position.  They demonstrate good interpersonal and team building skills; and personal skills of discipline and time management while they develop, program and market an original game.

COURSE OUTLINE

 

UNIT I: Let’s Play - A look at Games We Love (TIME: 3-5 weeks)

 

Essential Question(s):  What are the key components and roles in game production?

 

Unit Overview:

The primary purpose of the unit is to develop students’ awareness of the basic elements of every game - rules, goals, space, mechanics, and components. This unit also gets the students thinking about the entire aspect of game design from conception to execution.  

 

The students begin with a game they all know such as Rock, Paper, Scissors and identify each element of the game. Students are able to identify important elements of the game and in a practical situation and predict and map out the relationships to how the game changes based on the modifications they apply in the next step.(CCSS.Math.Practice.MP4) Students then work in teams of three to make a modification to the game and discuss what elements of the game changed as a result. Students share their changes with the class.

The next challenge is to have students repeat the process with a game of their choice (hopscotch, tag, etc) and create a design document of the rules, goals, space, mechanics, and components. Then the teams of students make a modification to the game and explain how that change affects the overall game as a result. Students should then play test each others revised games to see if the revisions worked or if new things need to be changed - this is an example of the iterative game design process.

Next the students will learn the twenty-first century skills of creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration when they form teams in order to create original board game with provided materials. Students will demonstrate an understanding of testing techniques used to evaluate, assess, rate, and review quality assurance of video games (D5) They will collaborate and design a game and write an original design document that identifies the major elements.

 

Example: Students use the Common Core standards for a grade level/ subject area to create an original board game. Students will write the rules, goals, and instructions for the design document. In their groups of 4 students can be given roles of art director (how the game looks), programmer (how the game plays), writer (how the game is explained) and producer (making sure it all comes together and designs the pitch and purpose). Students will understand the engineering cycle used to design games and solve various types of problems when they game test their game and survey the users for suggestions and initial reactions (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.3). During game testing there should be one student explaining the game (producer), one student taking notes about how the testers play the game (programmer), one student taking notes about the reactions to the game (art director), one student who conducts post game evaluation and reflection with the testers (writer).  Students then reflect on the game, suggest any iterations necessary and then design a pitch for the game that will be presented in pitch in front of class or other audience.

 

Through this process students will explore careers in gaming and then they will look at the history of games. Students will critique a game they love and look at the people and careers involved in creating that game with a critical eye to how the game is designed. Through class discussions, game play and written analyses, students understand and demonstrate the value of gaming and make connections to careers and skills gained in game production. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.7) They draw connections between their own lives and the lives and experiences of the source creators and become empowered over time to create their own games that they will then pitch and market.

 

UNIT 1: KEY ASSIGNMENTS

• Game Modification: students work in groups  and create a modification to a known game - every group is given a different game (hopscotch, tag, Scrabble...) and complete a game design document. Teacher can provide students with a predetermined modification for each game to help stretch the students’ imagination further. For example, change Scrabble to a math-based number game instead of letters, make a tag game for mobile phone players, make hopscotch a game where colors are a key part of the game. (TIME: 1-2 days)

• Game Creation -  Students are given materials in teams and have to make up their own game. Teams consist of a producer, art director, programmer and writer. They game test it with other users. Then create an elevator pitch to explain the game. The game play can be something short that is fun in rounds/ repetition or a board game that takes no more than 20 minutes to complete. (TIME: 2 weeks) This project should be broken down into microschedules.

1. Brainstorm and storyboard their game along with written instructions (2 days)

2. Assign jobs  - art director draws gameboard; programmer (how the game plays - materials to move around the board), writer (write the instructions to explain the rules and how game is played) and producer (making sure it all comes together and designs the pitch and purpose) (1 day)

3. Create a prototype of game with students in their roles. Students also need to review how they will test the game - the writer needs to create a post game evaluation and reflection. (2-3 days)

4. Pitch idea to the class and get feedback about how to streamline the game (2 days)

5.  Test the game - During game testing there should be one student explaining the game (producer), one student taking notes about how the testers play the game (programmer), one student taking notes about the reactions to the game (art director), one student who conducts post game evaluation and reflection with the testers (writer).  Students then reflect on the game, suggest any iterations necessary and then design a pitch for the game that will be presented in pitch in front of class or other audience. (1 day)

6. Create elevator pitch - create a presentation with images from testing day  - and present how the game plays and why others will want to play. (2 Days to create pitch and 1 day for pitch delivery)

 

• Research Project: Every student will also receive a game from the list of 100 greatest video games in order to research the date of the game, genre, and significant facts about the game. Students then line up in chronological order of the games as a visual representation of time and share out. The class connects themes, trends, and genres as part of class discussion. (TIME: 1-3  days) * Students get into groups by themes or genres and choose a game within their group. Students propose and share a significant aspect of the game (like changing a shooter to a puzzle game for example) and describe what that would be like.

 

UNIT II: The Challenges to Creating a Game (4-8 week unit)
(i.e App Inventor, Processing, or other software)

 

Essential Question(s): What are the challenges when we create our own mobile games?

 

Unit Overview:

The fastest growing gaming platform is mobile games. It is also tangible and accessible to the students instantly to post on their digital portfolios and download to Android phones with the ease of QR codes. Students work to create simple games in a mobile app development environment because that allows for success with the ease of block programming. Students will determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a technical context (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.4) as they learn the concepts of variables, strings, loops and functions in this environment as an introduction to programming.

 

Students work in pairs to practice, create and test their mobile applications (apps). It is best to have two computers  - one to read the directions and search for help and the other for the actual coding. This is the concept of paired programming, often practiced by software developers. The students will analyze the core tasks and challenges of video game design and explore the methods used to create and sustain player immersion (D2). Students are encouraged to create three apps by following tutorials to understand the set up, terms, and functionality of the program they are using as well as the actual programming involved to create the apps. Students should also make a modification to each tutorial in order to test their skills and take ownership over how the programming works. Working in the mobile app environment with block programming make it easier to work on how the game functions through programming without focusing on artwork and design since this environment offers  a very basic user interface (design begins in the next unit).

 

Once students have an understanding of the system they are using they will modify an existing game/app or come up with their own original game. Students will acquire and apply appropriate game programming concepts and skills to develop a playable video game (D3). To begin this process teams will write up a design document and sketch out a prototype of their game. It is recommended they base it off one of the games they had previously created with a modification. Students will pitch their ideas to the class and receive feedback about functionality and purpose of the game.

 

Students will then create the game and test them out with other students - as part of the game testing portion. Throughout the process class will begin with a deconstruction of particular blocks of code in order to construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others while they develop an understanding of iteration, if-then statements, variables, functions and abstraction (CCSS.Math.Practice.MP3). Through this process the students will demonstrate an understanding of testing techniques used to evaluate, assess, rate, and review quality assurance of video games. (D5).

 

The final (or beta version) of their game will appear on their digital portfolios with a link and QR code along with a pitch (purpose) to the game, reflection of the building the game and additional changes they would make based on the game testing and if they were given more time.

 

UNIT 2: Key Assignments:

• Build apps from existing tutorials  - Magic 8 Ball, Pong with a small revision each time (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

•  Final Project:  Modify one of these apps/ build your own app (TIME: 3-4 weeks)

• Create a game design document that includes: rules, goals, space, mechanics, components, and sketched storyboard (3-4 days)

• Create a prototype  - get one level to work (1-2 weeks)

• Game test  -spend a day getting students to play each others’ games and write up suggestions and reflections

• Pitch the game to an audience - based on the game testing  - pitch the game about what it is, why others should play and what they would add/fix if more time. (3 days)

 

UNIT III: Game Art  4 - 8 week unit

Essential Question(s): How does a game's art style impact the player's experience? How does music and sound effects alter and affect game play?

 

Unit Overview

The art of a game can affect the mood, theme and feel of a game. The art includes building the environment, working on characters, manipulating sound and then putting it all together to animate and program a game level. Through this process the students will learn about background, colors, shapes, and lines of a project. Using Photoshop, Illustrator, Gimp, or other graphic design/editing programs students will demonstrate mastery of game art and multimedia, including music, sound, art and animation. (D4)  Students begin by sketching out a storyboard to sketch out a scene with characters.

 

 

ENVIRONMENT:

Students will research and describe the different art styles used in video games, including bitmaps, vectors, blocks (like Minecraft)  (D4.2). Here is a good source: http://videogameartstyles.tumblr.com/

Look at these samples of video game art styles -  pick three of them and describe their art style in words - consider the angles of lines, color scheme, shapes. Make comparisons to other games and animated environments you know.

Students sketch out a sample environments or find examples online and then use different colors, shapes, styles of images to experiment. Students experiment with elements of art, including line, shape, color, value, texture, space, and balance, to set the mood and feel of a scene. Students then reflect and share to describe what theme and mood changes this brings to the environment.

 

lesson plan:

CHARACTER:

Students research character sheets and find examples. Students study and discuss angles and facial expressions included in the character sheets. How do different facial expressions or style of characters define the mood or theme of the game. Go through several examples with the class and have them suggest modifications that would create a different mood. Find 2D and 3D examples to discuss the options these enable - is one more realistic? Is it easier to have a dark/scary mood with one or the other?

 

Students can sketch and scan their character sheets or find online examples to modify. Next students outline their characters in Illustrator or Flash to learn about vector and graphic design, using angles, filters, and tools to create unique characters.

 

Students then combine characters and background with the use of motion and movement using Flash, Unity or GameMaker or software of choice.

 

AUDIO:

Students explore sound effects design and editing musical score and soundtrack choice as key contributors to the overall effectiveness of their media piece. Students will research public domain music and add them to Audacity to produce soundtracks that create different moods. The .mp3s that they create will be used as the music they do for the final unit project. (D4.7)

 

BUILDING AND ANIMATING A SCENE:

Taking what the students created with backgrounds, character and sound (they can share their elements or use found components ) everything is now combined to create a scene – a level of a game). Components need to be imported into GameMaker or the gaming technology of choice (Flash, Unity, Game Salad, etc)  to create an animated scene with movement of the character on the background and the addition of sound. If possible you can add motion controls.

 

UNIT 3: Key Assignments:

• Sketch out a background from at least two perspectives (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

• Create a character sheet  (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

• Edit music to great a mood  (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

• Final project is background, sound and animated sprite imported into GameMaker that cohesively convey a given mood.  The  object will move and possibly respond to a few keyboard responses. Extra points for conveying two moods and showing how to shift between them! (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

TOTAL TIME: 4-8 weeks

 

Unit IV:  Game On! Advanced concepts in Game Design (recommended Game Maker)

 

Essential question:  How are physics concepts like gravity, acceleration, velocity, speed, trajectory, Newton’s Laws of Motion, force, and elasticity used to develop game?  

 

Unit Overview:

Students will use event driven programming to create games. Students will create and modify games through tutorials and challenges to learn various functions and elements of Game Maker and game design. The students will build off of our knowledge of “What makes a good game” and use Game Maker (or system of choice)  to design and program actual working games.

 

Many commercial games have Physics Engines that simulate gravity, collisions, etc.  Students will partner to create 4-5 sample games that model Physics using Mathematics.  Just like in industry, they will interpret their mathematical results in the context of the situation and reflect on whether the results make sense, possibly improving the model if it has not served its purpose (CCSS.Math.Practice.MP4).

 

Through sample games the students will acquire and apply appropriate game programming concepts and skills to develop a playable video game. (D3).

For instance, students will work on a Pinball Game.  The pinball must react to gravity, friction and collisions.  Students will refine their pinball game to make the movement as true to life as possible.

 

Students will also work on a projectile game.  Thinking about equity, students will be able to choose their own themes (i.e. helicopters shooting bullets, bicyclist throwing newspapers, fairies casting fairy dust, etc).  During this game they will use math to simulate the physics of projectiles being launched from a moving object.  Math topics include: angles of projectiles, offset (x,y) for projectiles and cos/sin for angled projectiles.  For each assignment, students will follow precisely a complex multistep procedure and also add their own ideas.  They will write reflections that analyze the specific results in comparison to the expectations described in the goals of the assignment (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.3).

 

Unit 4: Key Assignments:

• Students will pair program to create 4-5 sample games from tutorials that use Physics and Math to represent gravity, collisions and other forces. Students will add modification or added challenge to at least two of the games. These games are feature fragments - bot soup to nuts but rather focus on the main mechanics of the games.

(4-6 weeks)

 

Unit V:  Game Production and Design

 

Essential Question:

What is the design and scope of creating a game? Consider the longer the design and development cycle, the more critical is the need. Consider the budgets, jobs, scope of the project.

 

Students form small groups to create a proposal for a game to be implemented later in the class (or the following year).  In their groups, they will have to prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1).

 

Students will choose the platform for their game (mobile device, pc, etc) as a demonstration that they know how to use appropriate tools strategically (CCSS.Math.Practice.MP5 ).

 

Proposal presentations should include characters, story, game play, rules, target audience, art samples, and a simple demo programs.

 

Final proposals will be pitched to a team of experts (older students, business partners, a real game company) and based on the rubric the highest scores will decide which top projects should be implemented in the next phase of the class or “funded” if this is the end of the course.

Now that students have an understanding of the more advanced system they are using they will create their own original game (it can be based on a game modification).

 

To begin the project students will identify their programmers, artists, project managers, and writers - through a round robin interview process. Teams are then built with at least one member representing each job. This process allows students to Identify career goals and develop career plan that explores employment opportunity in the video game industry (D9).

 

Teams will make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations as they create the following items (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.5):

• Design Document/ Business plan - writer. Through the final game design documents, the students demonstrate that they understand the general procedures, documentation, and requirements of large scale game design projects. (D6)

• Artwork for the game  - backgrounds, characters, color scheme -  art directors

• Program at least one level of the game - programmers. As students build their game and test it for usability they will demonstrate an understanding of testing techniques used to evaluate, assess, rate, and review quality assurance of video games (D5)  discussing how to evaluate changes and enhancements. After each testing round the recommendations can be evaluated (rated high, medium or low) on how much time/effort would be required to make the change, and how much impact those changes will have on the player's experience. Changes that are low for time/effort and high impact are the no-brainers to implement. High time/effort and low impact are probably not worth the cost. Of course there are other combinations, and they are all worth considering but understanding that time/effort is always a constraint in the real world is an important concept.

• Create a cohesive system for all materials, communicate with all team members and create a marketing plan and be responsible as the public face to pitch, research, and advocate for the game. This step demonstrates that the students the fundamentals of business and marketing, including entrepreneurship, global marketing, and localization

 

UNIT 5: Key Assignments:

• Students design a proposal for a final game project.  The proposal will include character designs, storyboards, information on game play and optionally a demo game.  Final proposals will be pitched to a team of experts (older students, business partners, a real game company) and based on the rubric the highest scores will decide which top projects should be implemented in the next phase of the class or “funded” if this is the end of the course. The final (or beta version) of their game will appear on their digital portfolios with a pitch (purpose) to the game, reflection of the building the game and additional changes they would make based on the game testing and if they were given more time.

(TIME: 5-6 weeks)

Here is a sample microschedule - also good idea to have the project managers check in with their team and the teacher on a regular bases to proactively deal with communication and programming issues.

• Create a game design document that includes: rules, goals, space, mechanics, components, and sketched storyboard (3-4 days)

• Create a prototype  - get one level to work (1-2 weeks)

• Game test  -spend a day getting students to play each others’ games and write up suggestions and reflections (hard deadline for all students to reach a common testing point) (2 days)

• Post-mortem - Essentially it's reflecting back on the whole "production" process and coming up with what went right and what didn't go so well. This can help them identify their strengths ( for example, 3 things that went smoothly or better than planned) and things they would want to improve upon if they had a chance to do it over again (3 things that didn't go as they were planned). (1 day)

• Regroup and revise game as needed (1 week)

• Prepare proposals and final pitch the game to an audience - based on the game testing  - pitch the game about what it is, why others should play and what they would add/fix if more time. (3 days)

• Final proposals will be pitched to a team of experts (older students, business partners, a real game company) and based on the rubric the highest scores will decide which top projects should be implemented in the next phase of the class or “funded” if this is the end of the course. (1 day)

• The final (or beta version) of their game will appear on their digital portfolios with a pitch (purpose) to the game, reflection of the building the game and additional changes they would make based on the game testing and if they were given more time. (3 days)
  

Unit 6 (Game Design Implementation and Marketing)

 

Essential question:  How do you manage and create very aspects of a project with multiple people but have it present as one cohesive vision?

 

Unit Overview:

Students take best proposals from proposal phase and form “companies” to implement the game. Students identify the personnel they need to complete their projects and other students are hired into the company to complete parts of the project (i.e. hire a student to be an animator).  This can be done through interviews where students can bring a portfolio of their work.  Some roles include Project Manager, Artist, Programmer, Animator, Writer (story and content), Quality Assurance (Tester), Marketing Manager.  Students will choose the appropriate tools and technologies strategically (CCSS.Math.Practice.MP5) to accomplish their roles (app inventor, gamemaker, other software not explicitly taught, etc).  Each company will have a Project Manager in charge of keeping each team member on schedule.  At the end, companies will present their projects to the class.  Presentations will include a demo of the current version of the game as well as features that would be included in future versions if they had more time.  

 

Students will use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level that they acquired over the course (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.6).  At this point, the games more than likely will not have all the bells and whistles that they set off to complete.  This is ok as the company can mention the trade-offs made in deciding which features to pursue first.  Each member of the team will present about their role in the creating the game.  

 

Project Manager  creates a weekly schedule for members of the company. Teacher does weekly check ins with companies to check progress.  Previous week is reflected upon and the next week plan adjusted. Arcade Day when projects are finished where students play and evaluate games from other “companies.”

 

UNIT 6: KEY ASSIGNMENTS:

Chosen Proposals from the previous unit will be implemented by a “company” of students acting in various “jobs” to produce and market the game.  A final presentation will be made by the “company.”  On “Arcade Day,”  students will play the games of each of the “companies.”  They will analyze and and create feedback on the game.  The feedback will include opinions about playability, degree of difficulty and game art including music.  The feedback will also include suggestions on how to improve the game.  The feedback must be written using language that students learned are used in the gaming industry.

 

Then each group has a post-mortem. Essentially it's reflecting back on the whole "production" process and coming up with what went right and what didn't go so well. This can help them identify their strengths ( for example, 3 things that went smoothly or better than planned) and things they would want to improve upon if they had a chance to do it over again (3 things that didn't go as they were planned).

 

The final (or beta version) of their game will appear on their digital portfolios with a pitch (purpose) to the game, reflection of the building the game and additional changes they would make based on the game testing and if they were given more time.

 

BREAKDOWN OF ALL KEY ASSIGNMENTS:

UNIT 1:

• Game Modification: students work in groups  and create a modification to a known game - every group is given a different game (hopscotch, tag, Scrabble...) and complete a game design document.

• Game Creation -   Students are given materials in teams and have to make up their own game. Teams consist of a producer, art director, programmer and writerThey game test it with other users. Then create an elevator pitch to explain the game. The game play can be something short that is fun in rounds/ repetition or a board game that takes no more than 20 minutes to complete. (2 weeks)

• Research Project: Every student will also receive a game from the list of 100 greatest video games in order to research the date of the game, genre, and significant facts about the game. Students then line up in chronological order of the games as a visual representation of time and share out. The class connects themes, trends, and genres as part of class discussion. (1-3  days)

 

UNIT 2:

• Build apps from existing tutorials  - Magic 8 Ball, Pong with a small revision each time (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

•  Final Project:  Modify one of these apps/ build your own app (TIME: 3-4 weeks)

•  Create a game design document

• Create a prototype and game test it

•   Pitch the game to an audience

 

UNIT 3: Key Assignments:

• Sketch out a background from at least two perspectives (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

• Create a character sheet  (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

• Edit music to great a mood  (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

• Final project is background, sound and animated sprite imported into GameMaker that cohesively convey a given mood.  The  object will move and possibly respond to a few keyboard responses.  (TIME: 1-2 weeks)

 

Unit 4:

• Students will pair program to create 4-5 sample games that use Physics and Math to represent gravity, collisions and other forces. Students will add modification or added challenge to at least two of the games.

(4-6 weeks)

 

UNIT 5:

• Students design a proposal for a final game project.  The proposal will include character designs, storyboards, information on game play and optionally a demo game.  Final proposals will be pitched to a team of experts (older students, business partners, a real game company) and based on the rubric the highest scores will decide which top projects should be implemented in the next phase of the class or “funded” if this is the end of the course. The final (or beta version) of their game will appear on their digital portfolios with a pitch (purpose) to the game, reflection of the building the game and additional changes they would make based on the game testing and if they were given more time.

(TIME: 5-6 weeks)

 

Unit 6:

Chosen Proposals from the previous unit will be implemented by a “company” of students acting in various “jobs” to produce and market the game.  A final presentation will be made by the “company.”  On “Arcade Day,”  students will play the games of each of the “companies.”  They will analyze and and create feedback on the game.  The feedback will include opinions about playability, degree of difficulty and game art including music.  The feedback will also include suggestions on how to improve the game.  The feedback must be written using language that students learned are used in the gaming industry. The final (or beta version) of their game will appear on their digital portfolios with a pitch (purpose) to the game, reflection of the building the game and additional changes they would make based on the game testing and if they were given more time.

 

Instructional Methods and/or Strategies:  

In all units of this course, the teacher draws on the CTE standards, as well as the Common Core State Standards for ELA Literary Response and Analysis, and Writing standards including: demonstrating how literary devices in written works are translated for visual storytelling; how repetitions and variations are conveyed through changes to the visual Summary Topics.

 

Instructor lectures are kept to a minimum, while small group discussions are frequent and the focus is on student initiated inquiry and production. Often the students will take the lead in analysis and critique of work (as in Unit I when they design their own games) where students draw connections between their own lives and the lives and experiences of the source creators and become empowered over time to create their own games

 

The entire course makes use of the following strategies:

• Extensive hands-on work with real-world visual samples which aids students in creating their own products.

• Mentoring from professionals to explain real-world situations and accommodations.

• Extensive small group work where students learn to create a synthesized creative vision that is carried out in a number of different project pieces.

• The PSA research project should be done concurrently with production of the video.  Often the research for the PSA will help the production team clarify and focus the story.

• Students work in small groups, choosing leadership that coordinates their activities in a collaborative team that parallels real-world production practices.

 

One of the primary jobs of the instructor is to reinforce 21st century skills.  Every unit gives ample opportunities for students to practice and deepen their skills in communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.  The instructor, moving from one small group to another, can give specific positive feedback and encouragement in these areas, and provide direction for even more effective use of these skills when necessary. The instructor can also identify student leader and various phases to showcase their work in front of the class or to meet with other small groups of students for instruction.

 

ASSESSMENTS: Formative and summative

 

• Reflective Pieces after completing

• Portfolios of work completed

• Oral presentations- effective communication

• Written presentation pieces

 

Students will be quizzed periodically and asked to write up questions and reflections after every game they create. Students will be graded on completion of games, strategies and storyboards going into the original design of games and presentations to explain the final game, marketing strategy and overall success of game completion.

 

Throughout this course students will participate in an array of specialized projects pertaining to each section/discipline of the course.  The teacher will evaluate basic understanding of competencies and principles by giving quizzes, and written and hands-on tests.

 

Completed projects will be evaluated by applying the rubric below.  This rubric is for a complete game production, but individual element rubrics can be used at any point to evaluate segments or principles of game production and design.