A Video Game Learning Curriculum
December 18, 2010
Video Game Design Course:
– Students will develop a character (including time projections of who they want the character to be 5/10/20/50 years into the future and how will the character get there). Students will develop both realistic and imaginative characters.
– Students will develop a number of characters throughout the school year as well as continuously adding information to their particular characters which will then be compiled into a database. Characters can be related and linked through family or social relations.
– Students will research the different professions they would like their character to work in, and what constitutes their regular daily schedule. Students will be encouraged to find information about particular professions through different types of media and sources.
– Students will discuss the positive and negative aspects of their characters, as well as compare and contrast their realistic to their imaginative characters. They will discuss how the development of both realistic and imaginary characters differs.
– Steps in the design process may include: Choosing a Goal and a Topic, Research and Preparation, Design Phase, Pre-Programming Phase, Programming Phase, Play-Testing Phase, Post-Mortem (Crawford, 1982)
– Students will map the city and/or areas they wish to include within the video game. These areas can be mapped by the use of either drawing or pictures. The possibility for mapping them through video should also be researched as more students have the ability to record videos through mobile phones. Creative ways of drawing the city, from simplified, cartoonish versions or accurate representations will be encouraged.
– Open source software will be used for editing and to bringing ideas together. To encourage creativity and cooperation, students will encourage others by providing a positive comment to their work before providing any constructive criticism.
– Students will interview adults and other people about their life experiences, asking questions about their history and what is important to them. They will act as anthropologist as well as cross pollinators, not only asking and recording individual’s statements but also seeing how they interplay with other individuals’ experiences. After returning to school students will discuss their findings.
– Through their research, students will learn about the hurdles and struggles individuals faced during their lives and how they reacted to them. Students will be encouraged to record and write a family history.
– Students will discuss the concept of memes as units of culture (a concept developed by Richard Dawkins in the Selfish Gene, 1990) and analyze which memes are prevalent and how they interrelate. They will discuss what makes a meme to fail while others replicate. Within this discussion, students will think of ways in which the games embody the concept of memes.
– Game designs will be posted on a bulletin board where students will be able to learn more about different students’ ideas, incorporate others’ concepts, and collaborate and promote the projects that appear most appealing.
– The instructor will serve as the director, making sure that the project keeps moving along the timeline.
Video Game Making Course:
– Students will begin by using block building tools such as Scratch or Google mobile apps developer. Older and more advanced students will learn programming codes such as Visual basic, C++ or Python. Through tutorials and trial and error students will be expected to learn to debug programs. Students will also learn Flash and html.
– Students will be responsible for evaluating and learning about the limitations of various programming languages.
– Games will be developed for a number of platforms, and students will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of every system. An evaluation of the game control system as well as the interface are important to provide the best gamer with the best possible experience.
– Advanced students will analyze how a number of open source games were built by reverse engineering and fragmenting their code. They will then attempt to improve on some of those games’ features. Students will work on projects independently or in groups. To promote creativity, game improvements do not have to be educational in nature.
Video Game Evaluation: Despite the increasing number of resources available over the internet, one of the greatest frustrations for teachers who hope to integrate games into their classrooms is the lack of a major website or online space where teachers can obtain both the games and a detailed lesson plan that includes ways in which these games could be used in a class. While some wikis (http://games4learning.pbworks.com) are increasingly collecting this information, students within this program can help! When evaluating games, students will analyze the following criteria:
– What is the objective of the game? (What is the game trying to solve? How does it end?)
– What is the genre of the game? (Role Playing, Adventure, First-Person Shooter, etc)
– What is the topic or environment in which the game is played? (18th century, poverty in the 3rd World, etc)
– What are some of the spatial properties of the environment? (list, specify what you found interesting)
– Is the game captivating? Why? ( 1 to 5 and open ended response)
– What is the difficulty of the game within its expected audience? (1 to 5)
– How is this game marketed, how should it be marketed?
– How long does the game take to understand? (Learning Curve)
– How long does the game take to complete? (Game Playing Time)
Students will make a list of all the games they plan to, and have, evaluated. Depending on the game, various students may be assigned to evaluate the same game and provide separate, asynchronous reports. Individuals who use their time to play without evaluating the game will be removed from this pilot program. Students will be asked to consider themselves as part of a game in which they must find and evaluate games in order to save the planet or their space ship from ignorance, inequality, hate, and indifference.
Learning through Games
Students will play different games, usually each game for less than a week. Students will play games to learn about a variety of subjects, including history, language learning, scientific concepts, and mathematical equations, among other topics.
– Students will play all types and generations of group computer games. Budget constraints may limit the use of other platforms. Mobile games will also be used. The titles of the games as well as the lesson plans will be predetermined. This list of games for the course will be evaluated at the end of every semester to include additions from the games students who took the video game evaluation class found insightful.
– Students will not only learn through video games, but will also play traditional games such as Life and Monopoly.
– Students will play games such as World of Warcraft, Runescape and Minecraft for a longer amount of time. Within these games students will forms groups to solve quests and build a guild or an online community.
– The students will periodically write reflections of their experiences.
– The students will switch between these major game titles various times during the year. In Minecraft they will be building group cities.
– Other games such as the Total War series, as well as the Sims series may take longer than a week per game to explore. SimCity, SimEarth, Spore, and the Sims are all complex games that may benefit from longer gameplay sessions and reflection.
Games for Change (G4C) – Poverty Games – Video Game Evaluation
3rd World Farmer (11 and up) – In this game a player acts as the manager of a family experiencing financial hardship in a developing country. During the game, the player can decide what crops to plant. With a limited amount of funds and a fixed amount of land the player must help the family to survive, and escape poverty, while possibly obtaining an education. Some of the decisions players must make include which equipment to buy and whether or not to invest in the community. It’s a basic game with a short learning curve. The game could be supplemented with a documentary or an explanation of the number of people that currently live under these conditions. By playing the game, students will be able to better understand the decisions people living in poverty must make to survive and how their lives are different from people living in countries with a higher income level. During the game the family is affected by theft, war, illness and other undesired circumstances. Developed in flash and freely available online, the game can easily be accessed by a teacher or a student with a computer without installing any additional programs. The game could easily be ported to a mobile phone. (Difficulty: 6-10)
Ayiti: The Cost of Life (11 and up) – Similarly to 3rd World Farmer, the player controls the decisions of a family while managing their limited resources. This game is very difficult, and despite playing it over ten times I was unable to keep the family alive! Hurricanes, theft and sickness are the three main catastrophes players can experience. Sickness greatly handicaps the family and it may have been exaggerated for educational purposes. Two different NGOs randomly provide support for the family, but it is often not sufficient. The most likely outcome of the game is a sense of frustration. The balance between work, revenue, and managing the characters health is very difficult. The game includes more animations and is more colorful than 3rd World Farmer. Designed in Flash, the game could also be ported into a mobile phone. The game ends with a quiz where students are asked what they learned from the experience. These questions help you reflect about the family’s experience. It’s a great game, and worth playing at least once! (Difficulty: 9 out of 10)
Karma Tycoon (11 and up) – In this game you are in charge or developing an NGO chain from the ground up. The game takes place within the United States and the player’s objective is to try and serve as many people in the community as he or she can without getting indebted. The game is won when your Karma reaches 100%! To reach the goal, the player must expand their NGO to five different locations. This is possible by applying for, and obtaining, grants. Unfortunately, as a teaching tool, Karma falls somewhat short. While to win the game a player must have a good credit history and a history of providing services to the community, the most important variable in the game is an artificial rapid trigger! Making decisions and expanding as quickly as possible is the easiest way to win and a player can figure this out shortly after the NGOs first monthly bill. If more grants are obtained before the bill is due, the NGO can expand and increase its Karma at a quicker rate by serving more people. This aspect of the game may be teaching the opposite of what students maybe should learn, such as the importance of making decisions after carefully weighing other options. At the start of each game session, a player can decide whether to open a homeless shelter, an animal shelter, a performing arts center, a senior center or a youth center, yet, because of the need for a rapid response, little reflection goes into which building improvements would have the best cost-benefit ratio when improving a particular center. In addition, the operating costs of the center do not increase as the center expands and adds technological equipment and amenities such as a swimming pool. After a couple of runs, it becomes evident that the game formula stands in sharp contrast with the reality the students are expected to understand. The game has a great concept but requires an improved design. This game is also built with Flash, but it requires the player to open an account. (Difficulty: 3 out of 10)
Real Lives 2010 (11 and up) – Real Lives 2010, the sequel to Real Lives 2007, does not differ greatly from the original. Unfortunately, many of the game design problems remain. The game is at first very interesting and uses a very expandable concept. When the game starts you are randomly assigned an individual in some country in the world. You have just been born and, for the beginning year of your life, the decisions you can make are limited. In many instances going to school will not be an option for you and you may have to migrate legally or illegally to another country. The cost for all of these factors is taken into consideration. The game is very rich and broad, yet it quickly becomes dull as the game progresses. For the player, most of the decisions are attached to a numeric value and, regardless of the country in which you are living, they “feel” the same. The table where living expenses are calibrated does not provide for a visual reinforcement or a definition of what a normal diet or an ample diet is in that particular country. What are the results of living in a small house compared to a wealthier estate? Students will greatly benefit from two or three runs through this game (what the trial version allows) where the player will be presented with information regarding a person’s life conditions in different countries. Real Lives 2010’s addition of 3D character representations falls short and the characters look generic. Marketing the software on a shareware model, at a cost of $25, rather than using adware, donationware or freeware models, limits its potential users. Reducing the cost would likely increase sales, awareness, and even revenues. Cost could be reduced to $1 or $2. (Difficulty: 4 out of 10)
Hurricane Katrina – Tempest in the Crescent City (11 and up) – Unlike the other games in this category, Hurricane Katrina is a first person adventure. As a young African American heroine, the character tries to rescue as many people in New Orleans before night falls. She has to swim under obstacles, break roofs, and provide people with flashlights and canned food. The game is simple but would be particularly appealing for young students. While it is rated as a game for people who are 11 or older by G4C, the game should probably be marketed primarily to elementary and middle school. The game is very short and would only contribute to half of a class session. More levels including different lessons could be built. The character remains flat and without a complex personality. Apart from expanding the game, Hurricane Katrina would also benefit from a post-quiz similar to Ayiti’s. The basic drawings, animation and nature of the game suggest it could act as a model for students to aim for in their initial projects. (Difficulty 2 out of 10)
Food Force (7 and up): Despite being rated for younger children than the other games within this category, Food Force was probably the most captivating game. The game explained the functions of the United Nations Food Program in a comprehensive and appealing manner. Through interactive videos a player was invited to become a crewmember of their rescue mission. In the game, the player needs to drop food aid bags without hitting refugees, map refugee camps, drive a truck through a number of obstacles, figure out the right recipe for a food pack, and distribute food to five projects within the village rebuilding initiative as part of the “Food for Assets” program. As is the case with Real Lives, the game must be downloaded and installed. It would beneficial if the game could be adapted to also run virtually. The game is diverse but lacks depth and the difficulty level needed to increase its replay factor. Various aspects of the game could easily be expanded into games of their own. Apart from the complication of installing the program on a series of computers, adapting the game to the classroom should not be difficult. The game is designed so that a player can play through the whole game in less than an hour. (Difficulty 5 out of 10)
