R U GAME

1
R U GAME?

• Learning About
• GAMES2LEARN

2
Myths of Gaming

• Video games youth violence and aggression
• There are just as many educational games as
  there are war-based ones. I know which ones
  well be using in this case!
• Gaming is a boys past time
• The marketing crews in the gaming industry
  have tapped into the unused female market quite
  well (think SIMS, My Horse and Me, Aquarium,
  PetVet Nintendo and all the mum games), here is
  the chance to involve females in creating the
  games in which theyre interested (beyond the
  stereotyped animals and babies themes).
• Gaming is not a meaningful form of expression
• Programming ones own game could not be more
  expressive of ones imagination, creativity and
  personality. As we will see, it is an art to
  create the narrative behind the game just as
  expressive as our write me a story lessons of
  the past.
• Gaming is socially isolating
• The involvement of MSN, texting, email,
  Facebook and the like, show the digital world to
  be extremely interactive. Games are created to
  be played by multiple players (both next to you
  or from across the world). The GameMaker
  sessions created MUCH conversation via chat
  lines, on the playground, in and out of school!
• Debunking Myths of Gaming see Henry Jenkins MIT
  professor at http//www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevo
  lution/impact/myths.html

3
Why Use Games in Schools?

• Instructional vs Constructional
• Games to teach Games to Learn
• Carmen Sandiego GameMaker
• Math Blaster
• big lessons I have learned from computer
  games is echoed by kids who talk about "hard
  fun" and they don't mean it's fun in spite of
  being hard. They mean it's fun because it's hard.
  Listening to this and watching kids work at
  mastering games confirms what I know from my own
  experience learning is essentially hard it
  happens best when one is deeply engaged in hard
  and challenging activities.
• 
  Seymour Papert (1998)

4
Why Use Games in Schools? - Continued

• A fun and engaging way of meeting existing
  curriculum requirements.
• Children are full of facts and opinions about
  games but programming their own takes their
  learning to the higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy
• Analysis (identifying patterns of
  knowledge),
• - Synthesis (using old ideas to create
  new ones)
• and
• - Evaluation (reflecting on the success
  of new ideas)

5
KLA Links

• Literacy story writing, inspiring storytelling
  and traditional literacy skills
• Science a game that teaches about the pathways
  of electrical current, or life cycle of a
  frog
• HSIE characters based on an historical
  event - environmental issue (eg. Use of
  national parks such as having to pick up all
  the rubbish before the animals eat from it and
  become sick)
• Math built in to the programming and
  sequencing of the game (eg the ratios of the
  speed of objects),
• - create a game that teaches younger children
  the concept of fractions
• PEHPD Wii games!! (now a grand championship
  competition)
• Visual Arts digital animation
• (see Jona Tres Kap article Is It Art?)
  http//www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/imp
  act/art.html
• Music compose the sound effects to be used for
  the games

6
GameMaker Unit

• WHAT IS GAMEMAKER?
• GameMaker was created by Mark Overmars of
  Utrecht University
• easy to learn drag-and-drop actions
• creates professional looking games within very
  little time
• creates simple platform, puzzle or shooting games
  -gt elaborate strategy games, first-person
  shooters, third-person shooters or massively
  multiplayer online games
• makes games with backgrounds, animated graphics,
  music and sound effects (can extend to 3D games
  using MissionMaker)
• built-in programming language

7
Theory Side of the Issue

• What is a Good Game? analysing the fundamental
  features of a
• game that should be incorporated into their
  design
• - interactivity (decision making)
• - fantasy (subjective reality)
• - challenge (competition/conflict and thus
  has a goal/s
• and rules)
• - safety (a reduced fear of failure)
• Why do we play games? what role do they play in
  society past, present and future,
  what do other cultures play?
• How do digital games affect us? debating the
  issues of gaming the myths, role
  in education
• How do we design and make a good game? using
  the above features
• of a good game
• survey what people are playing (ie. marketing
  strategies),
• - genres in gaming,
• - analysing game reviews,
• - creating the narrative,
• - careers in the gaming industry

8
Creating the Narrative

• An essential element to creating a good game!
• the FANTASY element
• Whole range of activities that analyse
  characters, plot, cause and effect of events,
  language used, and the role of the narrative in
  gaming
• - Belmore South PS used game narratives brought
  in by students from games they play at home
• Gives meaning to writing their own game narrative
  by examining their title, setting, characters,
  sequencing of events, problems (CHALLENGES of the
  game)
• see Margaret Meijers www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/
  gameswhat_do_you_know.htm

9
Using GameMaker

• Creating a Pacman Game
• Gobble Guts
• Terms to Know
• Room the level and all that occurs in it
• Background an image for the level the size of
  the window
• Sprite the images seen on the screen
• Object link to the sprite and tell them how
  to behave/react
• Step Event things that happen in the game
  eg when a key is pressed
• Action what happens as a result of the event
  eg change direction, adds a score, makes
  a sound

10
Lets Create!!!!
11
What do the Kids Say?
12
Any Questions?
13
Resources

• http//www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/gamemaker/defaul
  t.htm
• J. Habgood and M. Overmars The Game Makers
  Apprentice Game Development for Beginners (2006)
  Apress Publishers
• http//portal.newman.wa.edu.au/technology/10cap/ht
  ml/GMgameplay.htm
• http//www.mindtools.tased.edu.au/games/gamegenres
  .htm