Design a Video Game
Purpose/Rationale
As you will see in other parts of my portfolio, the relationship between gaming and literacy and the exploration of using games as "texts" is an ongoing area of inquiry of mine.
One of the projects I designed during my student-teacher practicum was an assignment where I asked students to develop a conceptual design for a video game of their choice. Students were introduced to different genres and design options that they could use, and one of the key criteria was that they needed to incorporate diversity into their game design in some way. This was a keystone project for a unit on "Media Literacy" that we were working on, and one of the concepts that discussed in the unit was the idea of diversity in popular media (like video games). We discussed who was typically represented in the games that they played, who was absent, and what these design choices suggested about the values of the video game companies who were designing these games as well as the values of the people who were "voting with their money" and choosing to play them.
One of the projects I designed during my student-teacher practicum was an assignment where I asked students to develop a conceptual design for a video game of their choice. Students were introduced to different genres and design options that they could use, and one of the key criteria was that they needed to incorporate diversity into their game design in some way. This was a keystone project for a unit on "Media Literacy" that we were working on, and one of the concepts that discussed in the unit was the idea of diversity in popular media (like video games). We discussed who was typically represented in the games that they played, who was absent, and what these design choices suggested about the values of the video game companies who were designing these games as well as the values of the people who were "voting with their money" and choosing to play them.
Process
Students were to present their design models in the form of a PowerPoint Presentation. Their presentation needed to include the following elements:
-Basic Info (Game Genre, Main Goal of Game, and Setting)
-Information about Character/PC Design
-Description of Overall Gameplay and Level Design
-Two Specific Examples of Diversity in their Game Design
In addition to their PowerPoints, students also needed to draw a map or screenshot of what a "typical level" in their game looked like.
-Basic Info (Game Genre, Main Goal of Game, and Setting)
-Information about Character/PC Design
-Description of Overall Gameplay and Level Design
-Two Specific Examples of Diversity in their Game Design
In addition to their PowerPoints, students also needed to draw a map or screenshot of what a "typical level" in their game looked like.
Reflection
I was very impressed with how well this project turned out. In one aspect, I was very lucky because this was a class full of self-identified "gamers," so they were able to step into this medium of expression without needing a whole lot of instruction from me in terms of "background knowledge." Even those students who did not consider themselves gamers realized that even they played games of some sort (even "time-waster" puzzle games on their phones, or social games on Facebook). Each student was able identify with a game genre they felt comfortable.
Something else that I found that was unexpected was the creativity that many of the students were able to put into their games. While there were some who clearly based their games off of existing titles that they enjoyed, there were students who took personal risks in designing something new and unique, and they rose to the challenge in incorporating diversity in ways that I did not expect.
For example, I had one student who did not consider herself a "gamer." She decided to develop a platform game where the PC was as ugly as she could make them, and the "enemy" characters were pretty. In her game, she chose to explore a "counter-theme" to the idea that heros and protagonists should be primarily attractive, likable, and flawless.
Another student designed a game that was clearly inspired by Call of Duty and similar first person-shooter games. While he didn't do anything especially unique with the genre, I was able to have authentic conversations with this student about how simple it was to add customization options to character designs so that people could play as characters who looked like them, and we discussed why we didn't see options like this in mainstream games more often.
Finally, a pair of students who chose to work as team designed an adventure-type video game where they incorporated mental illness into their design of their PC. The principle was that their PC had an anxiety disorder, and when they were exposed to stressful situations (which happens often when you are on adventures), then their "stress meter" would go up. If the stress meter got full and the player didn't do something to address the stress (there were tools in the game that the player could use to do this), then the PC would freeze for a period of time until their stress meter rest. These were both students with IEPs; they were both on the autism spectrum, and one of them had an anxiety disorder themselves. I don't know if it had occurred to either of these students that video games could be designed with characters just like that who represented real people with real struggles (just like them). I was impressed with what these students were able to accomplish with this project.
Now that the New BC Curriculum actually has course designs around New Media in English Language Arts, this is a project that I would continue to use in the future. The beauty of the design is that it does not require students to have a extensive knowledge or experience base with technology, and many skills and concepts around design, drafting, and planning a large-scale project in a project like this I would consider to be comparable to similar skills we would ask students to use in writing a story or writing an essay.
Something else that I found that was unexpected was the creativity that many of the students were able to put into their games. While there were some who clearly based their games off of existing titles that they enjoyed, there were students who took personal risks in designing something new and unique, and they rose to the challenge in incorporating diversity in ways that I did not expect.
For example, I had one student who did not consider herself a "gamer." She decided to develop a platform game where the PC was as ugly as she could make them, and the "enemy" characters were pretty. In her game, she chose to explore a "counter-theme" to the idea that heros and protagonists should be primarily attractive, likable, and flawless.
Another student designed a game that was clearly inspired by Call of Duty and similar first person-shooter games. While he didn't do anything especially unique with the genre, I was able to have authentic conversations with this student about how simple it was to add customization options to character designs so that people could play as characters who looked like them, and we discussed why we didn't see options like this in mainstream games more often.
Finally, a pair of students who chose to work as team designed an adventure-type video game where they incorporated mental illness into their design of their PC. The principle was that their PC had an anxiety disorder, and when they were exposed to stressful situations (which happens often when you are on adventures), then their "stress meter" would go up. If the stress meter got full and the player didn't do something to address the stress (there were tools in the game that the player could use to do this), then the PC would freeze for a period of time until their stress meter rest. These were both students with IEPs; they were both on the autism spectrum, and one of them had an anxiety disorder themselves. I don't know if it had occurred to either of these students that video games could be designed with characters just like that who represented real people with real struggles (just like them). I was impressed with what these students were able to accomplish with this project.
Now that the New BC Curriculum actually has course designs around New Media in English Language Arts, this is a project that I would continue to use in the future. The beauty of the design is that it does not require students to have a extensive knowledge or experience base with technology, and many skills and concepts around design, drafting, and planning a large-scale project in a project like this I would consider to be comparable to similar skills we would ask students to use in writing a story or writing an essay.
Project Resources
video_game_project_handout.pdf | |
File Size: | 319 kb |
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video_game_powerpoint_template.pdf | |
File Size: | 66 kb |
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video_game_maps.pdf | |
File Size: | 823 kb |
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