Game Design

ETEC 544: Digital Games and Learning

Objective

The objective of this project was to collaboratively design a digital game that could be used in an educational context.

 

Reflection

This was a big, vigorous, long-term project. The ideation process taught me how to be comfortable with experimenting with multiple ideas and failing and trying again until the right idea is found. The creation process taught me how to trust team-members and accommodate their viewpoints. It also showed me a clear picture of how complex the process of game design is. This assignment completely transformed my attitude towards digital games and perspective on their educational potential. I know now how to properly implement games in educational contexts and what to expect from this implementation. Additionally, this project was an opportunity to hone my collaboration and communication skills. I became a more attentive and empathetic listener, and a more proactive communicator, and my ability to manage projects grew considerably. This project was my very first design project in the MET (completed in April 2022), so it constituted the very first stepping stone towards learning and mastering educational digital design skills. My main guide in this project was Fullerton's Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games (2018). I was also lucky enough to reflect on James Paul Gee (2008) in which he explores the parallels between learning and play and his 2005 article in which he analyzes how good video games can be the best learning machines through discussing a dozen of good learning principles and how they are built into good video games.

 

Goal Alignment

This artifact aligns with Goal 2 as it contributed monumentally to helping me learn more instructional design skills, especially how to design excellent games that have both strong formal and dramatic elements.

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Metaphor Alignment

It fits within my metaphor since it represents the very first steps of the drafting stage. There is a lot of discovery and finding a writer's voice and style. There is building confidence and figuring out how to put the selected ideas down on paper in a unique and attractive style.