Playing to Learn

From SVHSWiki

Contents 1 Topic Assignments 1.1 Play with Social Issue Games and Educational Games 1.2 Review Two Games 1.3 Think About Design 1.4 Update the Wiki 1.5 Update the Blog

Topic summary: In this topic you will learn about game design by playing and reviewing lots of games, and thinking about how they are made. It’s like learning how to write novels by reading books or learning how to write a movie script by watching many films; the first step is recognizing what makes the best ones stand out.

Topic Assignments

Play with Social Issue Games and Educational Games

Play some of these social issue and educational games, developed by professionals and by your Globaloria peers. Try a game from each genre. Which do you like best? Which are most successful in getting you to think and learn new information about a social issue or educational subject? Explore them like a Game Maker: What does each game do? How was it made?

Genre 1: Action Action games comprise a very wide variety of activities with some basic similarities of gameplay. Action games usually require fast reflexes and timing to overcome challenges and often (but not always) include combat as a main theme. Example types of action games include platformers and fighting games.

Tempest in Crescent City is a Flash game that puts you in the position of a young girl whose mom is trapped in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck.

Zeitgeist is a Globaloria original platformer in which you play a soldier sent back in time to stop an evil overlord. (Created by: The Five Experimental Ninjas, Randolph Technical Center)

Genre 2: Adventure Adventure games are characterized not by a central focus of gameplay, but are instead centered around a theme of exploration and plot development. Usually, rather than requiring fast reflexes, adventure games instead require careful thought and planning - in this way, they can be said to be the complement of action games.

Medical Mysteries is a game in which you are on a mission to discover the causes of diseases. As you follow clues to solve the mystery, you also are given the opportunity to explore many facets of the healthcare world -- chemistry, pharmacology, neuroscience, public policy, history, and more.

What Would You Do? is a Flash game that presents you with various social situations where you have to make a difficult situation, giving you all the details, then asking you how you react.

WV Animal Rescue Squad is another Globaloria original game in which you play a member of an animal rescue squad who is tasked with helping injured animals in different places. (Created by: The Epic Failz, Liberty High School)

Genre 3: Puzzle Puzzle games center around requiring the player to solve complicated puzzles, usually through application of logic in various ways. Sometimes, puzzle games will require the player to solve under time pressure, requiring either fast reflexes or quick thinking.

The Codex of Alchemical Engineering is a game about programming a machine to perform miracles of alchemical science. It starts with simple puzzles, but has the player create more and more complicated machines as the game progresses.

A-maze-ing Math is a Globaloria original game in which you must navigate a maze and collect numbers that sum to a particular amount. (Created by: Charles, Clay High School)

Learn the Bones is another Globaloria original game in which the player solves jigsaw puzzles formed not of puzzle pieces, but of human bones. They must then answer questions about identifying bones. (Created by: Team Cosmic Energy, Randolph Technical Center)

Genre 4: Strategy Strategy games require you to engage careful decision-making in order to achieve a long-term objective. There is less overall activity and typically more time to formulate a plan of action in strategy games, although some require improvisational planning under a strict time pressure. Oftentimes, strategy games will attempt to simulate a real-life situation

Ayiti: The Cost of Life is a game that challenges its players to manage a rural family of five in Haiti over four years and keep them healthy, get them educated, and help them survive.

Third-World Farmer is a game about managing a small farm in a third-world country. It illustrates the hardships associated with trying to survive poverty in undeveloped parts of the world.

Climate Challenge is a game in which the player, as the President of the United Nations, is tasked with dealing with climate issues while remaining popular enough with voters to remain in office.

Genre 5: Sports Sports games are those that attempt to model the rules of a real-world sport in video game form. Some focus on the actual playing of the sport, while others are more strategic, based instead on simulating an activity behind the sport, such as running a team.

Gravitee is a sports game with a twist. Rather than just simulating golf on Earth, it takes the game to space, giving it the interesting twist of having to learn about planetary gravity and shoot based not only on angle and trajectory, but also on gravitational force.

Nothing but Net is a game centered around basketball which teaches kids about math and the physics of throwing a ball.

Bullseye is a game developed by Globaloria team members in which your task is to shoot a target with your bow while learning about the physics behind firing a projectile.

Genre 6: Racing Games Racing games are a sub-genre of sports games which simulate racing in all manner of vehicles. They are usually considered separately from other sports games because of the physics inherent in a racing simulator - they are generally closer to real life (if perhaps slightly exaggerated), so as to not jar the experience of the player too much.

The Race for Justice is a Globaloria original game in which you play a lawyer driving to the courthouse, reviewing the laws pertaining to the case as you go. (Created by: The Fox Racers, Sandy River Middle School)

Drift Runners is a game which simulates the exciting drifting and jumping of rally racing, while also attempting to model the physics of turning (and crashing!) while in such a vehicle.

Review Two Games

Making a good game is hard. Making a good game that teaches the player something is even harder! Think about how these games use the play experience to teach a learning concept. Write a detailed review (not just short answers) of two games.

GAME REVIEW #1: MOST EFFECTIVE Learning Game

• Name of the game that taught you the MOST about its learning topic:
• What social issue or educational topic does the game explore?
• What can you learn from this game?
• What game genre is it? Do you think this genre is a good choice for creating a learning game? Why or why not?
• Design Analysis (Does it look good? Does it clearly illustrate the issue or learning concept?)
• Usability Analysis (Is it clear what you need to do as a player? Does it work well?)
• Suggestions for improvement. How would you change the gameplay to make the learning and play experience work together better?
• List 2-3 things that you would like to learn how to do (in terms of functionality, design or content)

GAME REVIEW #2: LEAST EFFECTIVE Learning Game

• Name of the game that taught you the LEAST about its learning topic:
• What social issue or educational topic does the game explore?
• What can you learn from this game?
• What game genre is it? Do you think this genre is a good choice for creating a learning game? Why or why not?
• Design Analysis (Does it look good? Does it clearly illustrate the issue or learning concept?)
• Usability Analysis (Is it clear what you need to do as a player? Does it work well?)
• Suggestions for improvement. How would you change the gameplay to make the learning and play experience work together better?
• List 2-3 things that you would like to learn how to do (in terms of functionality, design or content)

Think About Design

Consider what Flash concepts are needed to make your game run. If you're making a puzzle game, will you need to know mouse how to code enemies? How to drag and drop pieces? How to keep score?

Explore this table to get a good idea of the Flash concepts you will need to know in order to build a basic game in each genre.

General	Action	Adventure
Interaction Adding Interaction Preloaders Preloader Sound and Music Adding Sound Delay Actions Timer Repeat actions Timer Answer Quiz Questions Adding Buttons Adding Scenes Move between scenes Adding Scenes Adding Buttons	Running Running, Jumping, etc. Jumping Running, Jumping, etc. Enemies Artificial Intelligence part 1 Artificial Intelligence part 2 Collision Detection Obstacles Collision Detection Attacking Collision Detection Adding Interaction Lives Working with Variables	Moving Moving with the Keyboard Jumping Running, Jumping, etc. Enemies Artificial Intelligence part 1 Artificial Intelligence part 2 Collision Detection Menu Navigation Adding Buttons Collecting Things Collision Detection Attacking Collision Detection Adding Interaction Obstacles Collision Detection
Puzzle	Sports	Strategy/Sim
Moving Pieces Moving with the Keyboard Moving with the Mouse Writing Text Using text in Flash Introduction to Variables Random Puzzles Working with Variables Working with "random" Solving Mazes Collision Detection Moving with the Keyboard Moving with the Mouse	Hitting Things Collision Detection Moving with the Keyboard Moving with the Mouse Catching Things Collision Detection Moving with the Keyboard Moving with the Mouse Moving Players Moving with the Keyboard Moving with the Mouse Turning (racing) Moving with the Keyboard Flight Adding Animation	Changing Numbers Working with Variables Using Dynamic text in Flash Flipping Switches Adding Animation Working with Variables Working with Buttons Menu Navigation Adding Scenes Adding Buttons

Want more? Check out the Flash Tutorial Finder for an extensive list of Flash topics with links to tutorials that will help you learn each one.

Update the Wiki

• Add your game review assignment to your "My Projects" page on the wiki (a link can be found on the top of your profile.)

Update the Blog

• Write a Blog post to reflect on which of these genre(s) are you most interested in using for your own game idea.
• Comment on one of your classmate's blogs!