Making Games: Meeting the technology objectives for CfE

1. Making Games: Meeting the technology objectives for CfE Dr Judy Robertson Computer Science Heriot-Watt University

2. A whirlwind tour of game making • What are the new CfE objectives? • What software packages are there for Game Making? • What is the learning process in making games and how can we support it? • How can we assess game making? • Questions

3. Good news! • Making games is loads of fun! • Your classroom will be buzzing • It’s a brilliant way to get people to love programming by stealth

4. Curriculum for Excellence Hmm. Programming has shrunk... Why? This is hard! But all is not lost! We can use the games design objectives as a motivating way in to teaching programming concepts

5. List of possible game making tools • Scratch • Gamemaker • Adventure Author • Phun • Crayon physics • Second Life Are there others? Of course! (Alice, Toon talk, Mission Maker, Thinking Worlds...)

6. Scratch • http://scratch.mit.edu/ • Free • PC or Mac • Don’t need high spec machines • Fab visual programming language – based on years of research • Good teaching resources • Can be used for animation • Used in loads of schools already

8. Gamemaker • http://www.yoyogames.com/ • Free download for PC or Mac • Excellent text book and tutorials: http://book.gamemaker.nl/frames.htm • Slightly more complex – for older kids?

9. Adventure Author • My project: www.adventureauthor.org • Need to buy Neverwinter Nights 2 first (~£8) • Free educational plugins from our website + teaching and assessment materials • Need quite high spec PCs • Big advantage: can create 3D games • Good for cross curricular projects

10. Neverwinter Nights 2 You can buy it on Amazon for ~£8

11. Game making toolset Comes free with Neverwinter Nights 2 game

12. Fridge Magnets: creative ideas Free standalone version at www.adventureauthor.org/fridge-magnets.html

13. Conversation Writer

14. Comments Cards: peer review Free standalone version at www.adventureauthor.org/ comment-cards.html

15. Crayon Physics and Phun • Like a cross between sketch pads and physics simulations. • Phun: free, mac or PC • http://www.phunland.com/wiki/Home • Crayon Physics: $20 • http://www.crayonphysics.com/ • PC (or iPhone!)

16. Second Life • Free download • For older kids • Need to use Teen Grid • Need PCs with graphics cards • Why? 3D – good for teaching scripting • We use it in first year at HW

17. Learning process

18. Assessment • See http://www.adventureauthor.org/curriculum/index.html • Possible assessment areas: • Game play • Level design • Plot • Characters • Dialogue • Programming • Possible assessment methods: peer review, self review, learning logs

19. Tips for teachers • Devote some time to playing around with the software yourself first • Find another teacher to work with • Let the kids play! It’s essential, not an added extra • Don’t try to be the expert - be the lead learner • Be prepared to be flexible about the timetable – game making is absorbing and time consuming

20. Questions? Judy.Robertson@hw.ac.uk