MrHoatzin

Teaching video game design to middle school youff

Recommended Posts

It looks like I might get a chance to develop a curriculum from nothing and then teach video game design at this weekend/after-school art program for inner-city kids!

I have about 3/5 of the qualifications that they're looking for. I don't have a portfolio of games under my belt and I've never taught kids before... still, I think I'd make for an effective teacher of arty programmings... I hope... I have an art degree, I can program in a bunch of different languages (and should have no problem boning up on any new ones if I have to), I have thought at length about structure of games for decades now, and even though I play few games these days, I play all the artistically interesting and novel things that come out... and I also know 3/4s of the people working there (NEPOTISMS CRONYISMS ARGLEBARGLE etc)...

I have one more interview to go through, yet to be scheduled. The first one went p well and they did make me an offer—a part-time nonprofit offer, as one would expect, which is fine—a year of freelancing web dev has been kind to me, so I'm not really doing this for the moneys anyway. So far so good! :woohoo:
 
 

They want to start off with this thing called Scratch, which looks pretty full-featured for a Fisher-Price™ programming language.

I want to throw in Twine early on. I really have no idea about how much I can push these kids or expect from them, I have no idea what kinds of games they like, play, or want to make either, but I can see teaching Processing maybe... if the program grows up to include high school kids, definitely. It would also be cool to do a larger project-oriented something or other, where they're split into roles and make a bigger game all together or in small teams. So maybe Unity would come in handy? One thing that is kinda wacky and limiting is that their lab is all Macs, so that throws out Game Maker and AGS...

Anyway: ideas, recommendations, tips on curriculum and general teaching appreciated!
 
One fun fact: I was super excited to hear that this organization has a solid history of about 70% girl participation throughout their middle and high school programs (visual arts, theater, film) and they expect the same for the video game design dealio! Pheuh! I was actually anxious I would have to beat gamerness out of a herd of nerdy boys. Having the scales tipping like this will make that task easier if it even is an issue.

 

 

 

Now that I made this thread, it will somehow fall through and I'll be a sad. :cry:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would make sure to ask the students what tools they have outside of school with which they can make games. That would have a huge impact on what tools I would want to introduce to them. The thing I would be trying to avoid is having them perceive game-development as something that is only possible in this class.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I got into making games when I was in middle school through ZZT. Not sure how tolerant kids these days would be of its "graphics" and UI, but I still have yet to find any Fisher-Price game dev toolkits that are as easy to get into while also allowing you a decent amount of flexibility in what you can make. I think that with something like Unity, even though it's fairly easy to get some kind of simple set of game mechanics working, even as an adult with some programming experience it seems like a pretty daunting task to try to use it to create the structure of a full game with a beginning, middle, and end (which is what I always wanted to do as a kid).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Take a look at Construct 2 maybe? I think it, like gamemaker has some built in behaviors that can be extended by scripting. That idea, would be good because you can get a game real quick without teaching them how to code, and then teach code as its need comes up.

 

Oh drat, re-read OP and didn't realize that he needed mac software :(

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've never used it myself, but I've heard good things about GameSalad as a starter game engine.  If the kids have phones they could put their games right on them.  By the way is this meant to be more of a theory type course or more practical?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the feedback, taking notes here!

 

It is supposed to be a practical course, kinda hands-offish on my end; I'm supposed to help them figure out how to do things they want to do, teach them programming, and keep the scope of their projects manageable... I would imagine I might eventually have to (learn so that I can) teach Blender (last time I messed with 3D was 3D Studio Max ten years ago), some animation, how to develop efficiency tools, optimize production pipelines, etc. All handy skills to have...

 

But it is also an art program, so it is my responsibility to educate them about how to think critically about video games and artistic applications of systems in general. I'm definitely going to have to (drag my PS3 in and) show them Noby Noby Boy, Journey; (steam up and show) Gone Home, Thirty Flights of Loving, Papers Please, Proteus, etc; things like Minecraft I seriously doubt they'll need to be introduced to, but maybe I can use it as a touchstone and a starting point of the conversation, explain what a huge important game it is and why, get them thinking about what interesting things they could try to make. I'll be able to set the agenda with assignments.

 

Mac might not be too big an issue, we could do Parallels or—if it is some kind of memory-hoggy situation—dual boot. I'm definitely thinking about sticking to portable, open tech that kids can take home and continue work on, on their PCs or whatever.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

But it is also an art program, so it is my responsibility to educate them about how to think critically about video games and artistic applications of systems in general. I'm definitely going to have to (drag my PS3 in and) show them Noby Noby Boy, Journey; (steam up and show) Gone Home, Thirty Flights of Loving, Papers Please, Proteus, etc; things like Minecraft I seriously doubt they'll need to be introduced to, but maybe I can use it as a touchstone and a starting point of the conversation, explain what a huge important game it is and why, get them thinking about what interesting things they could try to make. I'll be able to set the agenda with assignments.

 

There was actually a game that game out a while ago that starts out 2D zelda style game, then morphs into a turn based RPG, then becomes 3D.  I can't remember the name of it (I'll edit this post if I can find it), but it could be a cool way of showing off how games have evolved over the years.

 

Edit: Found it!  Main site here.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

On the teaching side (because I can't program at all and have never tried), just do your best to remember that middle schoolers are at a point where they feel like adults and will get really resentful of anyone who doesn't treat them like that. Be frank with them, be honest, and don't talk down. If you go in thinking of "these kids" you're starting at a loss. You'll need to explain yourself a lot, of course, because they simply don't know a lot of these things, but if you act like you're explaining it to a kid they'll get frustrated with you. Honestly, kids that age are super fun because as long as you can explain yourself thoroughly, they're easy to collaborate with. Think of yourself as facilitator, not "teacher" (whatever that is), and you're on the right track.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That is my plan! Absolutely no talking down. I hope to keep any rigid top-down instruction to a minimum. I'm there to show them some neat games they may not have experienced before, get them thinking critically about them, and help them figure out how to make things like those games themselves.

 

Right now they're still quite amorphous in my mind so "these kids" is the best I have to call them. Lately I've been hanging out with some artists and theater peeps who're about half-a-dozen-or-so years younger than me and calling them "kids" even though they're fully-formed human beings, peers and colleagues. I should probably knock that out...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As long as you're not doing it to their face. I talk about "the kids" or "my kids" when I talk about my classes to friends and family, but never use the k-word when I'm talking to them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think I've figured out my first lesson: I'll make them make music! I made a little demo.

 

:woohoo:   :hat1::wtf::miyamoto:     :woohoo:

 

This is quite a lot of fun so far and it hasn't even begun yet. I feel like this might make for a pretty inspired project idea. It would cover all kinds of useful concepts that they can use immediately to make things, let's them do it creatively and is inherently approachable by illustrating in real time through music. I'll walk them through setting it up from the outside in, start with a simple beat and then add things to it. Loops, conditionals, variables, even-odd alternating through modulus, expressive algebra, scope, functional programming, the runtime environment, and some light interface design to round it all off.

 

Do you think it might be too much for a bunch of 11-14yos who might never have thought about programming at all before? I feel like the likeliness that few if any of them have made music before makes for a net positive. I mean, I've never made music before and that little demo surprisingly doesn't suck as much as it should... but then again, I know how to program... I wonder how good these kids are at math and if this math-looking stuff will scare them.

 

Also I am kinda looking forward to the cacophony of this classroom. :ancient:

 

Scratch is a pretty badass environment for teaching programming too. The only shortcoming I found is that I wish it had boolean variables, or some kind of notion of string truthiness, and didn't make you go through the trouble of comparing integers/vaguely typeless strings to 1.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now