Course: Beginning Gaming Educator's Toolkit

Skip Course Menu

	General Information Why use video game design in the classroom? Example 1: I teach a computer class and I'm looking for new ways to engage my students and teach them skills like programming, design and troubleshooting. I use or would like to use the project based learning model for my classroom. Example 2: I teach a core subject and some students especially boys have trouble being excited about the content I'm teaching. I know that they love video games and if I could tap into that interest I think that they would learn a lot more. Before you start a game design course or use game design as a unit within another course you may want to familiarize yourself with the issues surrounding video games. Texasgames Links for Gaming Educators file GameDev.net file Gamasutra file IGN file GamesRadar.com file Gamespot file GameSpy file

This topic 1	Choose Software That Fits Your Needs One of the first things you will need to do is choose what software you will be using in the game design process. There are quite a few choices on the market today, you may want to consider the following when making your choice. Price (How much do you have to spend on this project?) Available materials for the software (help features, guides, forums, tutorials) Student reaction to software (do the students think it's easy to use?) Resource packs included with the software (are sprite libraries included?) Flexibility of software (can it be learned easily yet be powerful enough to continue to challenge students?) Top Game Design Software Choices ClickTeam: The Games Factory 2 & Multimedia Fusion 2 text file TexasGames ClickTeam Tutorials file The Daily Click file ClickTeam Education Network text file Texasgames.net Review of The Games Factory 2 & Multimedia Fusion 2 by Caleb Gentry Pros- Simple interface, sprite libraries included, excellent support from ClickTeam, online education community, GUI interface adaptable for any age yet remains challenging. Cons- Cost is higher (although very reasonable) than other similar products, no built in access to programming language. Step through feature from previous version removed. RPG Maker VX from Enterbrain file Texasgames.net Review of RPG Maker VX by Caleb Gentry Pros- Simple interface, sprite libraries included, online community, GUI interface adaptable for any age yet remains challenging. Cost is very reasonable and educational pricing is offered through Protexis (about an $18 discount as of 3/09). Direct access to Ruby scripting is offered through the user interface so if you are looking to teach text based coding RPG Maker VX may be the right choice for your class. Cons- Compared to previous editions of RPG Maker this version only allows for a limited number tile sets. However the existing sets are extensive and one blank set is provided. YoYo Games: Game Maker file TexasGames Game Maker Tutorials file Game Maker Tutorials file Game Maker Tutorials from Luke Harrison file Texasgames.net review of Construct by Caleb Gentry Pros- You can't beat the price (Free)! The interface is fairly simple and yet flexible enough to handle more complex programming. The graphics capabilities of Construct are excellent by utilizing the Microsoft Direct X 9 graphics engine effects such as motion blurs, lighting effects and realistic physics are possible. Cons- Although there is a significant user community behind Construct there are not as many educators using the software as compared to the ClickTeam products or Game Maker. One downside of Construct is the lack of built in sprite libraries. Construct file Construct Tutorials file GameCore Indie file Kodu file Other Game Design Software Torque Game Builder file XNA file Microsoft Dreamspark Program (XNA for Free) file Torque from GarageGames file Scratch file Untested Software Resource Game Design Software for the Mac (New!) Stagecast (Mac and PC) file Game Building Tools for the Mac (Power Game Factory, Torque, iTGB, Unity) file GameSalad Creator file