Protected: Game Design: Teaching & Developing
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A Cool and Almost-Serious Game
Communication through visualization is an interest of mine, so I was very intrigues by the concept of the game, Metrico, by Digital Dreams (for PS Vita, not my preferred platform. A puzzle game, players have to navigate a world of infographic-inspired shapes, which change in response to their movements. Each level is a different approach … Read more A Cool and Almost-Serious Game
Learn About Natural Selection: Play a Game
Are you one of those strange people who like to eat moths? (As a vegetarian, I’ll pass.) Perhaps not a typical dish on your celebratory table, but birds like them. And if you are trying to teach kids the concept of natural selection, they can be a good way to do so. Digital Glass, an … Read more Learn About Natural Selection: Play a Game
Dragon Box+: Algebra Made Easy?
Confession time: math in all its forms (algebra, geometry, calculus, trig) was not my strong suit in high school. I had some great teachers, but it was an incomprehensible blur. Algebra has slowly come into focus in adulthood. (Sine, cosine, etc.: still a mystery.) So it was with interest and some hesitation that I decided … Read more Dragon Box+: Algebra Made Easy?
Gamification: Not Always Evil
“Gamification” has become a bad, bad word in a lot of circles. If you are getting an MA in Serious Games, for example, your fellow students will likely be horrified that game elements have been co-opted in pursuit of commercial gain. (Except, perhaps, when it is a game design company designing games in pursuit of … Read more Gamification: Not Always Evil
Games as Journalism
The idea of using games for journalism isn’t intuitive — games feel inherently biased and sometimes frivolous. But games can be an ideal way of teaching about complex concepts. Wired Magazine developed Cutthroat Capitalism a few years ago at the height of headlines regarding piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The game has pretty simple … Read more Games as Journalism
Gettin’ Into the Book
I recently spent some time playing the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board’s game, Into the Book. The game, developed in conjunction with Wisconsin Public TV and others, is designed to increase reading comprehension among K-3 students. It is a well-done series of fun activities (even for me, and I’m way outside the K-3 range) crafted around … Read more Gettin’ Into the Book
Thinkers
At the Meaningful Play conference last week I had the pleasure of seeing the game Don’t Kill the Cow. Don’t Kill the Cow is a serious game developed by students at the University of Miami in Ohio. It is really simple, but raises some interesting moral questions since the game goal and good moral behavior … Read more Thinkers
Intention
Apparently, it is all about the intention. Re-Mission is a video game for young people battling cancer. The teen “becomes” Roxxi the nanobot, whose mission is to destroy cancer cells and prevent the spread of cancer. Developed by HopeLab, with support from a boatload of impressive organizations, Re-Mission is designed to be a fun, engaging … Read more Intention
Stuff Worth Checking Out
Can Inspire make high school chemistry comprehensible? A cool new “intelligent” textbook uses AI to make dense topics more accessible. IA beats AI. Thoughtful TED Talk by Shyam Sankar on human-computer symbiosis. Inside the Haiti Earthquake. A simulation that lets students experience the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and make strategic decisions about how to … Read more Stuff Worth Checking Out