1. All About Designing your own Game
Jeff Bush
Scalable Game Design
University of Colorado

2. Why Game Design? Motivates students
Enables students to see themselves as ‘programmers’
Produces Computational Thinking Skills
Enables students to understand and create simulations
Creates Problem Solvers

3. Why Design your own Game (DYOG)?
Empowers students by valuing their ideas
Teaches them they can be creative, have fun, and solve hard problems
Enables students to see programming as more than following instructions
Produces Computational Thinking Skills in different contexts
Creates Problem Solvers

4. Game/Agent Design Tools
Several tools on the Wiki to help
Agent Design Handout (can be used in other games too)
Agent design online
Game design tool
Feel free to mix and match to suit your teaching style
Stay tuned for more resources to come
Rubric
Complete game design unit worksheets/handouts
Examples from other teachers

5. Start with a description of your story
Consider different conditions and actions to spark new ideas.
Describe what will happen in the game.
Which agents will be user-controlled
When will the game end…

6. Your story
Have students come up with a paragraph that describes their story. Tell them that it is a work in progress but the initial story is a good starting point.
What are the NOUNS of this description?
Which are agents and which are shapes?

7. NOUNS = AGENTS (and shapes)
You are a frog. Your task is simple: hop across a busy highway, dodging cars and trucks who come out of (and go back into) tunnels, until you get to the edge of a river, where you must keep yourself from drowning by crossing safely to your grotto at the top of the screen by leaping across the backs of turtles and logs.

8. Agent Deign
This process applies to guided discovery agent design for any type of game
Have students write out what agents and shapes (depictions) are in their game and describe the behavior
Have them try to identify CTPs for each agent
Have them describe the agent’s interaction with other agents

9. Let’s Jump In Open AgentCubesOnline.com
Enter your name/password and login
Click on NEW PROJECT
Save your file as FROGGER

10. Create your agents
10 minutes
End

11. Now design your game board

12. What are your VERBS VERBS are ACTIONS ACTIONS are CTPs
Have them highlight the verbs in their stories, these are the actions/CTPs
Challenge them to have a variety of CTPs in their story

13. End Create your behaviors Have them turn their verbs into behaviors
They will likely realize that they need more/different agents and keep revising the game until they have it right
10 minutes
End

14. Challenge Activities Multiple levels Push them to use new CTPs
Pair them up to brainstorm new extension ideas
Ask them what they they feel comfortable programming and what they don’t, challenge them to push their comfort level
Have them add layers to make it 3D

15. Play Time!!!! Play each other's games
give some positive feedback
Suggestions for potential extensions or improvements
Spend some time working on revisions
Talk with your table about how you for see teaching this. Be prepared to share
What problems/hurdles do you expect?
What do you see as the major value/assets of designing your own game?