that workshop proposal i submitted back in june? it was accepted! if you're going to big bad con, come check out my session on making game design accessible to all students. i'll talk about our class & then we'll make some games! www.bigbadcon.com/events/teach...
solidarity! i feel the same way about people using regency, victorian and edwardian interchangeably 😩
last year when i asked my students to include the name of a game in their winter break game journal, they had *no idea* what i was talking about. only one student did the legwork (with her dad) to find the creator of uno. its exciting that designers might get more name recognition soon!
Painting is the Crucifixion Diptych, Rogier Van der Weyden at the Philadelphia Museum of Art!
studying art history and saw this piece at the PMA. its size and placement at the end of the hall, along with the dramatic color and composition, stopped me in my tracks. its both perfectly medieval and strangely modern. got an A on that paper and its still one of my favorites.
How to make magic feel magical? Fairy tale magic tends to affect the *mechanisms* of an action rather than the result. It enchants a broom to sweep, a cauldron to produce food - it doesn't instantaneously clean something or conjure food from nothing.
a game i invented for walking around the city: observe the people you pass on the sidewalk. each person who is NOT holding a phone in their hands is worth 1 point. when you pass someone with a phone, start over at 0. keep track of your highest score. can you get past 10?
cracked the code on introducing theme: "you are a [character] who wants to get to the [objective]. to get there you must avoid the [obstacle], [obstacle] and [obstacle]." concepts included haunted houses, everest expeditions, sports and one game in which you play as a dead rat! 🐀🪦
ah yes, the "sugar coated broccoli" approach. luckily there are many people in the games for learning world who don't feel that way!
"why is game design a class anyway???" some kids are really resistant to "weird" stuff in school, ie anything that isnt the usual history, math, science, reading. because its fun and cool and design thinking is super useful, that's why!