Whatever you think about computer games, making computer games is a creative process just as writing a story or painting a picture. All creative efforts require a substantial degree of intuition, logic, problem solving and fun. It is fair to say that we can learn and develop a range of skills from anything we create from scratch. Moreover making computer games are a good way of getting children interested in topics that they may not normally choose to spend time involving themselves in. Creating computer games can entice children to stretch their creativity and their intelligence. It is also making a tentative start on diversifying the ICT content taught in out classroom and it may even stimulate an interest in developing their own more complex games later on. In this week’s sessions we have been exploring Gamemaker - the light version. Students were initially asked to create a game following the onscreen tutorial. This gave them hands on experience of the game making process, and it allowed them to learn the tools of the application as they progressed.
In the main they were successful in creating a basic game. Some were more creative from the outset, only following the tutorial when they needed help. It was interesting to see how their games differed when they were asked to just write suggestions of the progression of their game, outlining what improvements they would make to their original game with only the limitations of their creativity to stop them. I introduced them to Tim Rylands today too so hopefully he will inspire them to persevere in their voyage of discovery in the gaming in education process.
