GDC ’16: How to Turn a Teacher into a Game Designer

Posted on Aug 29, 2016 in Games, Learning
GDC ’16: How to Turn a Teacher into a Game Designer

This is my talk from the 2016 Game Developers Conference. It was part of a panel called Teaching with Games 3: Another Six Exercises in Play. My talk focuses on an exercise we used as part of Institute of Play’s TeacherQuest program. After a basic introduction to modding games with tic-tac-toe, educators are given a constraint and asked to prototype a new game based on Musical Chairs. Why Musical Chairs? Watch to find out.

I was honored to present with these other amazing Game Designers and Educators: John Sharp, Colleen Macklin, Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, Robin Hunicke, Nicholas Fortugno, Mia Consalvo, and Paolo Pedercini.

Here’s the panel description:
One of our best tools for teaching games are games themselves. Name a facet of college-level games education and there is a way to teach it through gameplay. Want to explore continuity and consistency in storytelling? How about shuffling a deck of story cards. Want to think about gender dynamics? Maybe run a street game mod around gender stereotypes. Building on the success of the last two years, six educators will each introduce one classroom exercise they use to teach a different facet of games. The talks span design, programming, art, criticism and even teaching itself.