Oddventurous Gaming: Play the Game, Be the Game!

About

We all play games; it’s one of the most popular leisure activities in the UK. Whether it’s playing video games or board games or even physical games; participating in them can help spark curiosity and develop important critical thinking & problem solving skills as well as address whatever issues the designer originally intended. This workshop aims to teach pupils key concepts of games design. Developed in collaboration with Disney and Playniac the Digital Schoolhouse brings knowledge from the games industry into the classroom.

Pupils begin the workshop by becoming the game themselves. Cat On Yer Head is a game designed to be played with large groups of people, and pupils use this to set the context for the day and explore the key principles of games design for themselves.

The pupils will then move into developing their own game idea, using an iterative design process. After jotting down their initial ideas pupils will play Disney’s Oddventure Land before attempting to deconstruct the game and identify its key components.

While using Disney’s Oddventure Land as a source for inspiration pupils will be encouraged to develop their skills with GameMaker through a series of challenges. Once their game has been made, peer evaluations and feedback is used to evaluate and modify the game further before a final Show & Tell allows pupils to showcase their learning at the end of the day. 

If you have any questions about the workshop, please get in touch with the team: dsh@ukie.org.uk

Guidance for teachers

Suitable for: Key stage 2 (KS2), key stage 3 (KS3)

Our resources are created with you and your students in mind. Not only are they outside-the-box, creative and brain-boosting fun, but we always ensure our content stays relevant. Our network of academic masterminds and video games practitioners enable us to keep delivering free content that is aligned to the UK computing curriculum and that is relevant to current industry best practice. We think you're going to love our play-based approach to Computer Science. We've even got the evidence to prove it. 

Download your lesson resources at the bottom of the page. If you're a Lead Teacher of a certified Schoolhouse, you can access the adaptable resources by logging in.


Documents

Oddventurous Gaming: Play the Game, Be the Game! Workshop Pack

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Oddventurous Gaming 2019.zip
Spiffys Adventure.gmx_.zip
Spiffys Adventure 2.gmx_.zip
Spiffys Adventure 3.gmx_.zip
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