ps288 final project

 

APR Game Tournament / Culmination

Culminating Tournament Play-By-Play

1st 5 minutes of class: 

Time to set up your game and make sure your Rules are written clearly

Move to different games - 30 minutes

Read the rules and figure out how to play the game in front of you - if you finish early, your group gets to come up with alternative/additional rules to make the game more challenging

*in smaller classes (5 or fewer games) have each group do alternative rules - add 2 to 5 minutes for this portion

Entire group moves to a new game once 5 minutes are up - continue till most of the games are sampled - 6 games max for time to process. Once this portion is finished, groups head back to their own games for the final part of our session.

Final Round - 10 minutes

Questions each team must answer to select their snack prizes:

1. Name 1 thing that you love about your game and 1 thing you would do differently next time.

2. Name 1 thing you enjoyed about this program and 1 thing that didn't work for you

3. Name something you would have liked to do that we didn't get to?

Game Design 3+4 @APR Making it in Real Time

Day 3 Process:

With the materials provided, everyone works together in their group to begin laying out the structure of the game and its environment. Use construction paper shapes to help cover your board and create structure quickly - once the main structures are laid out, then more sophisticated details can be added. 

***Remember, playability is more important then your game being pretty***

Here is the teaching artists + admin team's version after 1 @45 minute session:

Here you can see details starting to be added, and the next layer of clarity about how to play the game being added as well. There are now clear spaces, distinct moods for each world and an X marks the spot where players pick up essential life experiences they will need before they can enter the NYC floating in the middle (where we all came from, and where we all have met).

Detail shots of each world:

Day 4 Process:

Game pieces, cards, dice etc will be available to give your games a test drive - all final details need to be worked out and a page of rules must be finished for us to begin playing your games without you for our culminating session next week.

Social Justice Posters @PS4 3rd - 5th grade

To make a poster about an issue we believe in, first we must answer these questions:

1. What do humans need to live a happy, healthy, full life?

2. What kinds of things can we think of, that we see gets in the way of being able to live that happy, full life?

3. As a class, what kind of message would we like to send - in the form of a poster - about what is important and why we should protect it?

Day 1 - Come up with a subject and a plan

Day 2 - Decide who is in charge of making which parts + make them!

Day 3 - Finish our pieces + put them together into one final poster design

Game Design 2/4 @APR World Building

Day 2: Intersections + Map Making

Look at different kinds of Board Game play styles, pathways

Some basic gameplay structures:

1. 4 pathways heading to the same destination - different worlds heading to the same outcome

2. Interwoven pathways/maze with 4 distinct world components

3. Shutes and ladders style, ascending through various terrain - portals or doorways are important

4. ?

Get into groups + draft initial components

Core rule requirements to be considered:

1. How do players move/pass between worlds/escape obstacles

2. How does this game incorporate cards with personal experiences from everyone on the team into gameplay?

3. What needs to happen for the game to be concluded? What is the goal of the game and how is it achieved?

Present a rough sketch/map of your groups intended game by the end of class - like the first drawing below:

Game Design 1/4 @APR Brainstorm

Day 1: Life Journey/Personal Reflection/Brainstorm

Main goal for today is to have notes that respond to each of these 3 main questions/concepts for a board game that might be an exploration of your life. Don't worry about whether things are good or important enough - just write everything down, so you have more resources to play with later.

1. Environment Design

+ What environments describe our life? Are there multiple? 

+ Do you want to build a game based on your life out of real/literal things? Or are there symbolic landscapes that feel more evocative?

+ What are some possible landscapes we could us to describe our experiences? (An airplane taking us to different countries, a treasure map, a moon landing, a river?)

2. Obstacles - things in our lives that slow us down or force us to deviate in our path

+ What is an obstacle? What are some ways they might manifest in someone's life?

+ What obstacles have we faced, or expect we might have to come up against at some point?  

+ What could we use to represent those obstacles? (Anxiety Monsters, Walls, Sisyphus etc)

3. Pathways through Life

+ What does your path look like? Smooth? Rocky? Like a maze, a garden, a golden brick road, a stairway to heaven? What are some different kinds of pathways?

+ What support structures exist in your life? (Family, friends, religion, sports, time/coming of age/future plans?)

+ What could we use to represent them? (bridges, helping hands, ladders, time warps?)

+ What are your goals? (To get through High School, to become an adult, to pass regents, to know yourself?)