The Art of Game Making was the first workshop I created and facilitated when I joined Digital Society School, back in February 2023. I have had the opportunity of facilitating it during 4 semesters, and it was made mandatory for all trainees in 2024. The workshop introduces trainees to game design and challenges them to create a cardboard game prototype in just half a day.
What fascinates me about this workshop is that while most trainees participating have never created a game before, all groups consistently manage to create a new kind of game prototype or concept.
I aim to keep my workshops interactive by leading with questions and conversations among participants. I believe learning from each other is one of the most engaging ways to learn.
I begin with an introduction to the history of games and gaming, along with key definitions of games and gamification.
To ensure trainees get into the game designer spirit, I incorporate activities and exercises that spark their creativity and analysis skills. For example, they might pitch a toy idea in under a minute or be able to break down the type, genre, requirements and rules of existing games to understand its core.
For the game factory part of the workshop, where they get to design and prototype their own game with very simple material available in DSS’ clubhouse. I encourage them to iteratively prototype and test, even with simple paper version, as play testing reveals much more about the game experience. They also have the opportunity to seek feedback from other teams and people within the clubhouse to refine their prototypes. During that time, I go around the clubhouse to check on each team’s progress and guide them through their challenges, or add some challenge to their creative process.
Finally, trainees present their ideas and prototypes, explaining the gameplay while demonstrating it. What makes it even more exciting, is having the trainees test each other's games to spark more inspiration. In recent iterations, I've introduced feedback sheets where participants share one aspect they appreciated about each prototype and one suggestion for improvement.
To add an extra challenge, I always assign a specific theme for the games they create.