Summary
In this lesson, students will build the basic structure of their game. To support student autonomy, a Problem-Solving Board will be established to develop a community of experts that will support students to identify and solve common problems as they develop their games.
Curriculum codes
Digital Technologies: AC9TDI4P02 AC9TDI6P02 AC9TDI6P03
Mathematics (Number / Algebra): AC9M3N07 AC9M4N09 AC9M5N010 AC9M6A03
General capabilities
Digital Literacy: Creating and exchanging
Numeracy: Number sense and algebraic thinking
Critical and Creative thinking: Generating
Learning intention
In this lesson, you will create a prototype of your video game and learn to share your game development problems and solutions with others.
Prerequisites
- Lessons 1 to 4 need to be completed before prototyping work can commence.
- Visual and audio design can be in development whilst the game prototype is being built.
What you need
- Hardcopies of the Problem Recording worksheet.
- Push pins or blu-tac, if using a physical problem-solving board.
- Students will need access to their Game Planner from lesson 3 and Game Design Document (GDD).
Before the lesson
If creating a physical Problem-Solving Board (for example, on a display board), prepare the board by dividing it into three equal sections. Add the headings: Problems, Solutions! and Resources to label each section.
If creating a digital Problem-Solving Board (for example, in Padlet), set up your device with a space for posting Problems, Solutions! and Resources. Use the question prompts in the Problem Recording worksheet to set up your digital board. If students will be using anonymous accounts, ask them to sign their comment with their team’s name.
Activities
Introduction (10 mins)
- Tell teams that in this lesson they will begin to build a prototype of their video game.
- Explain that a prototype is like a first draft. They will use the skills they have learnt in the unit so far to begin building their game and continue to add to this over the coming weeks.
- Remind teams that building a video game can be tricky at times, so they will find problems that they might need help to solve.
- Show the students the Problem-Solving Board.
- Explain that teams should post problems they need help solving onto the Problem-Solving Board in the Problem section.
Teacher tip: Teams should use the Problem Recording worksheet to record problems as they arise.
- Explain that when they have solved the problem, they should update their post with details of how they solved their problem and move it to the Solved! part of the Problem-Solving Board.
- Discuss the Resources section of the Problem-Solving Board and encourage teams to add any resources they find that could help to solve future problems.
- What are some problems that could happen as you develop your game? Think about the student robot we programmed in lesson 6.
Main Activity (40 mins)
- Tell teams to use their Game Planner worksheet they created in lesson 3 to develop their prototype.
Teacher tip: Five minutes before reflection time, remind teams to record any problems they need help solving.
Reflection/Sharing Tasks (5-10 mins)
- Discuss any problems that are on the Problem-Solving Board (it’s okay if there are no problems).
- Ask how teams can find solutions to the problems identified. For example, they could ask a friend or look at the example games.