Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Remember the midterm prep guild PvP in the
“
Designing Interactive Charac-
ters
class? I changed the rules on the fly. Because the students were involved in
the decision, it passed without incident. They are never too far from concern
about their academic progress. But if they are invested in the game, and
understand that sometimes adjustments must be made, the situation is very
much like on the playground when kickball boundaries need to be adjusted, or
when classes must be postponed on snow days. They are used to it. And in the
latter example, they probably won
�
'
t mind it at all.
Scoring
Maybe it
s just me, but I find grading papers to be one of the least attractive
chores a teacher faces. Yet, depending upon how you
'
ve designed your game, it
becomes even more important. Players expect video games to provide a
running tally of their progress. Whether you use a leaderboard, or rely simply
on a level and XP table in the syllabus, your students will want to know where
they stand. Therefore, and this is the task I
'
'
m worst at, you cannot put off your
grading.
Particularly in my current class, I
m trying desperately not to get too far behind,
because how students do on their assignments will affect the narrative of the
game. New pronouncements from the mysterious being who has summoned
their avatars to the tower somewhere beyond the mountains to the west must be
held up until grades from certain assignments are in. Even without that explicit
tie between performance and story,
'
s imperative to emulate as much as
possible the reward system of a video game. We can
it
'
t match it precisely because
in a video game the tally is immediate, but we must try to be as responsive as
possible to their achievements.
'
A couple of the case histories in this topic describe how accomplishments are
announced regularly, say before the beginning of each class. This is exactly right.
Your gamers expect it.
Staying Flexible
Rules aren
t the only thing that will change during the course of the class.
Outside forces are capricious. Weather doesn
'
re supposed to
teach on a certain day. Snow will fall regardless. The flu can sideline large
'
t care that you
'
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