Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Hopefully, you will never have to do that much running around or explain your
drinking habits. You will discover, however, that no matter how well you
'
ve
'
planned and tested, tweaking will be necessary. I would guess you
ve faced
similar situations
—
for example, when students have challenged a test ques-
tion
—
so don
'
t worry too much about it. Just be prepared. It will happen.
The key is to be flexible. Expect the unexpected. Modify. Fine-tune. Have a
backup plan, if possible. But even if you don
t, be prepared to be creative in real-
time as all of those expectant, engaged players stare at you. For me, these are
some of the most invigorating design challenges I
'
'
ve faced. And I firmly believe
that if you
ve done your homework up front, you know the game better than
anyone in that classroom. You will find an answer that may be even better than
what you had originally planned.
'
Postmortem
Yes, believe it or not,
s true, the class is almost over. Now comes your
opportunity to listen and learn. Video game developers have borrowed a term
from forensic pathology to describe this final step in the life of a game. It
it
'
s been
released. Players have played it and reacted. Critics have weighed in. Sales trends
are clear. All that remains is reflection.
'
Decisions that were made are re-examined. Results are appraised. And the canny
game designer is one who learns from the past in order to do better in the future.
I
m willing to bet you may want to design another class as a game, or at least
repeat the one just completed. The experience hopefully has been as much fun
for you as it has been for me.
'
My last day of class has always been a postmortem. I take a pen and a pad of paper,
and I ask the students to weigh in on their experience. You
'
ve seen the results of this
throughout the stories of multiplayer classrooms that I
ve
learned more from these postmortems than I did from the formal teacher evaluation
sheets the student filled out. Some of their suggestions worked well; some not so well.
But all were worth considering, because they came from my players.
'
ve shared with you. I
'
You will probably have specific questions of your own. Did you like the awards?
Were the quest presentations fun to do? Do you think you learned as much from
presentations given by your peers, as you would have from a teacher?
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