A Serious Game Jam with BrainPOP, MouseSQUAD and Global Kids!
Posted by Andrew Gardner on
On February 13th, BrainPOP was thrilled to host student leaders from Global Kids and Mouse Squad for a “serious game jam” at BrainPOP Headquarters. During the 2 hour event, student leaders from Global Kids led a “grow a game” activity that encouraging their peers to consider the role of values in the games they know and love. Next, in small groups, students playtested and manipulated “Buckets” a new categorization and relationship assessment game that we’re developing here at BrainPOP. The student input was phenomenal, they provided all sorts of creative ideas for how to change the mechanics, data and interface to make the game more fun, effective and useful for the classroom.
At BrainPOP we host events like this for a number of reasons. First of all it’s wonderful to provide opportunity for students to learn about the process of game design from professionals in the field. Second it’s great for our designers at BrianPOP to get authentic feedback and suggestions directly from the most important members of our audience: students! You can’t build a successful game without concrete feedback from your audience. Finally, it’s through events like this that connect students, teachers, parents, and professionals with shared interests around a common goal. We thank the staff and students from the terrific non-profit organizations MouseSQUAD and Global Kids for making this event positive for everyone involved.
Click the link for photographs from the event!
