How to teach #artsed w/ #videogames using @GamestarMech & @edmodo Day2 #macul12 #ncties12

Another fun day using the great web site Gamestar Mechanic where my students are learning about basic video game design concepts - such as rules and modifying the rules.

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The great thing about the site is as the games get a bit more complicated, they are introduced to levels where they need to "repair" a broken level

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As the students play through their levels, they are highly engaged and excited - not to mention extremely frustrated when they can't beat a level or they get that instant gratification for completing a level and earning "sprites" and awards for their own video game

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To help the students learn about modifying a game and learning how to create their own, the students helped me modify a game they are used to: Hopscotch. And a fun thing to do with the kids is when they complete a level, I reward them a badge on Edmodo

And if you would like to make your own video game with Gamestar Mechanic, check out my previous post with instructions, lesson plan and student samples

Black Water Middle's Video Game Arcade commercial

This is a commercial that I made utilizing Imovie and Jaycut which promotes my website mrgsgames.blogspot.com

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The commercial is intended to promote the work of my students, and to let other people out there know how easy it is to create a video game utilizing the free site of gamestarmechanic.com. 

And in case you haven't realized it yet, the style of this video was really inspired by 1980's BMX commercials and old school wrestling promos. I hope you enjoy it, play my students' games and make your own using Gamestar Mechanic

I think you can easily see my inspiration from this vintage "Monsters of Rock N Roar" commercial. The theme song is STILL stuck in my head after 20 years!

Play these Art Video Games on my Black Water Middle School Blogger site

CLICK RIGHT HERE (or check out the banner that I created this morning) so that you can play some of the games that my students created using Gamestar Mechanic. One student has made a game that is close to having three hundred people from around the world that have played it this past week alone.

See the full gallery on Posterous

http://mrgsgames.blogspot.com/

Create your own video game like this one on Game Star Mechanic

You can check out this game that I created below by using the awesome web 2.0 tool, Gamestar Mechanic. It isn't the greatest game in the world, but the fact that I could create one and post it on the internet to share is pretty amazing, and why I am looking forward to teaching this to my students next week.

 

What is great about Gamestar, is that it is well balanced between playing, learning and creating. The site ACTUALLY encourages its users to play the video games through their tutorials called "Quest." The Quest is a little story that has the look and feel of a Japanese Manga, but as you play the game, you begin to learn the basics of video game design and you unlock characters and items to include in your games.

In FACT, you can't even publish your game until you complete all five episodes. So, as a teacher, I feel that this is a great (and free) tool to use with my students. Some of the games may be a little simple and cheesy, and the kids may be a bit frustrated that they can't import/create their own characters, items, music or backgrounds, BUT it is an excellent way for your students to create something utilizing 21st century skills, heavily bound by STEM standards, read comics while they learn and share their work on the internet for the world to play.

And coming from a gamer's perspective, for someone who grew up with a Nintendo Enterntainment System in their home as a kid and has since gone through the several generations of video game consoles, I think is a great way to hook the students into their own interests. If you have a student that is interested on some day creating their own games, check this one out to just get used to the whole theory and practice behind game design, but if you really want to get crazy with video game programming, then I would recommend Scratch (which is a bit more complicated)