GAME ON! Festival Wrap Up

Game On! Well it certainly was Saturday 29 October at Macquarie Uni. The kids came, saw and conquered many awesome events on the day.

Indie game developers came to showcase their games. They answered questions about things like the gaming industry and what it is like starting your own development company. It gave kids a rare opportunity to hear the stories from the real, grass roots level people in the Games Industry. Kids were observed sitting with these developers asking questions playing their games and getting an understanding of what happens behind the scenes. In the same area kids with parents were seen trying to out-do one another in the Retro Gaming Hub. One dad kept coming back several times to the Space Invaders pod to see if he still had the high score lol! “Yep, still got it” he muttered as he surreptitiously cut through the expectant crowd.

Retro gaming in action!

Zombies!!!!! Who wouldn’t want to be a zombie or have the chance to nerf one? The Live Action Zombie Nerf Tag Game drew the crowds. The sizzle of nerf bullets and groans of the pained, walking dead got the heart racing from even the position of the innocent spectators. Definitely a must for all gamers and even noobs. Fun for all ages, even the 6 year old girl who had to show her older brother how to reload the nerf gun and cock the firing pin. Her delicate little voice saying “You put the bullet in here and you pull the hammer back here, see.” was heart warming heart.

Zombies - looking for brains!

Nerf gun distribution - to the humans!

Let’s not forget the Massively Minecraft rooms. Experienced miners, small miners, big miners and soon to be miners all lent forward in build pose thoroughly immersed in digging building and blowing stuff up. Well, who doesn’t like the last bit? Cudos to the Massively Minecraft mob for providing a safe and educational environment for all involved. Success could be best gauged by the amount of children being dragged from the rooms just before closing by their parents kicking and screaming “Five more miiinaaaarts! Come on pleeeeease.” If only school was this addictive.

The crew from Good Game Spawn Point descend on miners at MacICT

Mining in Massively Minecraft was a huge attraction

There was game designing speed challenges using Microsoft’s Kodu Game Lab with the chance to win awesome prizes on the day. Everyone got in on that act. Even some, what looked to be, ‘experienced gamers’ were in there showing a dab hand at creating their best efforts at Kodu Battlefield and Kodu-COD.

Girls competing in the Kodu rapid prototyping speed challenge

The info session were well attended by parents, teachers, academics and other ring ins.The teachers kicked it off with their session, “We Play, We Design, We Learn” Thanks to Alice Leung, Joanne Cologan, Peter Robson and Simon Hutchison were happy to share their experiences around games and game design in their classrooms. They were followed by two boys from Gordon East Public School who gave an excellent presentation about what they have learnt from designing games in their classroom.

Joanne Cologon “We play, we design, we learn”     Alice Leung “We play, we design, we learn”    Peter Robson “We play, we design, we learn”    Simon Hutchison and the students of Gordon East PS – Game Design Project

The teachers were followed by parent and Massively Minecraft co-founder, Dean Groom who gave people tips on managing children’s gaming habits.

Dean Groom “Managing children’s gaming habits”

After Dean, Professor James Dalziel and lecturer Kate Highfield from Macquarie University gave a very informative session titled, “inside the head of a gamer – what is happening when we play and design games.”

Prof James Dalziel “Inside the head of a gamer”      Kate Highfield “Inside the head of a gamer”

The final info session was delivered by Dr Rowan Tulloch from Macquarie Uni’s new Interactive Media Institute on “So you want to be a game designer? How to break into the video game industry?” Rowan spent some time after his session answering questions from parents of gamers and teachers about the video game design industry.

Dr Rowan Tulloch “So you want to develop video games?”

Gaming advocate, journalist and all round great guy, Goose, and the data analysing robot for the ruthless, extermination of noobs, DARREN from Good Game – Spawn Point made a presentation to a mass of spawnlings and noobs in the MQ Uni Atrium. Goose and DARREN presented some interesting information about games and what makes a good game as well as providing an interesting Q&A session at the end of their presentation. The kids loved it. It was like a press conference on the outbreak of SARS when a kid from the audience stood and asked “DARREN, how many noobs are there in the world?” Of course his reply was serious, deliberate and speedy when he answered “After considering all the variables and the population of the world currently I estimate there are approximately four billion noobs in the world at this moment.” Priceless.

Goose and DARREN from Good Game Spawn Point wow the crowd!

Budding video game journalists in the crowd

Goose and DARREN entertained the young and young at heart!

Wow! You might say, but that’s not all. Kids also participated in an Xbox Kinect – Dance Central 2 competition and a huge group session of Michael Jackson – The Experience. Around fifty kids were all doing the moves from the famous ‘Thriller’ track as they rotated in front of the Kinect scoring points and moon walking better than the late MJ himself. And what a climax, a dance off between the final two Dance Central top scorers for a Lenovo Idea Pad. A primary school girl versus a high school boy. Seem unfair? We all learned size means nothing on a Kinect playing field. The lead must have changed three times as they sky pumped and twirled their way through the complicated choreography. I have to admit, I had goosebumps in the final moments watching as the youngest competitor came back with vengeance to take the crown.

Gordon East PS students having fun with Kinect Dance Central 2

To top it all off, the gurus of game, Goose and DARREN presented the prizes from the various competitions run on the day rewarding the spawnlings with their just desserts. As a gamer, you can’t get better than that.

Good Game Spawn Point Feature Story: Game On

The awesome team from MacICT who organised the festival were thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day, but were oh so happy and the vibe, excitement and feedback received from so many at the festival.

This is how the MacICT staff felt at the end of the day - notice, we still have a smile on our face.

Indie Developers at Game On!

Nine indie studios showcased their games at the Game On festival. Adults and children were able to play their games, ask questions and get tips ranging from making games to breaking into the video games industry.

Thank you so much to the following developers who came to Game On:

Nnooo, Necromancer, Visual Outbreak, Dinoroar, Bubble Gum Interactive, Alternator, Convict Interactive, Hedgegrove Enterprises and Blowfish Studios.

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A couple of the indie studios were still developing their games. We particularly loved this photo of a message from the makers of Necromancer, James and Brogan. The message reads,

“Hello!

We are James and Brogan.

We are both Game Development students from NSI

We have been up all night coding, so we may look a little tired.

We want to demonstrate the ins and outs of game development,

So we are improving the game right now!

Ask us questions about game programming, games or anything in particular.

We are happy to chat.

James and Brogan

Authentic learning in context – absolutely!

All the developers were so enthusiastic and willing to share their knowledge and not just showcase their games. It was great to see adults and kids so eager to take advantage of this opportunity. A great day was had by all.

We Play, We Design, We Learn – Info Session

At our GAME On: Community Video Game Festival, you will have the opportunity to listen to four innovative teachers who have integrated games and game design into their classroom practise. Hear about why they think video games are relevant in 21st century learning, what they are doing and have the opportunity to ask questions.

When: Saturday 29th October, 2011

When: 10:00am

Where: Macquarie University Library Foyer

 Click here to register for this session.

More about the teachers . . . 

Joanne Cologon, De La Salle College, Caringbah

My Year 9 and 10 Elective classes have been using Gamestar Mechanic and serious games from Games for Change to investigate game design and the game space. The aim is to improve the students’ understanding and use of the Design Process in Technology and Applied Studies and in turn produce higher quality products.

Simon Hutchison, Gordon East Public School

I am a primary school teacher with 17 years experience and a computer coordinator for 10 years. I am a gamer to the core with a passion for finding ways of making teaching and learning more engaging and relevant to students in the 21st century. I am currently teaching students to design games with an environmental message.

Alice Leung, Merrylands High School

Merrylands High School students play Xbox Kinect and iPod games in the classroom and design their own games with Kodu and Aris. Games based learning is currently embedded into the science and PDHPE curriculum as well as Boys Education initiatives. Games design is integrated into the school’s Student Technology Team, a team of 22 students from Years 9-12 who help lead professional learning on 1:1 laptops and games based learning for staff and students.

Peter Robson, Northern Beaches Christian School

At Northern Beaches Christian School, students can sign up to join our online communities in Second Life and/or Minecraft. Both communities are student driven with little input from teachers. These worlds give students the opportunity to be creative, collaborate across the school community and develop interpersonal skills.

We have a number of students, across the year groups, who are leaders in the communities. These students monitor and engage regularly with the virtual worlds. Both communities are considered extensions of the playground and so behaviour expectations are clear. It is amazing to see the creations that students build and the way that these students protect their communities.