Learning Games and Game Building

Workshop Description

Games can be powerful tools to enhance your teaching and research. In this session we will explore the hows and whys of game-based learning, guided by real-world examples. We will introduce core principles of game design and best practices to craft meaningful game experiences for students, showcasing a variety of game-building tools. Our hands-on component will focus on building and publishing games with Twine, a free, open-source tool for creating text-based games and hypertext narratives: you will learn how to approach a game project from concept to creation.

What to expect

Why Games? Explore the educational impact of games, with real-world examples of pedagogical games and innovative game-based assignments. Game Design 101: Learn foundational principles and best practices to craft meaningful, memorable experiences for your students. Twine in Action: Dive into Twine, the free, open-source tool for building interactive, text-based games and hypertext narratives! We’ll guide you step-by-step from concept to creation.

  • Why Games? Explore the educational impact of games, with real-world examples of pedagogical games and innovative game-based assignments.
  • Game Design 101: Learn foundational principles and best practices to craft meaningful, memorable experiences for your students.
  • Twine in Action: Dive into Twine, the free, open-source tool for building interactive, text-based games and hypertext narratives! We’ll guide you step-by-step from concept to creation.

About Twine

  • Twine is an open-source tool for creating interactive fiction, text-based games, and hypertext narratives
  • Twine has a no-code editor that uses simple markup, shows connections between passages as a network, and can be used in browser or as a standalone application
  • Twine games are stored in a markup language called Twee and can be edited in a text editor
  • Twine is designed to emphasize interactivity (user-input, randomness, variables)
  • Story format options change syntax and functionality
    • Harlowe - default format (this what we are using for this workshop).
    • Other options: Chapbook (beginner-friendly), SugarCube, Snowman (advanced)

Workshop authors: Cameron Boucher, Liz Hogrefe, Alice McGrath, Roberto Vargas