So, for the next half a year or so, I’ve decided to really focus on game design. And I figured, for a blog that’s been exclusively ID since its inception, it may seem a little weird to suddenly have games popping up; so it’s worth exploring why. Games and gamification are some of the newer buzzwords in LXDesign, along with augmented reality and virtual reality. And all of these are sort of related.
As I’ve explored several times this season on Dear Instructional Designer, there is a tension between IDs being asked to do ALL THE THINGS, and the need to make time for learning, and all of the competencies involved in learning the technical things we’re asked to do such as video creation and infographic creation and audio editing, and everything. And here’s another thing to learn. But it’s also at the intersection between my desire to practice coding and my desire to build stories. I also really, really think that it’s important to be able to create “good” games, not just copying any old thing, slapping the word “game” on it and not knowing anything about the underlying theories and ideas.
So, as I try to encourage others to do, I’m making a lot of small games as practice and putting them out into the world. The other thing that I’m thinking more and more about is moving beyond the typical authoring tools and using other, open source tools and frameworks for learning object creation for better sustainability and a different look. Right now, I’m focusing primarily on Phaser JS, but I’m also thinking about trying out creating “elearn-y” content in tools like Twine and, eventually, I also want to try out Unity for 3D games and VR experiences. As someone who wants to focus more and more on the development side(s) of our work, games are a great progression for me and I’m learning so much. Now my next step is to try and get my games out in front of more people for testing and feedback.
What are you guys working on?