Fancy yourself as a games designer? Now is your chance to design, create and market your own computer game with great characters and compelling storylines. Your game only has to meet two criteria for your chance to win some great prizes.
It should be an adventure/platform/puzzle game with a story behind it.
The player should be able to control a character and solve a puzzle or collect items to progress to the next level / complete the game.
If you are a pupil at a school in Scotland then you can enter your game in one of four categories:
Primary Individual
Primary Group
Secondary Individual
Secondary Group
Check out some examples and find out more by watching this video.
You can download the high quality mp4 here, or an iPod mp4 here.
When designing and creating your game, and think about
characters and background that will be used in the game
music and sound effects to be used in the game
levels / progression through the game
Use any game creation tool to build your game. For example 2DIY, Scratch, Kodu, Game Maker, SimsCarnival, Greenfoot, Flash, Net Radiant, Unreal Development Kit, Microsoft XNA or any other appropriate platform
Send us the complete game in an email, or a link or on CD/DVD. Make sure you let us know what software you used.
Need some help to get started?
Consolarium Development Officers, Charlie Love and Brian Clark, are available to offer you some assistance. They can be contacted via email (c.love@ltscotland.org.uk and b.clark@LTScotland.org.uk ).
The Final
Successful finalists will be invited to attend the Scottish Learning Festival on the 22nd/23rd September to present their game to a panel of Game Developers and Industry Specialists. A number of great prizes will also be on offer including a tour of the studio at game developers, Denki.
The closing date for all entries is Friday 3rd September 2010
The latest edition of the Consolarium podcast is now available. You can subscribe to the podcast from itunes via this link or listen to it via the embedded player.
Super samba inspired learning in schools!
This edition of the Consolarium podcast is solely dedicated to a project that came to an end just before Christmas 2009. Meldrum PS and Slains PS in Aberdeesnhire had been working with the game Samba de Amigo for the Nintendo Wii. When this game first came out the team at the Consolarium thought that this would have great potential in schools and so it was duly purchased. Here’s what it looks like:
OK, I think that after that clip you may be asking, “How on earth can a game that requires the player to shake out samba rhythms help children learn?” Well it most certainly has. What has been going on?
Samba de Amigo inspires ‘relevant and engaging learning’
The methodology that the Consolarium invariably employs in our approach to game based learning involves the computer game being used as the central ‘contextual hub’ about which learning can be situated. We have used this approach with many of our previous projects and it has proved to be a successful methodology. The teachers involved in this project worked together to create a collaborative story that focused on a rags to riches tale about a favela dwelling samba musician who made it to the big time. Accompanying this came the story of a plane, that was carrying the newly created Samba music superstar, crashing in the Amazon jungle and the associated learning about that. Here is some of the children’s work. Here is a news report of that event:
Some people may still be of the opinion that the idea of game based learning is something that does not sit with what school should be about but we would argue that game based learning, if used appropriately, can excite, challenge and create relevant and appealing contexts for learners. Just look at how writing has been developed here”
The children were inspired to carry out research about the Amazon Rainforest as a result of the “plane crash’ scenario and other ways in which the teachers had created the settings in which intrinsic motivation to explore the topic. Have a read of this piece of writing: The Amazon Rainforest
The children from both schools used Glow to begin to explore how they could work together on story start project. Here is the beginnings of their efforts: Trible Troubles Chapters 1, 2 and 3 If you would like to find out more about how Glow was used then join their Samba de Amigo Glow group.
The children also used Crazy Talk to great effect to bring their writing to life. Here we see how writing about an imaginary Amazonian rainforest creature can be enhanced by this simple piece of technology:
If you take the time to listen to the podcast about the Samba de Amigo project then you’ll here us talking to a pupil about his experience. If we could have written a script for a pupil to read out about the benefits of game based learning then what he said (without coaching or prompting we may add) would have been what we would have said. He talks about his learning connecting up, about it being exciting and active and how he will rmember this project. Great stuff from him. Here is a brief clip of some boys actively involved in the project and warming up for their Samba music creation lesson.
Hopefully the podcast and this brief blogpost will give you a flavour of just how good this GBL project was. A fuller account of what was done and how this GBL context impacted on learning will be released in the near future. In the meantime can we just say thanks to all at Meldrum PS and Slains PS for working with us on this project.
Calling all Jenson Button and Lewis Hamiltons of the future.
Would you like to race head to head, in front of a live audience and win the title of
SLF10 MarioKarter Champion ?
This year at SLF10 there will be a Mario Kart Grand Prix for Primary and Secondary pupils. In order to qualify you must be in the top 4 verified time trial times.
Teachers must submit a photo of a pupil’s verified Time Trial time. These times will be logged on a leader board held on the Consolarium Glow Group and blog so you can track your position against the whole of Scotland. The four fastest primary pupils and four fastest secondary pupils will be invited, with school representatives, to compete in a live race final at SLF10. In order to submit a qualifying time you must run your time trial according to the criteria below.
The character must be
MARIO
The circuit must be
MARIO CIRCUIT
The Kart must be
STANDARD KART
A picture of the complete time trial showing character, kart and time should be forwarded to b.mclaren@ltscotland.org.uk
The four fastest pupils from each sector will then race head to head in the
50cc Mushroom Cup Grand Prix
in front of a live audience at SLF10.
The driver with the most amount of points at the end of the Grand Prix will be the winner and crowned Mario Kart Champion SLF10 and win a Wii and copy of Mario Kart for their school.
The closing date for verified Time Trial times is September 3rd 2010. Qualifiers will be contacted after this date.
Have you thought about using MarioKart in your class as a contextual hub or topic? Check out the Consolarium Glow Group for ideas on how you might do this. You might also want to think about how you might use MarioKart in subject specific lessons also. Share your thoughts on the Discussion Board at the Wii, Mario Kart section of the Consolarium Glow Group.
We also have a small number of MarioKart kits (console, software and controllers) available on loan until SLF10. If you are interested in receiving one on loan send us a summary of how you would use it and what you feel the impact would be upon your pupils. Our team will get together and examine all bids and decide upon the lucky applicants. Please send bids to b.mcmlaren@ltscotland.org.uk and ensure all bids are with us by Monday March 8th.
Quite a lot of big projects going on at the moment, so a lot to juggle and loads of very interesting, positive findings coming out of the work being undertaken. Our MangaHigh pilot will be coming to end within the next few weeks. We will then have some data to examine and measure the impact of it’s use across a number of secondary schools in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Should be really interesting. Great to see Cleveden, Lochend, Knightswood and Jordanhill in the top ten scorers for this round and well done to Jordanhill, Lourdes and Cleveden who are also in the all time top ten league.
I am heading back up to Highland to visit schools in Castletown, Dornoch and Alvie who along with Dingwall Primary have been undertaking GBL topics using a range of games as part of the Highland Literacy Project. Initial reports are very positive and I am very much looking forward to getting reacquainted with the children and schools over the next week or two. Hear some of the initial thoughts from Dingwall and Alvie below
This week will also see me delivering to a range of Dundee City teachers at a CPD event run by Louise Henderson and the team from Dundee City (check the Glow Group for links to the work they have been undertaking) and then Brian Clark and Myself are heading to Dundee University to show a range of students the kinds of experiences GBL can offer.
As an aside I have also undertaken my Glow mentor training so hopefully the Consolarium Glow Group will continue to improve. Why don’t you check it out and get yourself involved in some of the conversations or start one of your own.
A busy time over the last week or so since my last post. As Ollie mentioned in a previous post I have been toiling away updating our Consolarium Glow Group. In the past this group hasn’t been as successful as we had hoped and it was beginning to get a bit tired looking. I have tried to restructure the way the group works so that you can more easily navigate your way around and find interesting and useful resources. It is still very much a work in progress and you should see it develop over the coming weeks and months particularly with the addition of the Games Design section which will be forming a large part of the work of the Consolarium in 2010. (I am sure that you are going to hear some very interesting things from Brian Clark in the not too distant future about this…)
In order for the Glow Group to be as successful as possible though we really need community involvement. There is so much good practice going on in schools all over Scotland that should be shared and celebrated and Glow will provide an ideal vehicle for this. Join in the discussions, add your own paperwork and weblinks and encourage others to do the same. Let us know what you think about the group, about GBL in general and perhaps some topics you would like to see covered in a Glowmeet.
Other things on the go this week include a visit to Lourdes Secondary to see them using MangaHigh and hearing what staff and pupils think of it and if you follow me on Twitter (@BrianMcL) you will know that I was in Park Primary in Alloa watching some wonderful children drum their African rhythms with an energy and enthusiasm that would have made a Masai warrior proud. I’ll be heading off to Fairview school in Perth and Loch and Calderwood Primaries in South Lanarkshire to discuss the use of GBL as well as a million other things including the next humiliation of the Wii fit weight loss challenge (I am away now to start looking out my lightest clothes to wear for the next weigh in!)
John Donne espoused that we are all connected and I think that we are all the better for it. Having connections whether familial, social or professional enriches all that we do and extends, supports and challenges us.
I have been thinking recently about the way my learning has changed now that I am no longer in a school setting and how much I relied on the people in my school staff to bounce ideas off, to rant to, to use the experience of and to laugh with. Now that I no longer have a physical staffroom to use I have found myself using the skills and knowledge of a different set of people in a very different way. I have a virtual staffroom, open 24hrs a day containing a set of people from all over the world, with a huge array of skills and experience which I can tap into, and who generously share their learning. I use Twitter. There, I’ve said it and it doesn’t make me a bad person!
She and her class were considering the use of Wild Earth: African Safari for the Wii and wondered if it would be a worthwhile context for learning. Through the work they have shared with me it is clear that they have been involved in a very engaging, motivating and successful piece of learning. I had the great privilege of meeting the children online at the tail end of last week. We set up a Glowmeet and through the use of this technology children over 400 miles away, including at least one flight and a ferry, could share the fantastic work they had done with me in real time and get immediate feedback. Go and visit the Burravoe Primary School blog, read about life in their school and read the “Brilliant Story” by Charlotte in p3.
Through the use of technology available to those in Scottish Education our children have access to an immediate national audience for their work, Glow groups, glow meet, CANVAS and a host of blogs allow our children the opportunity to share their work and receive feedback . We should all be sharing our practice and seeking feedback on the work we do and providing constructive feedback on the work of others. We cannot afford to be islands.
A day this week at Lairdsland Primary School surrounded by engaged and motivated children and creative and enthusiastic teachers was a real privilege and a pleasure.
I had been invited to visit Fiona Angus and her P4/5 class who have been using the Nintendo Wii game Endless Ocean as a contextual hub for cross curricular learning. Endless Ocean is a game in which the player explores the ocean and swims on a coral reef, interacting with a huge variety of sea creatures.
The children have been keeping diving diaries about what they find whilst exploring the ocean in the game, producing tourist guides, creating newspaper reports about discoveries on the reef, researching the animals they find, exploring many different media in art and design in producing art work of different kinds of marine animals and inventing their own exotic sea creatures. During my visit, we brought some of these creatures to life using CrazyTalk which allows a digital image to be animated and a voice added. The children were keen to share their writing with each other in this way (even those who were usually quiet and reserved!) and had been rehearsing some great accents! What wonderful ideas they had for their creatures and what fun! Children are bringing things in from home connected to what they are doing in school and are keen to continue with their activities even when the bell rings for break time or lunch time!
Fiona is using the Endless Ocean project as a starting point for a study of Australia and the children hope to have the opportunity to ask questions and to exchange ideas with visitors from Australia next month. Endless Ocean has already proved to be a great resource for creating a rich context for learning and has done it again at Lairdsland.
I also had a chance to talk to Vicky Mackenzie and Fiona Morrison about their Guitar Hero World Tour project currently running in P7 and P6/7. They have replicated a lot of what has been highlighted as good practice with this resource but this year the topic has the title ‘Making it BIG in the USA’. The idea is that the children are members of a successful UK band and they are now trying to break into the American market. The children are going on a tour of America and are responsible for budgeting and managing their own tour.
The children have their ‘Making it BIG in the USA’ glow group. This group contains these sections:
Notice board - used to target news such as promotions on hotel rooms, deadlines for budgets etc Classified Ads - this will be used to advertise for staff (such as security) and will also be used to advertise band merchandise (which they have designed), to raise funds. Band Banter - this is a discussion page where the class teachers will set questions that the children must respond to in the style of their band. Useful Websites - this has been categorised into Travel, Accommodation, Restaurant and General Websites. The children will use these when booking their flights to the USA and between states, finding appropriate places to stay etc. Band Budgets - this is for the children to store their Band Budgets. These are excel spreadsheets that the children are creating throughout the topic. They will keep a record of everything that they have spent and earned. At the end of the topic the band with the most money in their account will be awarded a prize. A good way to use the context for learning about currency conversion and financial education and a great way to use Glow!
My last stop was the P3/4 classroom where class teacher, Catriona Calvert, is using Nintendo’s Cooking Mama World Kitchen as a starting point for another interdisciplinary project. I was shown the chefs’ hats that the children have made and the instructions that they wrote for that process. They have researched countries and have made fact files, they have written menus and are in the process of setting up a restaurant in the classroom for role play. They have just completed a really successful enterprise project in which they wrote, produced and sold their own cookery book, selling over fifty copies on the first day! I have been promised photographs and examples of the children’s work as the project develops which I can’t wait to see. Well done Vicky and Catriona for spotting the potential of the game for classroom use!
As part of this year’s Consolarium inspired Gamezone Challenge at this year’s SLF we have the DR Kawashima Challenge: How fast can you do your sums? Delegates are invited to take the x20 challenge within this game and see if their score gets on the leaderboard! If a score features in the top eight by 3:30pm on the Wednesday or 2:30pm on the Thursday then the talented delegate will be invited to take part in the x30 download challenge to see if they are the fastest sums expert in Scotland! This title will come with 15, yes I said 15 Nintendo DS plus Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training for the DS.
The Consolarium now has a presence in Glow, our national schools intranet. If you are a teacher in Scotland and you have access to Glow then please feel free to join our national group. Just select this link, login and when the page appears click the ‘request access’ button
We are looking forward to building a vibrant games based learning community via Glow and as such we need your involvement. Looking forward to hearing from and working with you.
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