School A was a state funded primary school in East Lothian, Scotland. One primary 7 class (aged 11-12) took part in a game creation project over the course of a six-week period. This study was organised by and run with researchers from the Adventure Author (AA) project, and
involved the use of their augmented version of the NWN2 Toolset. There were 25 pupils in the class, of which 11 were girls and 14 were boys. The class teacher ran the game creation project as part of a larger cross-curricular project on fantasy literature, and asked the pupils to create game worlds and then write a short story based in those worlds at the end of the project. The class spent much of their time on the fantasy project for the six-week period, although there were also regular timetabled slots for maths and physical education.
A suite of ten gaming laptops was lent to the school for the duration of the project by the Adventure Author project. The pupils used the laptops individually according to a rota whilst other classmates worked on additional project tasks set by the teacher, including brainstorming, drawing, craft-work, reading of fantasy novels and vocabulary exercises. Whilst using the laptops pupils sat around two tables in close proximity, and the rest of the class worked in another area of the classroom. Approximately 6 hours was spent using the toolset by each pupil, although this varied due to absence and timetable constraints.
The class teacher led the overall cross-curricular project, whilst researchers from the AA team ran a number of whole-class demonstration sessions and gave advice and guidance on an ad-hoc basis as necessary. The demonstrations showed pupils how to carry out a range of important tasks within the toolset, as well as how to use additional AA support tools such as the conversation writer and an ideas generation tool. For the most part, pupils had free choice of what game making activity to engage in when they used the software, although at the beginning of the project this was guided by the demonstrations given most recently.
I visited the classroom for a one day period near the beginning of the project and a two day period towards the end of the project. On the first visit I gave a demonstration to the class and spent some time giving guidance and looking at the games under creation, and on the second visit I interviewed a group of pupils and carried out some design activities.
3.3.1.2 Data Collection
Observation notes were made on each visit to the class, and additional notes were made available by members of the Adventure Author team who visited on different days. I also collected the games created by pupils during the project, and the stories written by pupils and added to the class blog.
Four pupils were interviewed about their game creation experiences, and four carried out design work in relation to the character creation tool. The interviews were audio-recorded and
subsequently transcribed verbatim. The design work is discussed further in section 3.4.4.
Additionally, the whole class were asked to fill out a questionnaire on game creation towards the end of the project (see Appendix A.3), although only 18 were present on the day due to
absences and some pupils being called out of class. The questionnaires were filled out on paper and later entered electronically for analysis, and the findings from these have been discussed already in section 3.2.2.
3.3.1.3 Observations and Commentary
The class teacher called the project ‘the world builder project’ and saw the game creation task primarily as pupils creating worlds in which their stories could take place. This effectively mirrors the evocative spaces which Jenkins speaks of, although pupils also implemented some of their stories in game with conversations, allowing elements of enacted narrative (Jenkins 2004).
The teacher reported that pupils were excited about the game creation project before it started, and there was a generally positive and enthusiastic atmosphere in the classroom whenever the researchers visited. There was an eagerness amongst most pupils for their turn on the laptops.
One child, who the teacher reported had been diagnosed with ADHD, seemed to be less keen on the task and had to leave the classroom on one occasion I visited due to behavioural issues.
Aside from this, there were no behaviour problems or signs of boredom or frustration.
As this was a cross-curricular project related to fantasy novels, the teacher had pupils working on a wide range of supporting activities, such as making papier-mâché artefacts related to their story, drama work on portraying emotions and vocabulary exercises relating to the fantasy genre.
Effectively the game creation activity was used as one of a number of supporting activities for the project, which culminated in a final writing task – a short story based on the worlds they created in their games and thorough additional activities. These stories were added to the class blog and read out to an audience of parents and teachers on a final presentation day, where the created artefacts were also on display, as well as laptops running some of the games.
Near the beginning of the project, and near the end of the project I spent time observing the pupils working on their games, and observing the teacher working with pupils on related tasks away from the laptops. Whilst offering guidance and support to pupils I also asked them about their stories. Towards the end of the project most pupils had a good idea of what their stories would be. Some had implemented elements from their story in the game world, whilst others had chosen to set their stories before the game began.
The game creation aspect of the project was primarily supported by the literacy specialist and lead investigator on the Adventure Author (AA) project, who gave demonstrations which taught the pupils and the teacher how to achieve various tasks in the toolset. The demonstrations covered designing the 3D landscapes and adding objects and characters from the toolset blueprints, writing conversations and attaching actions, and using Adventure Author tools such
as ideas generation tool ‘Fridge Magnets’ and the peer play testing support tool ‘Comment Cards’. The pupils were not shown how to create internal areas for the games, as the teacher wanted them to focus on creating one setting for their stories, and was concerned about the time available on the laptops.
The overall model of the demonstrations was to introduce one new skill or task at a time in a short demonstration, and then get one group to get straight on with trying out the new skills. The AA team noted that it would have been beneficial for all students to get straight on the laptops after the demonstration, but equipment constraints made this impossible in this setting. They felt it was important to allow young people the freedom to implement their new skills in the way they saw fit, rather than setting specific tasks to be achieved during any given session.
Additionally, the literacy specialist also used an example game with strong narrative elements to encourage pupils to think about the narrative elements in their own games.
Peer-play testing of the games took place towards the end of the project, and involved pupils working in pairs and taking it in turns to test each other’s game. Pupils were instructed to watch their tester play through their game without giving them directions or instructions, although they were allowed to answer questions if asked. This allowed observant pupils to gather feedback on the extent to which they were communicating effectively with their player about the game goals.
The final stories were relatively short. The sixteen stories uploaded to the class blog had an average of approximately 270 words. All stories made some mention of the setting, and many contained detailed descriptions of the land in which they were set.
As discussed above, all pupils who filled in the questionnaire reported enjoying the project. The teacher sought feedback from the class on the project as a whole through her own evaluation forms, and gave a brief overview of the findings. All pupils said that they enjoyed working on the laptops to create their worlds, and they felt that whilst it would have been better for each pupil to have their own laptop, everyone got a fair turn thanks to the rotation system. Most of the supporting activities the teacher ran were found to be useful by pupils, although many pupils rated story planning exercises as ‘boring’. A number of pupils reported that they would think more about description in their writings after the project, and some pupils said that they had learnt about working with others and working through problems.
3.3.2 Design Study 2 – Workshop A