This term our students are diving head first into game development using RPG Maker.
What is an RPG?
RPG stands for “role-playing game” and, in terms of video games, describes a game in which the player takes on the role of a character in a fictional world and acts on their behalf.
RPGs can also include action, adventure, strategy and structured decision-making elements to create rich and interesting game play.
While most of our students have probably played plenty of video games, creating a video game of their own presents them with entirely new challenges.
Things we often take for granted in a game suddenly become something that needs thought, care and effort to make sure the player has a pleasant experience.
While a game map should of course look pretty, our students will also have to consider how easy it is to navigate, whether objects may block the path, whether the player will know where to go and how it represents the game’s world.

Every good game needs a good character! Our students will have to think of what features and traits will make their characters unique and interesting and how they will fit into the world they are building.

Without the story the game has no direction! Our students will have to think of dialogues, quests for the characters to do and a background to the fictional world and characters they are creating. This includes how characters can interact with objects, enter buildings and even engage in combat!

Besides just being a new challenge and presenting our students with an opportunity to learn a new skill to brag about, game development facilitates core skills that will support them with more than just making amazing video games!
Logical reasoning isn’t just essential to solve riddles, puzzles, quests and challenges in games, it is also absolutely crucial to create them.
When creating a game the developer has to practise excellent logical reasoning skills to create a game that is coherent, challenging and enjoyable.
While this one almost goes without saying, inventing an entirely new world, story and characters is a tremendous feat of creativity.
Using assets creatively and translating ideas and references into an RPG-style takes time, effort and lots and lots of creativity!
Our students are completing more than just a simple design task, they are taking ownership of their work.
Building a game brick by brick requires them to act on their ideas, revise what they have already done and take initiative to make THEIR game one they can be proud of.
It’ll be fantastic to see how our students will develop their skills and games throughout this term!
Watch this space for more updates on this and other topics our students will be tackling this term!