Today, after a splendid time developing games, the 7 Generation Games summer game design team, taught by Dr. De Mars and Maria Burns Ortiz, was ready to share their design project developed over the course of two weeks: the dogcatcher game!
The students planned for a 2D kingdom of dogs that roamed freely, coexisting with humans, but having chosen their own paths. The students planned that each dog character would have their own names and backstories of how or why they came to be independent, as opposed to choosing to live with human owners. The dogs would thrive on their own and their only enemies would be–dun dun dun—dogcatchers. The students explained that the player would be the dog. The character would take on different perspectives in regular gameplay mode and fight mode, which they had planned for.
We engaged the students with questions about further plans to develop their ideas. What if the dogcatchers were an antagonist duo, like the bumbling crooks from 101 Dalmatians? How old are these characters? What would they look like?
Along with some hilarious ideas for generating $10k in no time flat, solely by selling ideas, the session drew to a close.
“Is there going to be another one?” One student piped up.
Well, maybe soon. We’re done for the moment, but we’re hoping to get another one started up. (Yeah, it’s so sad! Happy trails, everyone!) Everyone goes home with a certificate, new ideas, and skills of how games are designed and developed in the tech community. This two-week course served as a primer and a think tank for creativity, team collaboration, and critical thinking. Topics that Dr. De Mars and Maria taught in the course include design, art, sound, coding, and project management.
We hope everyone had a splendid time in our Game Design Class. We hope to see you again really soon. You’re game designers now. Tell all of your friends, and don’t forget to tell them about our games!
