gamedesign Archives - Page 14 of 18

How Filament Games Conducts User Testing

An essential part of educational game development is user testing – something we treat very seriously and with a lot of importance. This is because conducting user testing throughout the development cycle is a critical, necessary process to obtain important feedback on the usability of the game, the effectiveness of the game as a learning…

June 1, 2017 // Jennifer Javornik

Filament Games | Educational Game Developer

FGP3-5: The Retro Review Manhole

The first Retro Review of the season brings an exciting foray into retro learning game Manhole. Matt Haselton joins us in the studio to talk about a VR version of the game and what students actually learn through gameplay. Don’t forget to check out our bonus video for a full playthrough of the game. Hot…

May 30, 2017 // Kat Shanahan

Curious About Coding – Introducing Scratch to Spring Harbor Middle School

When Filament Games first received a request to talk about engineering in video games as a fun activity that could be presented in 50 minutes, we were stumped. It’s easier to talk about designing games by creating your own or think about art styles by creating pixel art projects than it is to teach an entire new…

May 25, 2017 // Sarah Conn

My Time at the iCivics ELL Convening

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting with a special ELL convening hosted by iCivics in DC to talk about some new things coming down the pike for Do I Have a Right?. Currently in development is a Spanish-language translation of the game, as well as new accessibility features for the English edition to accommodate ELL…

May 18, 2017 // Dan Norton

Filament Games Podcast Season Three

We’re back – welcome to season three of the Filament Games Podcast! We have exciting things in store for you including interviews with Matthew Farber, Greg Toppo, Aaron San Flippo, and administrators from the Sun Prairie Area School District. We’re also thrilled to bring back The Retro Review and our on-air Game Design Challenge! We hope…

May 16, 2017 // Kat Shanahan

Alpha, Beta, Gold: A Commitment to High-quality Game Development

When I talk to prospective clients, I always try to KIJF (keep it jargon free). That being said, there are a few terms that are just helpful to know. In this post, we’ll look at each of the three release phases that make up a typical game development project with us: Alpha, Beta, and Gold…

May 10, 2017 // Jennifer Javornik

Designing Games for Toys and Young Learners

I recently had the privilege of working with Square Panda to create learning games for youngsters to help teach them letters. They use a physical tray and a series of plastic letters that players can manipulate in real life to interact with the digital game on a tablet. It looks like this: Photo credit: Square Panda…

April 26, 2017 // Abby Friesen

Real-Time vs. Turn-Based Mechanics in Learning Games

Hello there! Recently here at Filament Games I was working on a game pitch and the question of “real-time” versus “turn-based” was raised. As per usual, I had strong opinions without any justification, so I thought I would take some time to unpack my feelings about it and share the results with you, the gentle…

April 20, 2017 // Dan Norton

Major League Hacking

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of serving as a judge for MadHacks, the Madison, WI chapter of Major League Hacking (MLH). MLH bills itself as the official student hackathon league, and rightly so! This event was serious business. MLH works with thousands of students on an annual basis, holding over 200 weekend-long invention…

March 20, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

10 Tips for Designing a Game Tutorial

Every game teaches you how to play. Plants vs. Zombies is an interesting case study because it made “hardcore” strategy content accessible to casual and non-gamers. Before Plants vs. Zombies the game industry had falsely concluded that the casual market just wasn’t interested in certain game genres. In addition to appealing to casual gamers, it…

March 16, 2017 // Stephen Calender

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