Game design
Literacy Lesson 5
Gaming characters
Introduction
Watch the video for an introduction to the lesson.
Understanding the tasks
Rating the tasks
This lesson contains a few activities. Each activity will have one or more tasks. These tasks have been given a rating.
Some of the tasks in this lesson are must do. These are important to help you understand the introductory ideas or skills.
Have a go at the should do tasks and reach out to your friends or teacher if you need some advice. These will usually take a bit longer to complete than must do tasks.
Could do tasks will probably take you some extra time and might need you to get creative or problem solve. We strongly encourage you to try these.
Activity 1 - Characterisation
Task 1 - Characters
Developing interesting characters is essential for any good story and can also create engagement in a video game - even when there isn’t a need for a fully dimensional character for gameplay.
If we want to conquer the world with 'Eat The Fruit', we need to get our backstories straight.
Read the following Google Slides to learn more about characterisation.
Check your understanding, can you conquer the character consolidation quiz?
You may need to rewatch the 'Fruit Ninja' video from Lesson 4 Activity 2 Task 1 to answer some of the following questions.
Task 2 - Quick write
Another way to understand a character is to ‘get inside their head’. You might like to consider what motivates them, what they value, what really matters to them.
Open the Quick Write Google Slides.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Complete this quick writing activity where you can be any character you want to be.
Task 3 - Character brainstorm
Now it is time to think about characterising your sprite and objects in 'Eat the Fruit' or for your new game.
Open the Character brainstorm Google Slides.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Brainstorm your main character’s backstory and traits. Could it be a doctor trying to teach kids to eat their fruit? Or someone trying to challenge the fast food chains? Make sure you consider costuming and try to build in some symbolism for your character.
Activity 2 - Create your pitch!
Task 1 - Pitching your product
There are many ways we can pitch our product to our target audience or potential companies who may want to buy our game.
You have done your research, learnt some persuasive language and designed your game. Now it is time to combine this knowledge with a visual representation to help communicate your grand vision in this afternoon’s lesson.
Read the following Mood boards Google Slides.
Task 2 - Sample mood board
Click on the hot spots below as we look at a sample mood board.
When you feel confident that you understand what is needed for a mood board, you are going to complete a mood board that communicates the main ideas/concepts for your game – plot, characters, setting, values etc.
Note: There are a range of mood board templates that are free to use online, your teacher could have given you access to CANVA, or you could use PowerPoint/Word or any other digital resource. You could also go ‘old school’ and use paper, pencils, collage and your imagination!
Task 3 - Concept challenge
Concepts are abstract ideas that explain experiences, feelings or qualities such as love, courage, happiness, change.
Stories often have underlying concepts that add deeper meaning. E.g. a story of a man climbing a mountain could also have an underlying message about the nature of courage.
Read through the Spider map on the concept of courage.
Then use the Quick Write Google Slides template to read through the example on courage.
On slide 3, complete your own 'quick write' activity on a concept that interests you, or you could explore ‘trust’, ‘resilience’ or ‘honour’.
Click on the button above to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Activity 3 - Game Design reflection
Task 1 - Plus, minus and interesting
Now that our literacy lessons have concluded, reflect on all that you have learnt this week.
Open the PMI Chart Google Slides.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Record the positives, minuses and implications or interesting facts about your learning this week.
Task 2 - Gallery walk
You may have done a gallery walk at school. This is where people use visuals and work samples to share their ideas and answer questions about a topic/task or creation.
To get ready for your ‘pitch’, you could anticipate some of the questions that your audience may have about your game and prepare your persuasive response.
Open the Gallery walk Google Slides.
Click on the image to open a new tab and view the Google Slides.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Develop a presentation for your pitch. Suggested headings have been included, but you can change your focus areas.
Want to check your written answers for Activity 1?
Activity 1, Task 1:
Question 5 - Choosing TWO characters from the previous question, explain why you categorised them as a hero or villain. Use evidence from the images to justify your response.
Example Answer:
I categorised the two ‘Storm Troopers’ (white figures) as villains, mostly because I know they are from Star Wars, but also because they look suspicious, as if hiding in wait to ambush someone. Their full face masks could also symbolise they have something to hide.
I categorised the tiny figure standing on the cliff as a hero because the image infers that the person has climbed the mountain. It is such a huge, dangerous looking setting it probably required heroic skills to get to the top.
Activity 1, Task 1:
Question 7 - Often the villain is a more interesting character than the hero. Who is your favourite antagonist, or villain, in a video game, film or story? Describe their character traits and why they are your favourite. Has their creator used symbolism to characterise them?
Suggested Answer:
This response depends on you and which video game you chose! Make sure that you used full sentences and all the literacy skills you have built over the week!
Handing in your work
Don't forget to hand in the work you completed today!
Your teacher will have told you to do one of the following:
Upload any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your Learning Management system (MS Teams, Google Classroom for example).
Email any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your teacher.
Make sure you keep any handwritten work you did in your exercise book or folder as your teacher may need to see these when you are back in class.