The Innovation Lab uses GameMaker Studio as our primary game creation platform. Mrs. Payne has been using GameMaker in the Computer Lab for several years and the program has proven to be a valuable tool for middle school students to get started quickly and then progress to more complex game design. Teaching has primarily been through demonstrations with students following along, but this year we have we have introduced a new option. Mrs. Payne has created a manual for students to follow in order to get started at their own pace. The guide is complete with directions and screen shots and follows the typical progression of game design here at GEMS.
In the future students will guest author tutorials for the manual based on expertise they have developed by using the program. In this way all game design students can benefit from the huge amount of collective knowledge we are all building. Although other guides exist for GameMaker, creating our own will have many future benefits including the ability to draw additional students into game design projects.
Go ahead, check out the GEMS GameMaker Manual!
Go ahead, check out the GEMS GameMaker Manual!