Gamestar Mechanic
Mozell Gentges
Gamestar Mechanic is definitely appealing to students of many ages, but for most teachers, it's probably too much of a niche product for the classroom. Because there's so much gameplay before students actually begin learning about game design, most teachers would probably use it either as an extension activity or as part of club for students who are really passionate about game design.
gamestar mechanic
The site doesn't include any elements of coding but instead focuses on design, so, although there's a clear connection between computational thinking and game design, most teachers will find it tough to carve out space for it in their curriculum. One option could be to give access to kids incrementally and require students to play through missions and quests first before diving into the other content. And teachers could focus on metacognition around how students think through the design process.
Gamestar Mechanic is a manga-themed website, Chrome app, and community that teaches kids how to build games. It focuses on the art of visual design rather than on programming, as other game-making platforms, such as Scratch, do. Once they're registered, teachers and students can play missions, design games in the workshop, and share games. During registration, you can decide whether or not to ask kids for real first and last names or to rely on usernames. Teachers get management tools to see students' progress, track their work, assign projects, curate featured games, and manage class profiles from kids' workshops.
Students play simple games while learning to identify the elements that make a game fun, challenging, difficult, or even impossible to play. Through game quests, they accumulate the tools and components they need to design their own games: building blocks, timers, barriers, etc. At different stages in the quest, they repair "broken" game elements, experiment with perspective, and set rules as they become "mechanics." Once they complete their first quest, students are able to earn sprites (characters for their games) and create and publish their own games to the Gamestar Mechanic community.
The creators of Gamestar Mechanic have definitely created a platform for learning that will appeal to many students, despite its somewhat outdated interface. From the manga theme of the quest to the games themselves, you won't have trouble getting students to use the site. There's a lot of play, however, before students really start building games, so this may limit it as a learning tool in most classrooms.
Despite its limitations, it offers lots of opportunities to be creative and for students to really take ownership of their work. It also does a great job of slowly introducing students to the elements of game design in a step-by-step fashion. Students will start to see the components that so many games share and that are essential not only to a game's function, but also to its appeal to players. This approach is a great tie-in to computational thinking and problem-solving for students of any age. Teachers could use this as a springboard to explore computational thinking in a deeper way, but they'll have to make the connection clear for students and find ways to use the platform that capitalize on the learning content.
Gamestar Mechanic provides clear goals and a step-by-step approach to game design and game building, and the learning guide offers conversationally written lessons to support teachers using Gamestar Mechanic.
This software forced students in an engaging way to work through game design principles in order to win the sprites needed to make games. One student realized that he needed additional parts for the game he wanted to make and asked if he could go back to the tutorials to earn more "raw materials" for his own game making. Too often, these types of programs let students play without ever learning. Gamestar Mechanic is good at not doing this - especially in conjunction with the Mouse Create program.
Gamestar Mechanic Jr (commonly referred to as GMJ for short) is a game that was available to play in the Games Tent (Mt. Snow location as of 2019) in Kart Kingdom. The game is not part of PBS KIDS or any show, as it is a simplified version of the popular website for game making, Gamestar Mechanic. Instead of being drawn in an anime style, the characters are all drawn in a neat chibi style and the player's character is never seen, unlike Gamestar Mechanic, where the player character, Addison, is always seen. There isn't really an objective to the game; it is a game to make small games, upload them, like other games, and send them to friends. It is supposed to teach the basics of game mechanics, such as what makes a game fun, what makes it too hard, too easy, and how to find the right medium. This is not to be confused with coding.
Amstrad tells Jhansi that there is a problem with his hedge maze, so Jhansi and the player character agree to help. Jhansi teaches the player character how to make good games that are not too hard and not too easy.
Jhansi teaches the player character how to add decorations and music. She also explains why playtesting is so important when developing a game. Amstrad, after seeing how well the maze was fixed up, finally agrees with Jhansi, saying that the player character deserves to work in Factory 7.
Jhansi and the player character are asked to bring up some points from the basement for a big competition coming up. They quickly find the box of points, but Jhansi accidentally drops the box and the points spill all over the floor. The player character must help pick up all the points and reach the goal block.
Some of the points also got into the next room of the basement. The next room has spiky blocks and monsters. The player character must collect all the points and reach the goal block. After that, Jhansi says that she wants to bring the box up before she drop some it again.
In the Factory 7 lobby, Jhansi says that the points got delivered in time for the Big Competition. Then she explains how points work. The player must fix up Jhansi's first game by putting more points in. After that, Jhansi says that the player character did great work, and that the game will impress the other mechanics.
Jhansi and player character go to the lab. Jhansi calls out for Naja, and she doesn't answer. She then explains that this is just like her: calling people to the lab and not being there. Just as Jhansi says that, Naja appears right in front of her. Naja then gets excited that her teleported worked. Jhansi gets nervous about teleporters. Naja explains that her lab caved in in some areas, and while Jhansi was on her way to the lab, she decided to install teleporters instead of digging their way through each room. Naja shows Jhansi an area and Jhansi realizes what she means.
Jhansi is very good at making games. She works with the player character to make games and help others in Factory 7. She has orange hair and wears a dress that is white and red. She can be quite clumsy at times. She makes a lot of mistakes outside of her game-making career too. She is somewhat cautious. She can take three hits. According to Gamestar Mechanic lore, she is a League Mechanic.
Aran is the fastest character in GMJ, and the fastest game-developer in Factory 7. She has white hair, wears a blue hat and a blue outfit. She is very inconsistent when it comes to game-making. She loves racing. She can take two hits, probably to balance her abilities due to her speed. She is so fast, Jhansi can barely catch up with her most of the time! According to Gamestar Mechanic lore, she is a sprite from the Altair school.
Unlike Aran, Amstrad is the slowest character in GMJ and the slowest game-developer in Factory 7. He is all about training. He is very much like a military soldier. He has white hair and a purple outfit. He is known for making very hard games in Factory 7 and sometimes goes a little overboard. He is also the strongest. He can take 5 hits. He is very strict about changing rules to any game, and it was hard for Jhansi to convince him to add some pickups into his games. He runs a boot camp as well. According to Gamestar Mechanic lore, he is a sprite from the Acheron school.
Emile is the librarian in Factory 7. That isn't really his job, he does it more for fun. He noticed that everyone visiting the library heads straight to the old books full of Factory 7 secrets and made a game out of the library so that people can look around and see that there are plenty of other good books in the library. Jhansi told Emile that it was clever but he put so many locks and keys around that it got confusing. After she helped him fix it, she said that she would like to check out a book, but Emile said that she already had an overdue book. Emile has greenish-blonde hair and wears a green outfit. According to Gamestar Mechanic lore, he is a sprite from the Naviron school.
Naja is a creative game-developer. She invents things like portals that revolutionaize gaming at Factory 7. Jhansi almost can't keep up with her and her inventions! Sometimes she thinks Naja is crazy and her inventions are dangerous, but everything always turns out fine in the end. Naja has gray hair, a red headband, a small red jacket (appears to be a hoodie cut in half), a white shirt, and brown pants. According to Gamestar Mechanic lore, she is a sprite from the Karakuri school.
Sprites are characters you play as or bad guys you can't run into. Even after you finish all the episodes, you still have not unlocked the sprites. To unlock all the sprites, you must craft the power-ups Holiday Pack, Starter Pack, and Halloween Pack.
Hazards include bad sprites and blocks that hurt your character. Red spiky blocks are a good example of a hazard. Hazards take away your lives. The number of lives you have depend on what character you are playing as.
Pickups) are things your character can pick up to help them with the game. For example, the shield icon will give you invincibility for a certain amount of time so that you can pass an area with lots of hazards, usually monsters.
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