Category Archives: Game Design

In the last five years, there has been mounting public interest in the relationship between digital technology use and children’s wellbeing. New policies and legislation aimed at promoting children’s rights and/or safety online are being proposed across North America and around the world at an unprecedented rate. Despite their popularity among children of all ages, however, digital games are often left out of the conversation. As is children’s vast knowledge, insights, and willingness to discuss the positives and negatives that…

Ever since I joined the Joan Ganz Cooney Center’s Well-being by Design Fellowship, I have found myself subconsciously auditing my entire virtual world for its well-being design considerations. Does the team budget spreadsheet system promote feelings of competence for my colleagues? How does my wedding website support guests’ sense of identity? Did this airline-app-that-shall-not-be-named consider users’ feelings of autonomy in times of a global airline outage at all? I was delighted to attend the Play Make Learn annual conference at UW…

As digital games become ever more embedded in our daily lives, game designers and developers have the potential to create a positive impact through their work. This growing influence prompts us to consider a pivotal question: how can we navigate the ethics of digital game creation and be mindful of the impact that design choices have on players’ experiences, societal values, and most crucially, the well-being of the younger generation? Across a two-day conference that drew interest from over 600…

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center is excited to join forces with Riot Games, IDEO, and the Fair Play Alliance to announce the “The Designing for Digital Thriving Challenge.” Co-hosted by Riot and IDEO, the Challenge is inspired by the work that the Fair Play Alliance (FPA) and the Cooney Center are doing to establish “Digital Thriving,” a field-initiated approach to building healthy interactions and resilient communities in online game spaces.  The FPA and Joan Ganz Cooney Center define digital thriving…

On November 14, 2016, the National STEM Video Game Challenge celebrated its fifth year with an awards ceremony and reception in Washington, DC at National Geographic for all 24 student winners and their families, as well as leading educators, game designers, and policy makers from across the country. I’ve been involved with the STEM Challenge for the past three years, and was humbled by the winning games’ quality, the caliber of the speakers the students met, and the excitement that…

Brooklyn Humphrey won the Best Middle School Unity game in the STEM Challenge last year. Here she shares her memories of what it was like to develop her first game, and what she is working on now. I never would’ve thought that I would win the STEM Challenge. I didn’t even think that I would make a video game in the first place, but now I’ve learned that anything is possible. Here’s a glimpse of my experience making my first video game.…

“Ugh! I hate coding!” cried out one of my seventh-grade students. “I don’t see why I have to move Elsa three spaces to meet Anna. It’s soooo boring!” “But with Twine you are coding,” I explained. “I guess,” she responded, unenthusiastically. The above conversation was an actual exchange I had with a student in my social studies class this past school year. She was referencing an Hour of Code activity she was assigned to complete for another class. In it,…

The STEM Challenge team recently co-hosted a workshop at the The Tech Museum of Innovation with Cogswell College.  John Duhring, Director, Strategic Alliances and Alumni Relations, provides some insight into some career paths for students interested in exploring a future in game design and development.   There is an urgent call across U.S. universities to better prepare students for careers. Current research reveals that students decide to go to college primarily to improve their employment opportunities. They look to colleges to…

Global Kids, Inc. works to ensure that youth from underserved areas have the knowledge, skills, experiences and values they need to succeed in school, participate effectively in the democratic process, and achieve leadership in their communities and on the global stage.  Many of the students in their programs are creating games eligible for submission into the 2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge. Through in-school and after-school Global Kids (GK) programs, middle school and high school students examine global issues, make…

Empow Studios brings technology, arts, and play together to help young learners discover and build on their creative talents. They teach classes in programming, robotics, video game design, animation, design, audio engineering and other creative skills for the 21st century at over 20 locations in Massachusetts. Many of the students enrolled in their summer programs are designing games that are eligible for submission into the 2016 National STEM Video Game Challenge. When 22-year-old Lynne Richman had her first taste of…