Article Archives - Page 33 of 44

Speed Sketch! Sennett Middle School

Earlier this year, Filament Games adopted Sennett Middle School, and it’s hard to believe it, but the first school year of our adoption is already over! We’ve already had a ton of amazing experiences with our friends at Sennett, and we can’t wait to see what the next school year brings. Until then, enjoy this…

June 19, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

Filament Games | Educational Game Developer

Cheese, Beer, Packers, and Video Games: Wisconsin’s Thriving Game Dev Scene

UPDATE: The inaugural M+DEV conference has ended. Visit the official M+DEV website for the latest news about next year’s show! Did I just get you excited about a video game involving the cheese, beer, and the Packers? Sorry, I didn’t necessarily mean to do that. What I do want to get you excited about is that…

June 15, 2017 // Jennifer Javornik

Gamification Done Well

Hey friends! It’s been a long time since I’ve rapped at ya, but today I thought I’d revisit the wild, wild world of gamification. I mentioned in my previous blogoblag about gamification that it was a thing that isn’t hard to do badly. But I didn’t really get into much detail. Behold, gentle readers: this post…

June 14, 2017 // Dan Norton

Sid Meier’s Narrative Design: Part One

When discussing–or designing–storytelling in video games, we typically leverage the rhetoric of the storytelling mediums we’re already familiar with: notably, novels and films, a media reference point/anchor that Ian Bogost’s argued against in his provocatively titled and thoughtfully reasoned article, “Video Games are Better Without Stories.” It makes sense – in a way, treating video game…

June 12, 2017 // Matt Haselton

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

How Game-Based Learning Engages Struggling Students

In our game-based learning program overview, Sun Prairie Area School District educator Mary Headington shared the story of Susan, a student in her class who typically struggled with coursework. Susan was discouraged by her struggles with her coursework and consequently had a hard time believing she was smart. Mary often wrestled with the best way to help…

May 31, 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

Virtual Reality for Impact

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re Virtual Reality enthusiasts at Filament Games, owed in no small part to the fact that the affordances of this emergent medium are so vast and varied. Virtual Reality is poised to change how we learn, or at least provide us with a new uniquely powerful modality towards that end.…

May 22, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

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

How to Embrace Failure

Dan White wants to talk about failure. Specifically, the way we view failure within the context of education. Many of our educator allies have spoken to us about their sense that sometimes, K-12 education is gripped by a culture of fear that’s driven by standards-based testing regimes and a hierarchy of institutional accountability that can create…

May 17, 2017 // Brandon Pittser