Creators Of Tomorrow

Growing skills, building confidence & expanding horizons!

Student Workshops

Dungeons & Dragons

Developing social skills, group dynamics & leadership

A Dungeons & Dragons campaign played over 5 sessions (2 hours each) in which participants can learn and explore group dynamics, leadership and social skills in a fun fantasy setting. Role playing games allow us to express ourselves in safe and non judgemental ways and help form connections within  a group! This program is typically suited to groups of 4-8 participants, 14 and older. Games can be played in person or remotely via web browser.

Design Workshops

A series of practical workshops introducing participants to some key concepts for planning, designing & developing games using free and accessible tools. The workshops explore teamwork, concept development, prototyping, assessing scope, choosing the right tools, creating assets, iteration, testing, user experience and marketing. Participants will come away from this workshop with a greater understanding of the development lifecycle, practical skills and a potential pathway to explore their interest in making games.

Skills development for budding designers

Games Developer Q&A

“So you want to be a game developer”

Semi structured series of discussions and short activities aimed at young people who are curious about the Victorian Independent Games industry. An introduction to the different roles and areas of game design and development, what it’s like making games as a job and what participants can do to plan their pathway into making games. Can be tailored for different age groups from late primary school age through to final year VCE students.

Staff Training (PD)

Engagement Programs

This series of workshops aim to help educators and those who work with disengaged youth, develop insightful and informed games-based engagement programs appropriate to their context. Unpacking questions like:

• Why do some young people lose themselves in virtual worlds?

• How can we help young people re-engage with learning?

• How to design our learning environments to engage students just as games designers do?

• What are the similarities between engagement with learning and with games?

Games & Code Clubs

Understanding Gamer Culture

We can help you plan and set up a successful game design & code club, allowing your students to flourish! Many schools have recognised the value of code & games design clubs. These are spaces in which students have an opportunity to explore, experiment and learn from each other while working together on projects. Many of today’s successful developers first found their passion for making games in school code clubs.

We recognise that for some, gamers can be difficult to connect with. Gamers, especially as teenagers, can appear to be socially insular or disinterested in the real world. Many teachers and parents feel frustrated and excluded from this part of their lives. In this workshop we offer our experience and perspective as lifelong gamers, designers and teachers of disengaged young people as well as some proven strategies we have found help to bridge the divide to gamer culture.

Gamifying Your Lesson Plans

Learn how to apply engagement techniques used by game designers to your lessons for any subject, even if you’re not a gamer. Navigating the pitfalls of intrinsic vs extrinsic reward motivation, the User Experience and User Interfaces in your classroom, game-feel for learning, designing flexible difficulty levels.

Consulting

Gamify your curriculum

Running Games/Code Clubs

If you are developing lessons or programs for young people and want advice on applying game design techniques to increase engagement, we are here to help. Gamified curriculum is about more than unlocking achievements and utilising digital media. Developing curriculum through a game design lens can help with identifying motivation, improving the learning experience, providing tools for self actualisation and transparent scaffolding.

Mentoring

You may be looking for advice on how to supplement your club with appropriate tools, technology or resources, you may be just starting up and wanting to make sure you’re fully prepared. If you are already running a games or code club and would like to improve upon your formula, we can help. We have run games and coding clubs in primary and secondary settings and can bring our professional experience as an extra dimension to your program.

For a few young people who have shown ongoing dedication to beginning their journey making games, we can provide mentoring opportunities. Mentoring can provide a unique insight for young artists, programmers, animators, designers, writers, sound designers, producers, community managers and marketers into the professional world. We can also connect young people to other Melbourne games professionals for a diverse experience.