The graphics aspects of creating a game were still bothering me. I know of people who have gamified their classroom with almost no graphics, so they aren’t essential. However, in my readings, most recently Kapp’s The Gamification of Learning and Instruction by Karl M. Kapp, the aesthetics of a game do affect engagement. Since I am creating games to engage kids, it seems I should not overlook that aspect entirely.
In an earlier post I shared my idea to hire someone to create some basic graphics. I still like that idea and would like it for my big tech game. However, in the mean time, I’ve decided to work on a smaller game that is needed more immediately. My husband’s class will pilot the project. While we were on holiday last week I enjoyed thinking about how the game might be structured. I must have been working on it in my sleep because I awoke early one morning with two ideas.
- I could use our school’s Bitstrip‘s account to create comics to further the narration for the game’s story.
- I might be able to find free online icon sets that could be made into badges.
When I had internet access I looked into both options. Bistrips has added more scenes to its art gallery. Many of the rooms are now furnished. That will save me time. Still no dogs or cats but I should be able communicate my story line through a combination of comic strips and paragraphs of text. Bitstrips are easy to embed in a blog or website so I think this is one problem solved.
My search for free and attractive icons also went well. Cruzine.com has a section of freebies on their website. Some of those freebies are icon sets! Here are some that I thought could work.
And these character illustrations might work as stand alone graphics for teachers in the game’s story.
A month or two ago I purchased Logoist when MacUpdate had it on sale. Yes, I could make badges in Photoshop but it always takes me a long time to find my way around in it. Using Logoist I stumbled around for 15 minutes and created the badge below. My next one should be a snap, especially if I create a template.
Now if only I could figure out how to get them to the students so they could easily add them to their Blogger blog. They don’t yet have school emails. It may be that I put all the badges in a folder and they download and then upload the badges. I suspect the group will be self-policing so that if someone takes a badge they have not yet earned, that won’t work out so well for them. In any case, badges aren’t the point of the game. Maybe my next post will lay out the reasons for creating the game.