Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Game Design (EASY)

Webelos/AOL Elective Adventure: Game Design

Do all of these:

1. Decide on the elements for your game. 
1. How to design a board game
2. List at least five of the online safety rules that you put into practice while using the Internet on your computer or smartphone. Skip this if your Cyber Chip is current.
3. Create your game.
4. Teach an adult or another Scout how to play your game.

The key to this is, you do not have to make a computer game, you can make a paper game, or a hopscotch game or a checkers game.... or any kind of game at all, once you realize this it's pretty easy.

The Second key, is each boy does not have to make their own game completely solo.  make the game as a Den, each boy adding something, each boy contributing, then teach each other to play it. We have a little brother who shows up to meetings we just teach him, maybe ask for a sibling volunteer?

After you play it for a few(5) min, stop and ask the boys how to make the game better, focus on making the game more fair and more fun for the boys who are not doing as well (but without calling the boys out by name). this is called Game Balance. if everyone is doing well, then focus on more fun for everyone, talk about both of these on each round,

Tweak rules, Play test, Discuss, repeat...

If you think this is cheezing out, I was a professional game designer and Programmer for 10 years,
I'm telling you if you build it based on rules and iterate the right way, this is totally comparable. The key is after each time they play the game for 5 min, ask them how to change the rules to make it cooler, fairer, more fun for everyone.... This process of iteration, play balance and rule/Mechanic tweaking is exactly how computer games are made. It'll teach them way more than some HTML tic tac toe game you make because you don't' have tech skills. Trust me, Remember the boys are in charge, you frame things to keep it on the rails you want. Fun is paramount, but fun for everyone,

Example:

Super Ninja Death Tag of Doom.

1. Freeze tag, 
2. but you have to walk like a ninja, 
3. and if you don't make a ninja noise when you tag them it doesn't count.
4. If an adult yells "Ninjas Hide" you have to freeze where you are, hiding behind what ever is there. even if it's a blade of grass.
5. If an adult yells "Death ninnjas go" everyone who was froze by being tagged is free
6. If an adult yells "All ninjas go" everyone is free...

Now play that for 5 min, stop and ask the boys how to make it cooler, Guide the boys towards rule that make it more fair, not less fair.

Pick the best 1 or 2 ideas and try them out. then repeat, make sure that over the meeting each boy gets one idea in, and then has to think about if that idea made the game better or worse,and gets a chance to tweak it.

Obviously make your own game with the boys, but Tag is a simple game to modify into something entirely custom, and kids are always adding rules, admittedly usually to make if more fun for themselves, but the idea of changing the rules of tag, it natural to them... but changing the focus to making it more fun for everyone, and making it specifically more fun for the boys who were not having as much fun (not doing as well) to make a level playing field will do wonders.



Example of rule tweaks,  

1.  Some boys are way faster than others, the boy who is it, instead of freezing a boy upon tagging, converts them to also be It. the faster boys still last, but the slower boys build up numbers till eventually they get everyone.

2.  Last boy not tagged, stop the game, that boy is it for the next game. (fastest boys are it first, no long periods of one boy running and not catching)

3. periodically the den leader can make the fastest boy hop on one foot.

4. If the same people are it to long,  with no tags, the den leader picks the scout who is  "resting" and they also become it..

Workbook for use with these requirements: PDF Format DOCX Format