Little kids get involved in the making of their game

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MyMachine is a non-profit Flemish/Belgian initiative to promote creativity, enterpreneurship and inventive cross-pollination throughout all levels of education (primary, secondary and higher education). Digital Arts and Entertainment have been working with the organisation for quite some time now and it is always a fun experience.

THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT

The ideas and drawings of children (6-8 years of age) served as inspiration for a game (the 'dream machine'), which was then created by higher education students. A group of DAE students visited their school, listened to the children and, based upon their drawings, designed the actual game.

It was a fascinating journey and - above all - a mutual learning process. The young inventors were able to follow the game design process from up close. They even visited The Level, the working and breeding place of our game artists and devel. During these interaction moments, our students got a lot of user feedback, which enabled them to fully tailor their game design to the specific target group, the 6th Primary School SAZ Kortrijk and the 1st stage of Freinetschool "De Kleine Tovenaar" (The Little Wizard) in Izegem, Belgium. A prime example of "player-centric design", as we call it.

When the children got to see their game for the first time, our students were received as heroes!

THE MAIN IDEA OF THE GAME

You’re a child, asleep, and in your dream, you realize you’re in a castle, overrun with monsters. You are far away from your room and your goal is to clear the castle from the roaming monsters and get back to bed. There are many different kinds of monsters: some are easily scared and run away as soon as they see you, others will chase you. If you get too scared, you’ll wake up.

DAE STUDENTS WHO MADE THE GAME: STROKE OF MIDNIGHT (Klokslag 12)

Anouk Debruyne, Louis Vissers, Emma Calewaert, Thibault Verschueren, Simon Coenen