Balancing Expression and Structure in Game Design:

Computational participation using studio-based pedagogy

Benjamin DeVane, University of Iowa, Benjamin-devane@uiowa.edu
Abstract This paper reports on a project that used a game creation tool to introduce middleschool students ages ten to thirteen to basic elements of computational problem-solving
through of studio-based design pedagogy. Instead of adopting a perspective on design
education that emphasizes spontaneity and individual creativity, this program employed a
programmatic perspective on design practices that emphasizes creativity within set
specifications and constraints.
Keywords: design, computational participation, arts, tacit knowledge

Introduction
New scholarship on computational participation places added emphasis on designing and remixing alongside
customary conceptions of computational thinking (Kafai, Burke & Resnick, 2014). This paper looks at an
afterschool program for youth that aimed to integrate learning about computation within the creative discipline
of game design using the Kodu Game Lab game creation software. The project used Kodu to introduce middleschool students ages 10 to 13 about computational problem-solving using studio-based design pedagogy. Instead
of adopting a stance on design that emphasized individual originality, this program employed a programmatic
perspective that stressed creativity within specified goals and constraints (see Schon, 1983, Hoadley & Cox,
2009).
This curriculum presented students with a structured design challenge over the course of 7 weeks:
Participants are challenged to build a racing game level similar to one in Nintendos well-known Super Mario
Kart series. This paper reports on a case study of a learner named Enrique, arguing that his computational
practices were shaped by non-linear and tacit designerly ways of knowing instead of algorithmic problem
solutions.

Theoretical Framework Programmatic Pedagogy & Design Knowledge

The learning environment was crafted with the intent to situate computational participation within the reflective
practice of game design. In doing so the research team borrowed from Schons argument that design disciplines
use specialized knowledge to craft solutions to messy and problematic situations (1983, pg, 47). In his study
of studio architectural students, Schon contended that designing is a reflective conversation with a situatio n,
not an execution a programmed mental routine. Instead, architectural design entails dialogue with a dynamic
design situation that has mutually-reliant functional, aesthetic and structural considerations.

Methods & Research Context

This paper employs multimodal semiotic analysis (Lemke, 2012) to examine the design grammar of a
participants game artifacts, and changes in participants participation over nine-weeks time in a case study.
The research took place at a public laboratory school affiliated with a research university. Participants,
with their parents consent, were recruited by affiliated teachers from their classes and from an existing middle school games club. Between 12-17 participants attended each session, which each ran for one hour.
The first three weekly sessions were focused on teaching participants the minimally-necessary modes
of interacting with Kodu, with the aim of providing participants with the foundational skills like game levels
creation, programming character movement, programming characters responses to collisions with objects, and
programming player characters to interact with non-player characters
Over the next four weeks, the participants were given a design challenge: learn to make a racing game
level functionally, mechanically and aesthetically comparable to Shy Guys Beach in Mario Kart Wii (see
Figure 1).

Findings Enriques trajectory

Enriques evolving designs focused on the primary mechanical elements of the racing game genre object
collection, scoring and finish locations. He experimented early on with game mechanics that at first did not
make intuitive sense, but would later on become the foundation of his game design. His initial design was not a
traditional looped racetrack. Instead, his first level featured a split track, without an opponent, in which the
player had to make a choice whether to pursue one path or another (Figure 2).

Coin collection and difficult choices would become key motifs in Enriques final racetrack design. This
design featured an ellipsoid racetrack and two computer-controlled opponents. Coins were scattered across the
large racetrack at regular intervals (see Figure 3). Enrique had programmed the player character to acquire
points upon colliding with the coins, which would then disappear.

Figure 1. Researcher homage to "Shy Guy's Beach".

Figure 2 - Enrique's split track experiment
However, if one of the computer-controlled characters hit a coin first, it would deduct points from the
players total (see Figure 4). Enrique forced the player to constantly make difficult choices between racing
quickly and acquiring points. The proposed poster will provide further images highlighting the evolution of
Enriques design solutions and supporting programming in Kodu.

Figure 3. Enrique's ellipsoid track with coins

Figure 4. Opponent coin-grabbing reduces score

Conclusions and implications

First, participants like Enrique were continually reframing the problem space of game design by sketching out
ideas in Kodu and testing them in play. Initially, these ideas sometimes did not seem to make sense to adult
mentors and other participants. Second, for participants like Enrique the purpose of computational thinking was
to serve his expressive capacity in game design. Put differently, the overarching activity of game design became
the principal structure for engagement with problems spaces of programming. Enrique confronted programming
problems as they emerged in the enterprise of game design.
Design education in art schools like the Bauhaus has taught using the integration of material production
techniques (technical knowledge) and mastery of expressive forms (aesthetic knowledge) into a single holistic
approach. Given the need to interest young people in computing careers at an early age, perhaps an organized
design pedagogical approach that integrated technical competency and expressive capacity would help them see
relevance of computing to the vibrant possibilities they see in their world .

References
Hoadley, C., & Cox, C. (2009). What is design knowledge and how do we teach it. In C. DiGiano, S. Goldman,
& M. Chorost (Eds.), Educating learning technology designers: Guiding and inspiring creators of
innovative educational tools (pp. 1935). New York: Routledge.
Kafai, Y. B., Burke, Q., & Resnick, M. (2014). Connected Code: Why children need to learn programming.
Cambridge: MIT Press.
Lemke, J. L. (2012). Multimedia and discourse analysis. Routledge Handbook of Discourse Analysis, 7989.
Schn, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic books.

Acknowledgments
The author thanks Cody Steward and Kelly M. Tran for their efforts crafting and conducting the intervention.