Sanctuary - Games Design Workshop

Sanctuary is a youth event held at Blackburn Cathedral each year. This year it was held on the 5th March, and I was allowed the opportunity to run a games design workshop during the workshop sessions. I designed this workshop during my third year in my BA Games Design course.

The workshop plan and games design documents can be found at:

http://eworrall-leveldesign.my-free.website/games

Having been involved with the event in previous years, I was invited to be part of the planning committee for the event. Through this I also became responsible for the organising of video-games for the event. Preparation for the event included collection of video-game consoles and peripherals, and play-testing, as well as digital preparation for my workshops, such as 3D Modeling, UV Mapping and UDK preparation and Kismet.

Video-games - For the event I chose to incorporate 3 different console games, each of which had a form of social interaction attached to the gaming experience.

1. Wii U - Games such as Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart and Just Dance. I chose these games due to my own experience during previous years; they encourage interaction between the players.

2. X-Box - Lego Rock Band. I knew initially that a 'Guitar Hero' style game was the type of game I wanted to include in the video-game section of the event. However, I found that a lot of the songs in these games were not particularly appropriate for the church environment in which the event was set. I therefore chose a more friendly version of the game type, and went for a Lego iteration.

3. PlayStation 3 - From experience I gained at a Christian Create conference I attended, I learnt about a game called Joust. This game greatly encourages social interaction, which is particularly useful in engaging people who don't know each other. This game is played through connecting PS3 move controllers to a MAC: an example of game-play can be seen on the website; http://www.jsjoust.com/

Images are taken from the Sanctuary 2016 Flickr Page

Workshop - Before running the workshop, I needed to prepare and set up all of the equipment, organising the layout of the room so it is easily accessible to the young people.

At the start of the workshop, I made sure I introduced myself, and then each young person introduced themselves. I also encouraged them to mention a game that they liked/disliked/knew of, and why. This could be a video-game, board game, or physical game. I then proceeded to explain what the session entailed; we were going to create a game based on the story of Noah's Ark, which requires the player to find and collect 20 animals (10 animals - 2 of each kind), and place them in an Ark. This would all be set in a virtual version of Blackburn Cathedral. Once all animals are collected, the Cathedral would then flood with water with the Ark sailing away. When the water recedes the Ark would land on the alter, and a rainbow would then appear.

I presented the UV maps of the animals to the young people, and explained how they worked in relation to the 3D model, and the key I had placed on the UV sheets. They then proceeded to texture the UV maps by hand. I also encouraged team work through the creation of a hypothetical games design company. The young people suggested names, and even drew a potential logo design. The textures for each of the animals can be seen below.

Crocodile

Elephant 

Frog 

Giraffe 

Hedgehog 

Zebra 

Kangaroo 

Lion 

Parrot 

Peacock 

During the break between sessions, I scanned the textures into the Computer, and proceeded to adjust them in Photoshop, and then apply them to the animal models. This took much longer to complete than I anticipated, and it proceeded into the second session. However, as I applied each texture to the animal, I drew attention to who created it, ensuring each young person received a chance to see their animal before playing the game.

Cathedral - All animals; two of each kind.

Once this was complete, I asked each young person to decide where in the Cathedral they wanted to hide their animals. I proceeded to place all 20 animals in these locations as each decided on a location, and then allowed them to play-test the game.

Through running my games design workshop, and through organising the video-games for the event, I learnt a number of things;

• In the design industry, there is a preference for specialisation. For instance I specialised in level design in my 3rd year, because it was something I preferred, and required less drawing. This preference is still evident in young people, as some were not too interested in the texturing, and were more interested in the game-play.

• Just as there is a preference for design areas, there is a preference for gaming style. Some like to sit and play Super Mario Bros, requiring little movement. Others are willing to do slight movement in Rock Band, though few were willing to sing (can be seen as embarrassing). Whilst others prefer active games, which can be seen through the use of Joust.

• It is incredibly difficult to run a games design workshop in such a short period of time. I therefore need to create a design and workflow that reduces the time it takes to run a games design workshop, even if it provides only a taste of what games design is like.