This is a big week. We spent the first half running around to prepare things for our Big Wednesday Playtest. We finished a new iteration of the Sustainable Town Builder game, complete with a template system, allowing for speedy iteration. Our new game, what we are calling Filth Fling, had its first-iteration paper prototype completed, and we added art to our only digital prototype.
Wednesday, we went to playtest at THREE DIFFERENT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. It was amazing to get so much data, but we were exhausted. It is hard to match the energy of excited, engaged elementary school students, which probably means some things were working. We say some great social behavior emerge from two of our prototypes. The students discussed decisions they needed to make with each other. First we went to Aiken Elementary, where we tested with the combined classes of Mrs. Jil Graham and Mrs. Jen Kusserow. The students were broken up into three groups and rotated through our prototypes so that they would all get to try each. We then headed to Myrtle Elementary, where we visited Mrs. Kristie Rosgone’s class. Throughout the morning, the wonderful Keystone Oaks Technology Coordinator Mrs. Carol Persin accompanied us.
In the afternoon, we went to Avonworth Elementary and tested with a group of students under the masterful instruction of Mrs. Irene Pendel and Erin Cawley.
We learned that the kids got really excited about the crafting in Junkyard Divers, loved the energy of Filth Fling, and, once they understood the rules in the Sustainable Town Simulator, became engrossed with its systems. Hopefully, we can recycle these prototypes to extract these resonant elements and use them to craft an even better experience.
Once back, we began to iterate on these ideas, research setting up a networked communication between iPads to allow for a multiplayer game, and continued polishing our branding material, including our poster and team photo.