Game jam: Playing & making games

Gayle Belcher By Gayle Belcher, Young Adult & New Technology Librarian, Aldrich Public Library July 20, 2017

Teens are introduced to Ren'py, a visual novel maker with ties to the python coding language. This program allows teens to create their own interactive story that includes art and sound. It's basic design makes it an easy jump into coding for those with zero coding knowledge, but it quickly becomes more complex as teens expand on what they want it to do, which makes it a great team project with a focus on creativity, problem solving, communication, and cooperation. 

Prerequisite: Teens need to already know how to use a mouse and keyboard. It will help if they're familiar with how to move files on a computer and have Google accounts, but this is something we can help them with if needed. 

You will need:

  • Projector hooked up to computer. 
  • Computers or laptops for each group or each teen. 

Type: Active
Age: High school
Optimal size: 6-10
Estimated cost: Free
Planning time: 2-5 hours
Frequency: Weekly

Learning outcomes

• Basic intro to python
• Teamwork, communication
• Problem solving, debugging
• Story writing, art

Instructions

  1. Intro
    1. What are visual novels? What roles can you play?
      1. Visual novel: An interactive or kinetic story featuring sound and art.
      2. Roles: Artists, writers, coders, players/cheerleaders.
    2. Tour Ren'py website & forums.
    3. How to download & install Ren'py.
    4. Lets play The Question (a short game that comes with Ren'py when it's downloaded).
    5. Compare The Question to it's coding (have the game pulled up on one side of the screen, the script on the other half). What does each line do? 
  2. First step
    1. Lets make a basic story together! (Very short, utilizes one menu).
      1. Leave mistakes in the code, run the code and see what happens. Work together to find the mistakes and solve it (ex: Leave out a colon and quotation marks). 
      2. Example story outline: 
              • Nems wants to bake a cake but is out of flour. How will Nems get more flour?
              • Decision tree: Go buy more flour / Ask neighbor for flour
              • Results: Less money / Make new friend
              • Ending: Makes cake / Makes cake and shares with friend
    2. Time to start up your own game!
      1. Break into small groups - can work alone if they have a specific story they want to do themselves, but might be easier with a team.
      2. On paper or in Google Drawings, draw a story tree to identify key points & decision branches. Recommend they stick with only two decisions per menu to keep it easier to track. Recommend that they keep it simple and short! 
  3. Creating a game
    1. Continue creating the story outline.
    2. Define characters in the python code, add label start.
    3. At this point, teens can set their own pace on how much dialog to add, how many scenes/menus/labels, etc. 
  4. Continue coding the story
    1. Troubleshoot, answer questions, show how to google or where to search the Renpy documentation to learn how to use additional functions.
  5. Adding art 
    1. Stories might not be complete; that's okay, we can still add art/sound to the first page! Teens can use Google Docs to finish up the dialog/story menus together at home.  
    2. Copyright, licensing, and Creative Commons.
    3. Where to find free art.
    4. How to add art to the game.
  6. Adding sound
    1. Continue looking for art/sound/music.
    2. Where to find free sound.
    3. How to add music/sound to the game.
  7. Free play
    1. Where is everyone at? What do they have left to do? Continue any work.
    2. Play each others' games if they want, complete or incomplete. 
  8. Publishing
    1. How to publish your game for others to play.
    2. Continue free play.

Evaluation

Questionnaire

  1. Do you feel comfortable coding on Renpy? 
  2. Do you know more about python now than you did at the start? 
  3. Did you make a visual novel using the skills you learned?

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