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+1 Charisma, +1 Wisdom if you say hello

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avalaunch
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Hello everyone,

My name is Kris Fields. I'm a big board game enthusiast and an amateur game designer. I'm working on my first game right now, which is an attempt to merge an auction based game mechanic with a combat mechanic. The idea is that you bid on combatants, and then you battle them.

That's what I'm working on in my free time. Most of my time, however, is spent working on Avalaunch, which, depending how market research goes, will quickly become a crowdfunding platform specifically geared towards games - a platform that is itself a bit of a game.

My aim right now is to talk to as many other game designers and publishers as I can. I would love to start a conversation about your experiences in publishing and launching your games - especially any problems or difficulties you might have encountered. I'd also love to hear your thoughts about other launching platforms (ie. Kickstarter), as well as what you'd want most out of a crowdfunding platform.

neljer00
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Hello!

Kris,
My name is Jeremy Nelson and I am new to this endeavor as well. So far, I feel like I am in a unique position compared to others on this site in that the games I have begun creating are educational based (although I have only met a few people so I may be stepping on toes, for which I sincerely apologize). I am an high school history, government, and economics teacher and I have created one game based on the Middle Ages and I am finishing up another one centered on micro-economic concepts. There are a handful of difficulties I am facing moving down this road:

1. I want these games to be educational, so I have to continually remind myself of that fact; there are a ridiculous amount of really good, really fun ideas, but I cannot stray so far into 'fun' and lose sight of the curriculum requirements that shape what I teach my students.

2. Thus, my administration casts a leery eye my way when I bring up gaming in my classroom. They think along the lines of Chutes and Ladders, or Risk, or Monopoly, not a game that is driven by content. I have essentially gone 'off the radar' and not really discussed my gaming endeavor with the curriculum so as to operate unencumbered. Despite their skepticism, they have been supportive.

3. Most of my board games are rather large. I want my students to be able to all gather around the board and all of them to touch game pieces; very cooperative in nature. For my classroom, this isn't too difficult as I have tables and chairs in my room and it is a quick rearrange to make a large board function. However, looking forward to publishing my game ideas, the size becomes a minor hurdle. The average classroom has desks and the average teacher does not have a great amount of space to store something of great size.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Jeremy

avalaunch
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Hi Jeremy, Education board

Hi Jeremy,

Education board games are definitely a different beast altogether. Recently, I ran across an essay on Educational Games & Gaming that you might find interesting:
https://sites.google.com/site/ptlehmann/gaming/edu

Also, have you heard of Quest to Learn school? It's a charter school in New York that is completely gamified. Pretty intriguing ideas they are incorporating:
http://q2l.org/

So it sounds like in addition to your games being education oriented, they're also "classroom games" vs your traditional 1-6 player games. That sounds like a very niche market. I'm not sure how you'd best go about getting a base of support for your games. If you're having trouble getting your administration behind you, and you're the one creating the games, I can only imagine it'll be an even more uphill battle for other teachers.

-Kris

neljer00
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Kris, I may be overly

Kris,
I may be overly critical of my administration; they haven't put the hammer down or told me to stop with my curriculum conversion ideas. However, they, like most admins are steeped in the current educational models which are very strongly shaped by the standardized testing that takes place.

Thank you for the links that you shared. I did a quick 2-minute scan of the Quest to Learn school site and that looks very intriguing. I am also interested in reading that essay. Thanks again.

Cheers,
Jeremy

avalaunch
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Jeremy, Who do you see as the

Jeremy,

Who do you see as the eventual customers of your game? The school administration, the teachers, or ? It's definitely going to be tough as nails no matter how you go about it. Schools (and teachers) rarely have free money, and they usually have an agonizing process fraught with red tape that they must go through before they can spend the little they have.

The essay is short - a very easy read. It's by Tom Lehmann, who designed Race for the Galaxy. Before that, he was both an economist and computer programmer.

Willi B
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Hello

I just needed the WIS and CHA bump.

avalaunch
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Joined: 04/13/2012
You probably feel more wise

You probably feel more wise and charismatic already...

neljer00
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Consumers of Ed Games

Kris,
I guess the ideal buyer of one of my educational board games would be other teachers. The biggest hurdle to that is the price tag; you hit the nail on the head with the limited budget realities. Teachers use games/simulations fairly often but most of those that I have used and found are free and require very limited resources and pieces and time to set up. And, most of those simulations last only 1-2 class periods at the most.

Since creating my Middle Ages game four years ago I have had the desire to market it in some way. Aside from the budget concerns, administrators and curriculum coordinators would be difficult to convince of the necessity of a large board game. In addition, schools are under increasing pressure to implement state education standards, which are geared towards standardized tests, which means very little room for something like a board game. In Minnesota, the good news is that there is not currently, nor are there plans for the near future, to have a state-wide social studies standardized test; but the standards do exists (they were just updated/revised two months ago) and schools are expected to utilize them.

Aside from that, board games in the classroom have the 'cultural lag' hurdle to overcome. "This is not how education in America works." In order to create some semblance of academia with my Middle Ages game, I use a pre-test and a post-test prior to and immediately after student play the game. That way I have a quantitative measure of student learning through playing the game in case any serious questions arise over what I am doing. But it is also important for me to know, as that is the purpose of the game: if my students are not learning much, or enough, through the gaming experience, then I need to revise and improve the game.

I don't see the Middle Ages game being axed from my world history curriculum any time soon, if for no other reason than it has taken on, dare I say, mythical proportions in my school. Upperclassmen have this vested interest in how their family performs in the game and younger students have heard about 'The Game' but have no idea what it is really about other than the constant buzz from the students that play it. The Fargo-Moorhead newspaper also did a large article on the game this past year when we played, complete with color photo and student interviews, firmly solidifying The Game as a constant in the 10th grade social studies curriculum.

I apologize if I rambled a bit much.

Cheers,
Jeremy

AlduinSlayer
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Hello

Hey,

My name is Vince, and I'm here to become more wise and charismatic.

avalaunch
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Jeremy, One of my favorite

Jeremy,

One of my favorite teachers in middle school was Mr. Sanders. Like you, he taught social studies. Twice during the year he had us put on a mock trial (Jefferson Davis & Harry Truman were on trial), and once we played an agricultural game. I can't remember the specifics of the game other than it was fun. While I don't remember a lot of the facts and figures that we were taught, I learned more from that class than I did most. I was a really shy kid at the time and he helped break through that shell so I could realize my potential. For the first mock trial, he asked each student to write down, in order, what role they would most like to play. I remember I put researcher, secondary witness, and lead defense counsel. The first two were minor roles, while the last was arguably the most important. Part of me clearly wanted to take the lead, but the rest of me was terrified to do so. Being that I put lead counsel as my third choice, and I know other students put it first, I was pretty sure I'd be a researcher - a job that required the least amount of interaction with others. Of course Mr. Sanders didn't allow that. He assigned me the lead defense counsel role, which involved more public speaking than any other role. It was tough at first, but he pushed me and got the best out of me. I kicked ass, won the trial, and for the next trial, my 3 choices were: Lead Prosecution, Lead Defense, and Judge.

The point is that he took an unconventional approach and an unusually large interest in his students. We need more teachers like him. Schools should be encouraging outside the box teaching techniques, but instead they're more worried about standardized tests.

I know that doesn't help you much. Your post just reminded me of Mr. Sanders and I thought I'd share.

-Kris

avalaunch
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Vince, You got it. Later

Vince,

You got it. Later today you'll probably find that all of your ideas area a little bitter sharper, and people are responding to you a little bit better than yesterday.

neljer00
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That is why we do it

Kris,
Thank you for that reply. That story underscores why I as a teacher do what I do. That is a lofty goal: to get more out of students and athletes (I coach as well) than they feel they are capable of. But that is the goal. I appreciate the feedback!

Cheers,
Jeremy

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