A Creative Game Design and Programming App

J. Chatain, O. Bitter, V. Fayolle, R. W. Sumner, S. Magnenat

ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion, Interaction and Games (MIG 2019)

Game Programming Pic

Abstract

We present a game creation app for tablets that builds on the popularity of video games while focusing attention on creativity and problem solving. With our app, users design and build a game by first drawing characters and objects on paper with markers and crayons, and then automatically integrate them with our app. An event-based visual programming language allows to program the game logic. In the spirit of creative play, users can jump at any point between the design, programming and test phases in order to realize their imagination. We evaluate our app with a user study to understand how gender and the use of self-made drawings influence the type of games users create and their state of flow during the process. Our results show that letting users draw their own game elements can lead to higher engagement. We also show that girls tend to spend more time programming and less time testing compared to boys, and that our app can help girls gain self-confidence.

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