Supporting creativity in computer game authoring

Designing a computer game is a complex and challenging creative task which can play a valuable role in children's education. Game designers draw on skills from different artistic domains such as storytelling, visual design and music to create a coherent dynamic experience for the player. There are also a number of technical skills to be acquired such as programming with a scripting language or mastering complex level editing tools. To be a successful designer, however, the novice must also learn the necessary thinking (meta-cognitive) skills to work within an open ended creative process. This project will investigate the creative stages of computer game design, and explore how young novice designers can be effectively supported throughout this process. Previous research has identified that computer game authoring has potential in an educational context, for example by introducing children to computer programming, developing story writing skills and by bolstering their self esteem. The findings from preliminary studies suggest that game design tasks may also foster meta-cognitive skills such as planning, reflection and self directed learning. This is consistent with theories of the creative process in other domains.The first stage in the project will be to use a design-based research methodology to map out a theoretically informed model of the creative stages involved in the computer game authoring process, and the interplay between these stages. Data gathered from a field study in a local school over a period of three months will be integrated with theoretical insight into creativity to further understanding of the creative process of computer game authoring and identify the required domain and meta-cognitive skills. Observations and interviews from the field study will also be used to identify effective strategies for supporting novice designers during different stages of the creative process.In the next phase of the project, a learner centred design methodology will be used to design and implement software support for novice designers. This software scaffolding, based on the model developed in the previous stage, will be built into a computer game authoring tool called Adventure Author which enables 10-14 year children to create 3D computer games. The software will be evaluated during the final phase of the project with another group of novice designers. The evaluation will have two aims: firstly to assess the efficacy of the software scaffolding and identify improvements for the future; and secondly to refine the theoretical model on which the software scaffolding is based.In conclusion, this project aims to develop a deeper theoretical understanding of the creative process of computer game design, using this model to develop software support for novice designers. A further aim is to contribute to an understanding of the educational potential of computer games by identifying the domain and meta-cognitive skills which are required by novice game designers.