Evidence that we at No Crusts Interactive are nerds: We both did our recommended readings for classes BEFORE the class lectures.
We’re headed to Boston for Sandbox Summit on April 15-16 to present two workshops, which means we have the opportunity to recommend games to play BEFORE you come to the workshops! (Even if you’re not attending, we’ll undoubtedly post the slides here afterward, so you’ll benefit by playing the games and then reading our summaries…)
So, promote yourself to the head of the class and play these games before you see us!
Play by the Book: Exploring Classic Stories in Games (Anne)
Monday, April 15, 2:30-4pm
eBooks and other forms of storytelling apps are everywhere, but transitioning an existing story to an interactive format requires careful stewardship and design. In this workshop, we’ll discuss how to blend story, character, and gameplay to make the transition from linear narrative to interactive, exploratory masterpiece.
This app from Nosy Crow features a beautiful traditional rendering of the Cinderella story with many nice interactive moments. I particularly love how you can get any character’s perspective at any point in the story just by tapping on them.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App
Storytelling hijinks from the always hilarious Mo Willems, with the narrative generated from user input. And if you ever wanted to draw the pigeon yourself, this app will teach you how!
An unusual and visually arresting story about bullying, told from the point of view of a young boy. Among other interactive moments, the user can help the boy blow dandelion seeds by blowing into their device.
Apportunity Knocks: Science + Games = <3 <3 <3 (Carla)
Tuesday, April 16, 8-9:30am
Explore best practices for children’s game design through the lens of STEM learning, the science, technology, engineering, and math curricula that’s become a 21st century education goal. By looking at games, we’ll decipher how STEM and gaming go hand-in-hand from developmental, educational, and commercial perspectives.
Use words to create objects and collect stars. One of my favorite puzzle games with thousands of words and tons of possibilities to solve puzzles. Wherelse does a giant hungry rainbow beaver come in handy?
Lots of folks are exploring how toys and games interact and overlap. Leave it to LEGO to support creativity and problem solving.
This remains one of my favorite games for its playful approach to math, not to mention the data visualization.
Hope to see you next week! Sandbox Summit registration ends on Friday, April 12. We may be a little biased, but Sandbox Summit is awesome for the range of disciplines that they attract. Definitely not the average conference experience.
If you miss us in Boston, there’s always email (kidsGotGame@NoCrusts.com) or Twitter (@NoCrusts). We’ll report back when we return!
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