Draw Your Game to Learn and Review

Last weekend, I was trying to find new games to use in my classroom this autumn. That's when I stumbled across a fantastic application called 'Draw your game'. This app allows, as the name suggests, to draw your own games on a sheet of paper, and then integrate them into the app to bring them to life.

In the classroom, it can be used for a variety of curricular content, but let's be honest, it's more for fun than for its pedagogical benefits. Nevertheless, the creation of a functional game is quite a challenge, and it provides students with opportunities to activate their neurons in exciting ways! So, at the beginning of the year or on less busy days, I intend to introduce it to my class. It looks fun, right? 😉

Here is the procedure in a nutshell:

First, you need a sheet of paper and four felt pens (black, blue, green, red) with rather thick tips. In the app, you can view a tutorial that explains the function of each of these colors. Basically, black is used to make structures, blue makes it possible to move objects, green creates bouncy surfaces and red is used to create danger zones that will be used to eliminate blue objects, but also to hurt the little character, so watch out!

I thought I could create a game in minutes. I slightly overestimated my abilities. You have to think of all sorts of things when you draw the game, and the only way to see what works or not is by testing it.

Here is the first game that I managed to create, after 3 attempts:

Once you're done, you can publish your game, which allows others to play too!

This game is free, but it's possible to use in-app purchases to have access to more features, such as adding a background. But for what I needed to do, the free version was enough.

Good news! This app is available on iOS and Android device.

Have fun creating games with your students!

-Mark