Evidence/Projects

• Fitness Frenzy Game Design

Purpose

In the fall of 2009 I was placed in a group with Minh Tam Chau, Robert Reyes, Leo Hsu, and Matt Villaescusa to create an educational board game about physical fitness in EDTEC 670 (Game Design). Matt, Robert, and Leo all worked at the same middle school in Sweetwater school district and took on the role of subject matter experts. Tam took on the role of the graphic designer for the board game and card design. I was assigned as the project leader.

When we first met online, it was a challenge to learn some of the concepts behind the game. Rob, Leo and Matt previously sat down and developed the basics of the game which related to the physical education curriculum they were required to implement at their school. The game was to revolve around the FitnessGram test they gave to all eighth graders to check their level of physical fitness. The goal of the game was to give the students a chance to test their fitness and knowledge of the five principles of the FitnessGram test.

The design process began with a brainstorming session about the esthetics of the game board. The objective was to create a game board to represent the five principles of fitness. We decided to all come up with a design and present it at our next meeting and select the best one. We came up with our design and ran with it. Matt, Leo, and Rob developed all of the questions based upon the five principles of fitness. The project was running its course well. I worked with Tam to help with the design of the cards and board. We were in constant communication through GoogleDocs, Skype, and e-mail.

Challenge

When we presented our prototype to our professor, he gave us feedback which made us realize that we had more work to do than expected. I had to take my leadership role to another level to accomplish our goals and complete the game design on time. I took on more of the responsibility to complete the rules of the game and assist finding non-copyright images to be used on our cards and to make sure the board game was visually pleasing to the players.

Once our game questions and rules were finalized it was time to create the game cards and finalize the design of the game board. While reviewing the website we were supposed to upload our game, I recognized it had specific guidelines for the creation of graphics (dimensions and program extensions). Unfortunately none of our graphics documents were in the proper format or size requirements. This large problem held up our ability to complete the project on time, as agreed upon by our group. I took the role of adjusting images and assisting Tam in the process of making sure the images met the standards of the website.

Growth/Results

Using effective communication tools such as e-mail, GoogleDocs, and Skype saved us time and energy. I learned that as a leader I need to take a more proactive approach to assure all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for the final product. I realize now it would have been better to break the project into smaller chunks to keep our deadline.