Teaching
Student creativity is one of the most valuable elements of a game development education; it empowers every student to be a maker. Each individual has strengths and interests that can impact the community and achieve different outcomes through diverse approaches. We can see an example of this with Pyrebug Studios, a group of UConn students that took their education and published several games, including Rubicon and Scrapshoot, that are now for sale on Steam.
Games are seeping into everyday life as a new form of entertainment and interactivity. There are games on your phone, interactive walls in hospital lobbies, story experiences on your living room TV, and so many more subtle ways that we are playing games. Infact the games for education market is now expanding faster than ever with at-home learning. Any student who works through my curricula can chart a clear course to make a difference in this emerging interactive world.
My approaches to teaching include:
- Rapid iteration based on player feedback as a means of obtaining more refined solutions to problems
- Critique through writing, video, podcasts, and direct discussion
- Supporting students with entrepreneurial spirit applying to the UConn IDEA Grant, InQbator Program, Get Seeded, and others.
- Group work and hands-on learning in the classroom in real-time
- Patterning how to break down problems and create solutions
- Exposure to diverse game-making toolsets such as pen and paper, board games, C#, and even Twitter.
- Project development in public settings
- The use of online forums to get feedback from other developers
There are only a handful of resources for game designers; I endeavor to create material and innovative approaches to formulating classes that integrate education with research. Check out my youtube channel;
One student commented on my video about a programming technique called raycasting:
“This is a perfect example of how to comment a script for beginners, and for non-coders. If nobody actually explains to a novice that what you are doing is instructing the ray to move from the center of the camera view to the mouse pointer position, how would you know? … but you were better able to teach this in a few minutes than I have ever heard it described before. The subject of this video was clearly not something you intended to do multiple lessons about, but it is too bad you didn’t. It looks like this video is your most popular one, as well. Useful and reliable information.”
Diversity in education
Through many years of project development with a diverse student body — programmers, artists, executives, and more — I have learned to adapt. Each person will absorb information and communicate differently. It then becomes my task to impart learning through various means that span both ends of the spectrum, whether via simple reading or exaggerated pantomime performance. I am passionate about expanding a student’s mind in whatever direction necessary to encourage those breakthrough perspectives in their education. Each time I am successful, I have shared more of myself.
To provide one specific example where I put this approach in place: in an email exchange discussing course adaptations for a student with the associate director for the center for students with disabilities, who said
“Thank you Ken, This is the epitome of the interactive process when determining accommodations, which is awesome. “
Equity of access to game development education is critical as games have already become a universal medium, with 67% of everyone over the age of 18 and 76% under 18. (ESA Facts) I see this in my game development program. For instance, in a recent year, my foundational Introduction to Scripting class had 15 students, 40% of which were women, and 33% were people of color. As educators and game developers, our job is to forge a path toward more heterogeneous teams and bring stories from underrepresented communities forward. In the past, I worked with my colleague Sam Olschan and Stacy Webb to develop a Digital Media badge day for the local Girl Scout Troop. My outreach work currently focuses on bringing game development workshops and Game Jams to low-income, neurodivergent, and LGBTQIA+ populations using board games, card games, and Twine.
Reach out if you’re a museum, informal education space, or high school looking to implement full-day / multi-day programming focused on game development, interactive narrative, and design thinking.
Community
I do a lot here at UConn beyond classroom education. Administering the Big East varsity and club esports programs numbering over 700 students, teaching graduates, undergraduates, and Precollege summer camp that focuses on game development. In Connecticut, I work with High School teachers to administer Digital Media classes statewide via the Early College Experience Program.
>>>reach out if you would like me to come to visit your high school or if you’re seeking advice on how to implement programs in Digital Media, Game Development, or Esports. <<<<
Esports is a burgeoning multibillion-dollar industry. In my role here at the university, I have acted as an expert for conversations at the CT Government Relations department and continue to promote the university to interested parties.
I also act as an admissions committee for undergraduate and graduate students seeking their BA, BFA, MA, and MFA. I’m happy to provide presentations on applying to college, a digital media portfolio process, and how to make the best impressions. College applications are a stressful time for students and parents. Check out my College seeking Checklist Article for my college breakdown and application tips.
Locally I volunteer my time to run GameDevCT’s Global Game Jam, CT’s First-ever Pitch Competition, the Boston Festival of Indie Games, and library game design days. Internationally I served as the chair of the International Game Developers Association Learning, Education, and Games Special Interest Group (An acronym I will not subject you to).
Engagement outside the classroom means providing students a chance to engage with the resources of UConn and CT. Students need to engage in hardware, whether motion capture demo days, Arduino escape room puzzle making or tech demos on VR/AR equipment.
I was proud of our students who attended and won the Connecticut Festival of Indie Games in 2021.Game design students eager to demonstrate their art in a format that befits the medium ran booths over the three-day festival and garnered dozens of comments from Connecticut parents, high school students, and educators praising student games.
Pedagogy
Games are great teaching devices, and in my classroom, we play games to learn! Like the education game I designed for my Game Production course GameDevSimTycoonXtreme which used linked Google Sheets to simulate the game industry from an entrepreneur’s perspective. Over a semester, students acted as entrepreneurs, deciding who to hire, what product to make, and whether or not to make a bunch of small games or shoot for AAA quality and sales! In addition, they learned the business of games and how market forces, IE, new console launches/other players can impact your products.
You’ll hear the daily Game Market Podcast that I produced in the audio clip above. Each day I would reveal specific information. Things like team morale factored into the potential that news could slip early on an unannounced title or that a highly skilled employee was a free agent. Students could decide to crunch the team to get a product out early or collaborate with other studios to share their plans.
During class time, we work through topical lectures like the job application process, trust, and roleplaying scenarios that they will encounter in the workplace. Unfortunately, things like sexism, idea stealing, the pressure to consume alcohol at social functions, and interpersonal conflicts are aspects of working in some businesses. I want to arm my students with the skillsets to read between the lines in an interview. Is this company a good “fit”? Or is the company looking for greenhorns to crunch?
Assignment Example – Weekly Discussion
- Step 1: play Tower of Goo & World of Goo
- Step 2: READ Interview
- Step 3: Watch my review
- Step 4: After you have played “Tower of Goo” and “World of Goo,” reflect on the following: Tower of Goo is a tremendous two-week student project done at Carnegie Mellon that became a full-fledged video game “World of Goo.” How do the two games compare? Do they “feel” like the same game?
Reasoning
Honest and productive communication is the number one quality on every hiring manager’s list of required skills. The games selected for this class provide opportunities to articulate your feelings and experiences in an appropriate and positive manner. These “soft” skills of collegiality are not only critical day-to-day but allow lead developers to effectively develop pitches and ideas.
Assessment
Participation in discussion takes up a significant portion of grading in this course so to be clear. A student who is participating in the discussion;
- gives valuable criticism and feedback to their colleagues
- Adds new ideas and thoughts to the conversation
- Participates at least twice and respond to two of your classmates either in class or through the class discord channel
- Refer to my How to Critique video for guidance on what to say, but a good guideline is the Three A’s: Answer Questions, Ask Questions, Add Detail.
Assignment Example – Final Assignment
Classes Taught
- Intro to Game Design
- Fundamentals of Coding for Game and Web
- Intro to Scripting
- Advanced Scripting
- Game Production
- Level Design I
- 2D Game Art I
- Multiplayer Game Design
- System Design
- Interactive Storytelling
- Advanced Game Design
- BFA Senior Project
- Disruptive Technologies
- Graduate Colloquium
- Graduate Critique
- XR Game Development
Apprenticeship
Advising graduate students through the process of a Master of Fine Arts program is challenging but rewarding. as part of engaged research at the university, students improve on their education by working on grant-funded projects over the summer.
Major Advisor
- Dennis McCorry, MFA. 2025 expected
- Evgeniia Rein, MFA. 2025 expected
- Danial Ezzati, MFA. 2024 expected
- Maria Shurupova, MFA. 2024 expected
- Jin Liu, MFA. 2024 expected
- Luis Garces, MA. 2022
- Wenchao Lou, MFA. 2021
- Emma Atkinson, MFA. 2021
- Stefan Lopuszanski, MFA. 2020
- Patrick Belanger, MFA. 2018
- Thomas Lee, MFA. 2017
- Philip Abrams, MFA. 2016
- Andrew Bacon, MFA. 2015
- Matthew Keeping, MA. 2015
Associate Advisor
- Tariq Rakha, MFA. 2025 expected
- Christian Romero, MFA. 2025 expected
- Lexy Vecchio, MFA. 2023 expected
- Gideon Slife, MFA. 2022
- Jonathan Ampiaw, MFA. 2020
- Elizabeth Caron, MFA. 2018
Associate Advisor
- Arpita Kurdekar, Integrative Studies PhD. Ongoing
- Christopher Burrows, Psychology PhD. 2016