What makes a good game, especially a good educational or learning game, is a little more involved. Think about your favorite games and see if their characteristics match up with these. Here is a short overview of what makes a good game, and four interactive modules on computer game and web design to help you understand what makes the game good: Intro to Programming Games Part 1 & Part 2; Games and Interactive Webpages Part 3 & Part 4. Watch this video as well for a brief overview of what makes a good game. Finally, this article provides further tips on what makes a good game.
Where do you start? One good starting point is with Scratch, a free game design tool you download to your computer to develop computer games and animations. It is an easy to learn, powerful tool and provides an online community where you can play other people’s games and see their code and get advice and reviews of your work. Check out these activity guides and tutorials to help you get started using Scratch: Activity Guides; Tutorials.
