Are you interested in teaching students about the gaming industry? We are excited to announce that we have made updates to our HS Computer Science Game Development course! Coming in January 2023, our video game development course will include updates that will enhance student learning and engagement.
In this course, students will engage with game development processes through text-based coding to learn the fundamentals of game theory and game design. They will
explore the core building blocks of video games, game logic, physics interactions, character animation, and more. Unplugged and Digital Citizenship lessons will focus on applications, ethical behavior, and STEM careers in the gaming industry.
By the end of this course, students will be able to navigate the Godot gaming environment, have an understanding of industry careers and ethical considerations, and be able to create their own games using game design principles.
Since gaming is such a specialized field, our team approached standards alignment a bit differently. This course is 100% aligned with the ICT Gaming Essentials Objectives.
We recognize that many K-12 schools may still elect to align with CSTA and ISTE computer science standards. As a result, the course partially aligns with the nationally recognized CSTA Standards and the ISTE Standards.
Keep reading to explore more about the course updates. If you’re ready to get this course in your high school classrooms, schedule a 30 minute call with one of our curriculum experts or start a 30 day free trial of Codelicious Curriculum.
Throughout this course, students will create a platformer game (Barrel Boss), a survival game (Fly Catcher), and a multiplayer game (Paddle Defense). For their final game, students will have the freedom to choose any genre. Let’s take a deeper look at a couple of these games.
While building the Barrel Boss platformer game, students learn about collision object nodes, physics interactions, level design, input events, and more. They build the first level of the game together. Then, they have the opportunity to apply what they have learned and express themselves by designing two additional levels of the game that incorporate extensions of their choosing.
At another point in the course, students create a survival game called Fly Catcher. As a class, they explore advanced gaming concepts, such as character animation, random movement, instances, user interface features, etc. After creating their game, they test and debug it using debugging tools and conduct usability testing before presenting their finished games.
These games are just two examples of what students will create by the end of each unit. In the next section, learn about the seven units that make up this course.
The course is divided into seven units that explore game design principles, industry careers, and ethical considerations. The units build on each other, allowing students to expand their previous learning to master complex skills. At the end of each unit, students create their own game using what they have learned. Below is an overview of each unit.
Each unit includes all four lesson types arranged in a way that’s conducive to learning. Students connect their learning to games through unplugged, digital citizenship, STEM careers, and coding lessons.
Additionally, each unit ends with a focus on a STEM career. Here are a few of the STEM careers students will explore:
Coming to this course are guidebooks, which will help students document the important concepts from each coding lesson in their own words and craft individualized resources that can be referenced throughout the entirety of this course. This supplemental resource helps students take effective notes as they follow the slide decks in each lesson. When complete, it can also act as a study guide for the final assessment. View examples of guidebook pages below.
Codelicious lessons include several types of supplemental resources for teachers and students. The resources, including suggestions for use, found in HS Computer Science Game Development are detailed on the common resources reference sheet. View the first page of the Common Resources document below.
Codelicious provides full-year K-12 computer science curriculum that aligns with your school or district’s adopted computer science standards. The curriculum offers grade level differentiated learning pathways, aligns with all state and national computer science standards, and is continually updated to reflect changes in computer science. Codelicious courses are customized to districts’ unique instructional strategy for computer science integration.
Alongside our HS Computer Science Game Development course, here are our other computer programming classes for high school students that we offer in our K-12 Pathway:
