Urban Game Design as a Tool for Creativity, Collaboration, and Learning Among Youth

As part of a National Science Foundation grant entitled "Urban Game Design as a Tool for Creativity, Collaboration, and Learning Among Youth," we report on early findings from our first workshop with a group of young people, aged 9-14, at a branch of the New York Public Library. The focus of the workshop was to determine whether teaching kids the principles of game design had any impact on how they used mobile devices for creative ends. We report on early findings that suggest that game play does not necessarily prompt a desire to design games in youth, that the transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional game spaces can be challenging, and that articulating game rules is one of the most difficult aspects of being a game designer.