Having just finished another free public library game design workshop, I have a lot of thoughts about how to make it even better in the future. Here are a few of my ideas.
When I run game design workshops, I follow basically the same formula with one exception. I talk about mechanics first, because I think that is a big driver of a game's theme and genre as well as who is going to want to play your game. People who want to play a light and fun game aren't going to want a lot of mechanics. Likewise, people who want a gritty dungeon crawl are going to favor systems with more mechanics.
I also tend to talk about mechanics and theme and audience as two separate topics, which I then put together in the design part of the workshop. This is because design is often not a linear process and sometimes you want to design mechanics first and sometimes you get an idea for a theme and genre and the mechanics are 2nd. I want to give people tools for their own game design so that they can develop their own processes.
I do like your Madlibs pitch idea and will add that in as an option for people. I think it will be good for those who are overwhelmed by choices and help them focus in on something they can work with.
Those are all good ideas. In the longer (4-session) ones I've done we covered mechanisms in detail. These 2-hour ones are a whirlwind tour and information dump. But I like the structure you are using! Might consider that.
When I run game design workshops, I follow basically the same formula with one exception. I talk about mechanics first, because I think that is a big driver of a game's theme and genre as well as who is going to want to play your game. People who want to play a light and fun game aren't going to want a lot of mechanics. Likewise, people who want a gritty dungeon crawl are going to favor systems with more mechanics.
I also tend to talk about mechanics and theme and audience as two separate topics, which I then put together in the design part of the workshop. This is because design is often not a linear process and sometimes you want to design mechanics first and sometimes you get an idea for a theme and genre and the mechanics are 2nd. I want to give people tools for their own game design so that they can develop their own processes.
I do like your Madlibs pitch idea and will add that in as an option for people. I think it will be good for those who are overwhelmed by choices and help them focus in on something they can work with.
Those are all good ideas. In the longer (4-session) ones I've done we covered mechanisms in detail. These 2-hour ones are a whirlwind tour and information dump. But I like the structure you are using! Might consider that.
Thank you for this comment!!!