I recently finished my first semester as a university teacher, and it was a pretty cool experience! I gained a new perspective on leadership through working with my students, and while putting together the lesson plan, I found that my experience developing games became useful in unexpected ways.

This isn't a comprehensive guide to gamifying education as a whole, but just a collection of observations.

#1 Designing for your target audience

My subject was "Aesthetics and Music in Videogames" for the 6th semester of a Musical Production program, which is to say, I would teach videogame scoring to experienced musicians who had very limited or near-zero familiarity with game development. That was basically my target audience, I wanted to design each one of my classes as experiences they specifically would enjoy, kind of like levels in a game.

With that in mind, I leveraged our shared music knowledge as a bridge to explain concepts that are unique to game scoring: comparing common music software (DAWs) to more specialized tools like FMOD, organizing stems to make adaptive game music in the same way one would set audio tracks for a pop song, recreating 8- and 16-bit-era sound chips using plug-ins that are similar to synths they already use, etc.

Most importantly, I promised them that while grading their assignments I wouldn't judge them at all on the 'quality' of their music (harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, mixing, etc.), they didn't need to learn all that again from me. This gave them tons of freedom to pursue any style they wanted and explore musical ideas that personally interested them in the process of meeting my more technical requirements. Homework can be a form of play!

The goal was to reassure them that "game music" isn't a genre they'd be confined to. On the contrary, games would allow them to present their own ideas in novel and surprising ways. Tetris Effect was perfect to demonstrate that point, we actually managed to play it together in class.

#2 Setting realistic goals and deadlines

Between assigning homework, grading it, and tracking attendance, I sometimes felt like a game producer. During the first few weeks, I was fairly strict about assignment deadlines. In my mind I thought: "they aren't difficult. It's entirely on them if they don't do them", which carries some truth, but after noticing many delays and getting to know my students better, I started to form a more nuanced perspective.

Even though everyone was engaged in class (they loved pointing out their favorite games when I gave examples), the harsh truth is that the vast majority of my students didn't plan or ultimately even consider working on videogames. They were mostly set on producing popular music, some already did so professionally while studying.

In hindsight, it seems obvious, but with everything else going on in their lives, they wouldn't become professional game composers in 6 months through a single subject in their 4-year program. Soon I decided to give them more flexibility to deliver their assignments (within the university's requirements), and my mission became clearer, I would use the little time we had to show them how exciting composing for games can be. I could still inform them of the challenges ahead, but without demanding them to face them in full.

#3 Allowing player expression

Just like players, students take pride in their discoveries. Answering a teacher's question should feel as great as solving a little puzzle in Zelda. The key is in providing just enough information for them to connect the dots on their own.

Conclusion

I'm sure more comparisons could be made, but I'll save them for a future post if I get the chance to teach again.

I love that almost anything can become a useful reference for us as game designers. The reverse is true too: being a game designer can become a useful reference for almost anything else.

I spent way too much time making presentations for each topic. I avoided putting text dumps as much as possible, and instead focused on sharing multiple examples for every new concept while asking open-ended questions for us to discuss together, like "Which leitmotifs could you identify in this Halo trailer?". Many of my students already knew the Halo theme by heart, and they picked out different parts of it in that trailer.

As such, we first discussed topics on a more personal level, so they could form their own judgments and opinions without fear of being wrong. Afterwards, it was easy and sincere to say something along the lines of "you are all correct! In the games industry this is usually recognized as such and such...", so they could communicate what they just learned effectively in professional environments.

hugolaviada.na@gmail.com