Institute of Play's blog

The Institute of Play is growing its team and is still in search of talented players to join a range of new projects and developing initiatives. We are still seeking creative, committed and exemplary game-changers to contribute to our work as a design-led non-profit focused on the future of learning. Open positions include: Chief Operations Officer/Director of Engagement (PDF), Communications Director (PDF) and Curriculum Developer (PDF). There's still time to apply!

This summer, the Institute of Play's free, week-long summer camp, Mobile Quest, worked extensively with the authoring platform 7scenes. For a camp focused on introducing sixth graders to fundamental game design concepts through the use of smartphones—7scenes provided a fun and user-friendly solution. By the end of the week both campers, game designers and parents were impressed by its feature set. During Mobile Quest, kids make and play games, learn about smartphones as game design tools and put their smarts and smartphones to the test.

Encouraging campers to see the world as their game space, 7scenes created an excellent opportunity to introduce campers to mobile games that kept them both physically active and socially engaged. This summer's focus on the concepts of game space (the area of play) and core mechanics (the player's actions) were also conducive to a location-based authoring tool like 7scenes.

Mobile Questers were first introduced to the platform as playtesters, playing an Institute of Play designed 7scenes game, Picknic at Quicknic. In this game, they used Nokia N95s as guides, alerting them to different hotspots, clues and activities, as they traversed a foreign planet that bore a striking resemblance to Washington Square Park. Next, campers were introduced to 7scenes as authors, taking a sneak peek behind the curtain to see how the Quicknik game was developed. Then, also through 7scenes, the campers were able to go back in time and get a bird/satellite's eye view of the data their gameplay generated. Seeing their movements and pictures animated before them helped to make an invisible system both visible and concrete. Suddenly the Mobile Questers had an urgent need to know: Whose information was it anyway? Where did the information go when they took a picture? Whose information was it and how did it get there?

For Mobile Quest, 7scenes proved a useful tool to think with, one that helped to introduce campers to the role of smartphones in both game and communication systems. But it was the high potential for fun in the outside world that really hooked the campers and made them eager to make their own games. Given the game challenge to design a game for Washington Square Park the campers took advantage of the variety of 7scenes storytelling modes and the inviting and map-based interface to brainstorm ideas and prototype games that would take place in the park. Working in small groups and in collaboration with their team leaders, the campers were designed simple games and stories using 7scenes. Gathering media, working from maps and using life-size game props, campers spent two days designing player experiences and putting their earlier game design lessons to good use. The camp ended with a giant playtest of seven 7scenes games, with family and friends joining in on the session using everything from iPads to N95s to play and explore Washington Square Park.

For more 7scenes and Mobile Quest fun, click here!

For the past month, the Institute of Play has been working hard to design games, develop curriculum and research game authoring platforms in preparation for the week-long game design summer camp, Mobile Quest. Mobile Quest is presented in partnership with the Pearson Foundation, the Mobile Learning Institute, Nokia and Parsons the New School for Design. Mobile Quest is designed for rising 6th graders and focuses on game design, smartphones and mobile literacy. This summer, over 35 kids from all over New York City will participate in Mobile Quest. They'll spend the week working with their peers and a team of expert designers and technologists to create games that engage the sights and sounds of the city as part of its game space.

This week marked the launch of an online social learning network, custom-designed by the Institute of Play for the game-based learning school, Quest to Learn. A creative, resourceful and stalwart team of designers, programmers, project managers and wellness experts collaborated to bring Being Me to life. Being Me’s features enable students to engage in a range of practices from self-reflective moments where they track how they’re feeling to more community-oriented activities where they participate in online discussions or share perspectives. Being Me supports Quest’s trimester-long focus on team work and how elements interact to create relationships within systems. It will also have an active role in Q2L’s afterschool space, providing opportunities for students to post, rate and comment on their work with the support of their adult mentors.