Filament Games has
won a silver medal at the 2015 International Serious Play Awards for its Backyard Engineers Serious
Game. Backyard Engineers is
an online game that helps players think like engineers as they design their own
homemade catapults: players experiment with physics concepts and
manipulate several catapult components -- such as gear ratios, arm lengths, and
building materials -- in their quest to design the ultimate water balloon
launcher. It's easy enough to jump in, with helpful tutorials and extra
instructional text throughout.
The game utilizes a mostly visual interface to help
players make and iterate their catapults, thus eliminating the need of
“numerical hoops” to play the game. By customizing different mechanical
elements of the catapult, students can manipulate movement, accuracy, range,
and damage to drench even the most evasive of targets. Each level of the game
is a unique puzzle that challenges players to experiment with engineering
solutions.
The game was designed from the ground up around
meaningful learning objectives that inform the gameplay mechanics. Standards-based
curriculum and a progress reporting dashboard are included with the game to
help teachers make the most of this learning experience in their
classrooms.
Backyard
Engineers is most successful in inspiring players to
understand engineering concepts, by merging practical and physical aspects of
the engineering thought process. The game responds to the material challenges
educators face when teaching engineering in the classroom, thus helping them
introduce engineering concepts with minimum overheads.
Design
Challenges
Matt Haselton, the lead game designer, tried to
make a list of challenges educators face when teaching engineering in the
classroom.
The first challenge to overcome was material.
Teachers who teach using traditional methods face a lot of overhead such as
time, cost, and materials. If a teacher wants students to build their own
catapults during a class period, they will need items such as Popsicle sticks,
twine, and other building materials - and the funds to purchase them.
The second challenge was finding a way to teach
engineering to the students. Engineering is a subject that relies heavily on
information from math and statistics, and the designer wanted to make sure that
players would not have to jump through numerical hoops to play the game. By
eliminating this element, players could solely focus on the engineering
process. To do this, the game heavily visualizes the iteration methods. Players
can make immediate changes to their catapult and immediately test their design
to see how decisions they make affect mechanical output. The designer’s belief
was that once students have mastered the engineering process, they would be
able to add in the math and science that applies.
Gameplay
In the game, players create the best possible
ultimate catapult to launch water balloons at their bullying neighbors on the backyard!
Each catapult component costs design points, and they use up energy when
moved, armed, or fired -- merging practical and physical aspects of the
engineering process. Kids score points for clearing each level of bullies using
the fewest water balloons while preserving the most energy, so placing
catapults strategically to create accurate and/or large splash zones
is important.