Introduction

The children may need some of this lesson to finish off their racing games before evaluating their final product. 

Then, as with the collecting games, ask the students to recap the processes they have gone through and what they have learned over the last few weeks in making their first and second Kodu games. What were the most important elements for making them successful games? Did you improve in your second game? How?

We are now going to establish and agree a set of criteria for evaluating these racing games. Ask - 

• What sort of categories should we rate the game on?
• What should it have in it?
• What shouldn’t it have?
• How can we decide if it’s a good game?

Establish that when companies create any game in the real world it is created for a particular audience, it might not always be the game maker’s favourite game, and it is the game player’s opinion that matters the most. If they don’t like it, if it’s too easy, or too hard they won't play it.

Draw up a class set of criteria that can be used for student peer assessment. Here are some suggestions for things you may want to include in your list:

Coding

• Characters - Do they do what they are supposed to do? Are the controls correct? Could anything be improved in how they work?
• Game systems - Have they got a working scoring system? Does it declare a win/loss?

Game environment

• Does it look good? Why?
• Does the world work for this game? Why? 
• Are there any parts that are inaccessible or cause problems?
• Does anything need to be changed or improved?

Playability

• Is the game fun to play?
• Is it too easy, too hard or just the right level of challenge?
• Do you want to play the game again?
• Have they added anything extra to make the game even better?

This list has been turned into our own game review sheet, which you can find HERE. You can use this with your students or ask them to create their own using their own list of criteria and this blank version HERE.

Ask the students to carry out a review of a partner’s game and then feedback to them. 

At the end ask some students to share some of the feedback they received. Was it useful and constructive?  How did they feel about their final work and the project?