Community reviews for Gamestar Mechanic

This software forced students in an engaging way to work through game design principles in order to win the sprites needed to make games. One student realized that he needed additional parts for the game he wanted to make and asked if he could go back to the tutorials to earn more "raw materials" for his own game making. Too often, these types of programs let students play without ever learning. Gamestar Mechanic is good at not doing this - especially in conjunction with the Mouse Create program.

I think that this is a beautifully rendered and thought out piece of software. I love that my students like it and WANT to use it. I also love that it helps them with critical thinking skills and it helps them adjust their thinking about other types of Coding.

The tool meets many 21st Century skills. It can assist students with engagement. The program does require the teacher to be familiar with basic design techniques, but there are several lesson plans already developed that can assist some that may be hesitant.

I wouldn't use this for long, but it's a fun option to get kids into thinking about the concepts of game design.

Gamestar Mechanic is an amazing resource to teach game design and programming. It teaches logical thought alongside the 'softer' skills such as being resilient and persevering when you cannot complete a particular mission. The open-ended nature of the site means children can go off in a direction that interests themselves, and there is always someone to help you should you become stuck! I also like the way there are structured missions to build skills acquisition, and then a range of challenging, engaging projects to use to practice and embed the skills learnt. All positive, and I suppose one way to improve the site could be to offer more diagnostic tools in the Student Dashboard. As it stands you can see levels complete and games published. Additions such as time spent on each activity may be useful as children will go home and use the website and you have no record of when this was done. One suggestion to improve an already amazing resource. Go and get game designing!

Overall, Gamestar was an engaging program that is difficult to place in a general curriculum. It seems to find a home as an extension activity or for a before/after school program. Gamestar offers some basic ideas about programming which could easily be reinforced by programs like Scratch.

I really need to go through all the quests and be sure to take notes as I go. Because I use it as a filler, it is perfect for that.

I'm not as enthusiastic as some other reviewers, but I am a big fan of this program. I will use it again as an extension for my classes when students finish their class work (Comp. Sci, Tech, Robotics). It could sere kids better with allowing students to import avatars/sprites - but hey, the price is excellent. Also - I e-mailed support a number of times and received no response. That's not okay.

While the graphics in the game engine are not state of the art, the students were highly engaged during the process for story writing, game development, and review. The lessons I presented for Gamestar Mechanic effectively taught writing for ELA standards and met standards for technology tool usage for West Virginia. The students collaborative interactions building levels accompanied by ongoing (after the unit was complete) improvement of their games is what impressed me the most. Many returned after my six-week rotation to discuss where the game headed.

Gamestar Mechanic is highly engaging, and well-designed to help students learn the basics of game design. And for students who love to play video games, and may never have thought about where they come from, Gamestar Mechanic is a perfect learning tool.