Reference Format: SPIELER, B., PETRI, A., SLANY, W., SCHINDLER, C., BELTRÀN M.E., AND BOULTON, H. 2016. Pocket Code: A Mobile App for Game Jams to facilitate Classroom Learning through Game Creation. In Proceedings of the 6th Irish Conference on game-Based Learning. September 1-2, 2016, Dublin, Ireland, p. 61-79.
Spieler, A. Petri, C. Schindler, W. Slany, ME. Beltran, H. Boulton,Gaeta, J. Smith
Abstract
Game jams are a way to create games under fast-paced conditions and certain constraints . The increase in game jam events all over the world, their engaging and creative nature, with the aim of sharing results among players can be seen in the high participation rate of such events (2013: 16,705 participants from 319 jam sites in 63 countries produced 3248 games) This promising concept can be easily transferred to a classroom setting. Academic game jams are a kind of project work that fosters collaboration and at the same time results in understanding learning content from different subjects.This paper argues that Pocket Code, a mobile app enabling one to program games within minutes, is easy to learn even for novices, and is applicable to different academic subjects. It seems to be a perfect tool for game jams. Children nowadays grow up with mobile devices, and feel comfortable using them. . Further, a mobile app greatly facilitates research since relevant data can automatically recorded when uploading the games to the Pocket Code’s code sharing web-platform (subsequently referred to as web-share). This paper presents the general setting of a game jam, explains the practice of using Pocket Code in the school context, shows the aims of the project, and highlights the first experiments in performing Pocket Code Game Jams