Abstract
Most research on game making has focused on screen designs leaving aside the potentially rich domain of making game controllers for learning. In this chapter, we illustrate how youth created wearable or e-textile-based controllers with physical and digital feedback by combining tangible and digital construction kits, using Scratch, the MaKey MaKey, the Lilypad Arduino, and ModKit. In an eight-session workshop, 14–15-year-old youth not only programmed their own Scratch games but also created wearable or physically reactive game controllers using sensors to activate a response on the screen, through the physical artifact, or in both interfaces. In the discussion, we address what we learned about tool and workshop design to facilitate and support the introduction of such playful interface design to novice programmers.
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Notes
- 1.
The other two team members were not interviewed. One declined, and the other did not obtain parental permission.
- 2.
Quinn declined to be interviewed.
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Richard, G.T., Kafai, Y.B. (2015). Responsive Make and Play: Youth Making Physically and Digitally Interactive and Wearable Game Controllers. In: Nijholt, A. (eds) More Playful User Interfaces. Gaming Media and Social Effects. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-546-4_4
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