Heard of a game called Shrunk, where the mother who is a scientist has invented a shrinking machine? She shrinks her kids by mistake —the film influence is obvious —and the whole game is about the mother identifying the children. And, the more fascinating part of this story is that this is designed by a girl, about 12 years old, says Santhosh Kumar Subramanian, founder, Bambaram Toy Library.
Subramanian has spent the last four years designing varied games for children as well as adults, and teaching them to do it, too. The afore mentioned little genius was a participant of his workshop.
What impressed Subramanian about the game was the way it was designed. “It’s not unidirectional: you can move either way. The board is designed like a home, with bedrooms, kitchens and the like, and your goal is to chase the mother down till you’re both in the same room. Each time you roll a die to move your counter, you also pick a chore card that decides where the mother goes.”
That chore card is the added element that really makes it work. “When I teach kids — or even adults — how to design a game, the idea is to go beyond the paper prototypes and really get made. For that, you have to be well and truly clear about the rules, among other things. Which is why, during workshops, the games are questioned by other participants as well, to make sure they work,” he says.
Point-to-point movement is only one of the versions a game can be designed on.
“Your game can be strategy-oriented, or have elements of complete randomness,” he says, “The idea is to have a clear design thought. Chess and Scotland Yard are both games based on point-to-point movement. Their mechanics are the same, even though the games are totally different,” says Subramanian.
Science made fun
Anyone can learn how to create a board game, “It’s not rocket science,” says Subramanian, adding that kids are usually far more creative than adults.
It doesn’t take much to get your game designed and created, adds Subramanian, “The entire process takes about ₹5,000, and is entirely the property of the child.”
Subramanian is holding another workshop in the city this weekend, this time in association with another outfit, Infinite Engineers, dedicated to designs that enhance a child’s creativity. Infinite Engineers comprises a group of seven engineers, who design kits that help children understand scientific concepts in a practical way.
Questioning minds
Explains co-founder Harish Srinivasan, “Suppose you want your students to understand conductivity, and figure which materials are good and bad conductors. One of our kits has a circuit board, battery, wires and bulbs, that the child has to assemble and then test with different materials. The bulb glows when you try it with wood, and doesn’t when you try plastic: it’s as simple as that. But there are instances of kids going beyond the kit itself and testing their own creativity. One boy, for example, carried out the experiment with a pencil nib and figured out that graphite is a good conductor too.”
Infinite Engineers has about 20 client-schools across Tamil Nadu, and reaches out to a few Government schools through the NGO Dream India Foundation. “We have Dexter Kits and other kits designed according to the school syllabus, but now we’re also trying to look outside it,” says Srinivasan, “So, we have come up with ‘nonsense kits’, for children to just tinker with. We call them STEAM, because they cover aspects in science, technology, environment, art and maths.”
The idea behind these is to spark some curiosity in children, and help them explore and create things of their own volition. And what better way to get creative, than to design a game of your very own?
The game design workshop will be held over two days: May 19 and 20, from 10 am to 5 pm, at the Infinite Engineers premises in Mogappair East.
For details and registration, call 9884190950.
