PERFORMANCE TASK: Video Game Designer: Designing Virtual Musical Instruments

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Justina Norman
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1 PERFORMANCE TASK: Video Game Designer: Designing Virtual Musical Instruments GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: Use the attached videos and articles to learn more about designing video games and tools. You can also contact your County Extension and Outreach Office to see if they have more information about video game design. BIG IDEA: Technological design is a creative process that anyone can do which may result in new innovations and inventions. A technological world requires that humans develop capabilities to solve technological challenges and improve products for the way we live. Humans have expressed ideas and experiences through the arts throughout time and across cultures. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: How would you apply technological design and problem-solving methods to the development of inventions and innovations? How do artists and designers make choices that affect the way audiences perceive their work? OVERVIEW: Your design team has one goal, and that is to create new video game tools that will allow for multi-player action in creating a rock band. These tools will be for a new game called "Rock and Roll Superstars" that uses an online approach to creating virtual rock and roll bands. The instruments available will be two lead guitars, a bass guitar, and a drum kit. The first decision you must make is the materials and designs for your virtual instruments. Many gamers are looking forward to the unveiling of this new selection that will be on the market! The company is interested in the scope of your research and in the decisions that your team made that will ensure competitiveness in the market. 1

BIG IDEA: Technological design is a creative process that anyone can do which may result in new innovations and inventions.

2 GOAL: Your team has just been hired by a gaming company who wishes to develop and market new video game tools that can be used as part of a multi-player experience. The game that will use these tools is called "Rock and Roll Superstars". This game will allow players to create a band that involves two lead guitars, a bass guitar, and a drum kit. The group will play while one person is the singer. These tools will need to look just like real life musical instruments and connect to the game through wireless technology. This job will require research, design decisions, aesthetic decisions and problem solving skills. You will need to create a design that represents a scale model of the guitars and the drum kit. Your team will outline design aesthetics that will appeal to the target audience for these new virtual instruments. ROLE: You are part of a team of gaming designers and your newest challenge is to craft the newest virtual instruments for a new game entitled, "Rock and Roll Superstars". Given the success of this form of video games, your work, "real-life" research, and designs are critical for sales to be successful. You will need to research guitars and drums from a number of different rock and roll bands through the years. From your research create new designs and/or replica designs to excite video gamers while encouraging them to play together online and create their own rock and roll band! AUDIENCE: The target audience is not only the executives of the video game company, but also children, teenagers, and adults, ages 10 and over, interested in the new design. At the unveiling, you will need to share your research, the decisions you made about the designs of each instrument and full-size models of the prototypes. The target audience will be interested in the look and feel of the instruments, so be sure to share the materials and design options that may be available should your team's designs be selected. SITUATION: Your design team has one goal, and that is to rival the sales of the current music-based video games in the market. The first decision you must make is what the materials and designs of your instruments will be. Many gamers are looking forward to the unveiling of the new selection that will be on the market! The company is interested in the scope of your research and the decisions that your team made that will ensure competitiveness in the market.

The group will play while one person is the singer. These tools will need to look just like real life musical instruments and connect to the game through wireless technology.

3 PRODUCT INTRODUCTION: You will need to create one of the products below for entry in the fair. This product will be one that you would use to promote your virtual instruments. You will need to include a list of resources that you used as you created the product. Products/Fair Exhibits: Advertisement/Poster Create a poster promoting your product. Include on the poster the improvements you have made and an illustration or photograph of your design. The poster will be hung in a video store, so be sure to include information that will grab the attention of the customers and peak curiosity in this new improved virtual musical instrument tool. Sources of information can be included on your poster. Include a more complete list of sources on a separate piece of paper. Make sure that you follow copyright guidelines. The "Poster for Video Game Design: Designing Virtual Musical Instruments" rubric Blue Ribbon: points Red Ribbon: 7-13 points White Ribbon: 0-6 points Eportfolio Your task is to create an electronic portfolio that gives customers a detailed look at your new designs. Some options for your portfolio could be to use wikispaces, pbwiki, weebly, Wix, Googlesites, Prezi, or another electronic option. The job of your portfolio is to engage and excite your potential audience through visuals and information related to the lead guitars, bass guitar, and drum kit. It should include examples of bands from today and yesterday, as well as the designs that your team has developed. You may want to include music and video to further entice the audience into wanting to purchase these virtual instruments. Your product should also contain audio information that you develop and present aligned with the imagery presented. Sources of information need to be included within your Eportfolio. Make sure that you follow copyright guidelines. In case, the internet is not available or technology is not working properly during the fair, please be prepared with a paper version. This paper version can also be used as the item on display during the fair.

Include on the poster the improvements you have made and an illustration or photograph of your design.

4 The "Eportfolio for Video Game Design: Designing Virtual Musical Instruments" rubric Blue Ribbon: points Red Ribbon: 6-10 points White Ribbon: 0-5 points Models Based upon your research, determine the appropriate weight and measurements of the instrument (s) being replicated. From this information, you will want to create life-size models of the lead guitars, bass guitar, and drum kit. In order to accomplish this task you will need to find the correct ratio of size to weight for the materials that you plan to use in your model. Remember, your designs should be creative and eye-catching like the instruments of musicians that you chose to research. Use your creativity to create designs that will help ensure the new video game is a huge success. You should ask peers for their thoughts on your designs as it may take a number of designs to create the design you will be proud to showcase. Sources of information need to be listed on a separate paper. Make sure that you follow copyright guidelines. The "Models for Video Game Design: Designing Virtual Musical Instruments" rubric Blue Ribbon: 9-12 points Red Ribbon: 5-8 points White Ribbon: 0-4 points Scale Drawing Your team will need to create a scale drawing for each of the instrument designs. The scale drawings will present measurements and proportions of the instruments. They drawings will be utilized to convert two-dimensional representations into threedimensional models. A scale drawing is a proportional reproduction of an object. The visual representations created will be used to communicate information about a real-world product or object. Your team will need to appropriately label the necessary measurements of the drawing to help communicate size and shape. Sources of information need to be included on the drawings or on a separate paper. Make sure that you follow copyright guidelines.

From this information, you will want to create life-size models of the lead guitars, bass guitar, and drum kit.

5 The "Scale Drawing for Video Game Design: Designing Virtual Musical Instruments" rubric Blue Ribbon: points Red Ribbon: 7-13 points White Ribbon: 0-6 points Defined STEM: Visit the Defined STEM website at: Once at the website, click on the Student Assignments (top right corner) and enter the student code provided to you by your county Extension Office. The Defined STEM website has videos and examples of products created by other students. Defined STEM is provided to Iowa 4-H courtesy of the Iowa STEM Scale-Up Program which was created to meet the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council's top priority of increasing student interest and achievement in STEM across the state. To learn more about this initiative visit For more assistance: Contact your local county extension office or Brenda Welch, Region 5 Youth Program Specialist, at bwelch@iastate.edu or

The Defined STEM website has videos and examples of products created by other students.

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