The Weekly Rhythm: Play → Name → Make → Reflect
This is how learning happens in VG101. Every concept, every week, follows the same cycle. It's not optional structure - it's the method.
The Four Phases
Play
Experience videogames with intention. Not just "playing for fun" - playing to feel, to notice, to gather raw material for naming. Play is research.
Name
Develop vocabulary for what you felt. If you can't name it, you can't discuss it, design it, or improve it. Naming makes the invisible visible.
Make
Create something that embodies the concept. Your idea only becomes a videogame when you commit to constraints: input, timing, state, feedback. Making reveals what you actually understand.
Reflect
Articulate what you learned. What worked? What didn't? What do you understand now that you didn't before? Reflection closes the loop and prepares you for the next cycle.
Why This Order?
The conventional order - theory first, application second - doesn't work for videogame design.
The problem with theory-first: students learn words without referents. "Ludonarrative dissonance" means nothing until you've felt the dissonance.
The Play → Name → Make → Reflect sequence ensures that vocabulary attaches to felt experience, and that understanding emerges from making.
Play: Active Engagement
"Play" isn't just passing time with videogames. It's active, attentive engagement.
- Playing with a question in mind ("What makes this jump feel good?")
- Journaling while or after playing
- Playing something unfamiliar (not just comfort videogames)
- Playing critically (noticing choices, not just reacting)
Name: Vocabulary That Fits
Naming should feel like relief, not burden.
If we've shown students Celeste and had them write about the dash, then we introduce "gesture" - they should think "oh, that's what that was!"
Make: Constrained Creating
Making should be scoped and focused, not open-ended.
"Make a videogame" is paralyzing.
"Recreate the Celeste dash using the dash scaffold in 30 minutes" is actionable.
The constraint is the gift. Freedom overwhelms; constraint enables.
Reflect: Closing the Loop
Reflection is where learning consolidates. Without it, students do but don't understand.
Good reflection prompts:
- "What surprised you in the making process?"
- "How is what you made different from what you planned?"
- "What would you do differently?"
- "How does this change how you see the original videogame?"
Teaching the Rhythm
Students trained in lecture-first education sometimes resist playing before reading. They want to "know the answer" before engaging. The rhythm requires unlearning that expectation.
Assessment Alignment
If the rhythm is play → name → make → reflect, assessment should match. Assess reflection and making, not vocabulary recall.
Common Pitfalls
"Play" becomes passive consumption:
Without journaling prompts or questions, "play" can become just playing. Give students something to attend to.
"Name" becomes lecture:
Naming works best as dialogue, not delivery. Ask students what they noticed, then provide vocabulary for what they're describing.
"Make" becomes overwhelming:
Scope aggressively. A 30-minute constraint is better than a week-long project. Small wins build confidence.
"Reflect" gets skipped:
When time is short, reflection goes first. Resist this. Reflection is where learning consolidates. Build it into class time.
Theoretical Background
John Dewey: Learning by doing. Experience precedes abstraction. The philosophical backbone of this approach.
Donald Schön: The Reflective Practitioner. Reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Professionals learn by reflecting on what they do.
Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle: Concrete experience → reflective observation → abstract conceptualization → active experimentation.
Studio pedagogy: Art, architecture, design schools all use variations of this rhythm. Make, critique, reflect, iterate.
What This Rhythm Resists
The lecture-exam model. Videogame design isn't learned by absorbing information. It's learned by making things and understanding what you made.
The "naturalistic" fallacy. Just playing doesn't teach design. Unstructured play is valuable, but it's not education. The structure (naming, focused making, reflection) is essential.
References
- Dewey, John. Experience and Education (1938)
- Schön, Donald. The Reflective Practitioner (1983)
- Kolb, David. Experiential Learning (1984)
Related
- Gesture - First "name" in the sequence
- Play → Name → Make → Reflect (Pedagogy) - Full teaching details
- Code Bank - Tools for the "make" phase