Grow a Game
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utilities | Free | Mary Flanagan | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
Once you know how to use the app, Grow-a-Game can be used to help you kickstart serious game projects for yourself, a friend, a non-profit, a class project, or for a business.
If you've used the playing-card based version, you know how great it is at kickstarting creativity!
**** PRAISE FOR GROW A GAME ****
"Using these cards as part of the design process helps open up the discussion of what our games can do. Can we bring human values and complex emotions into game play? The answer is absolutely yes."
- Kellee Santiago, designer of the award-winning game Flower
"From a computing standpoint, what I believe the cards do is open up students' minds to think of possibilities. There is more than one perspective for any technical problem. Grow-a-Game cultivates brainstorming and helps technical people avoid a 'one solution mentality.'"
- Christopher Egert, Rochester Institute of Technology Games Program
"Over the past 15 years, as a game designer and educator (in the USC Interactive Media Division), I've worked with hundreds of game design students to help foster their ability to conceive and develop original gameplay. Most of these students come to my class with strong pre-existing ideas about what makes a 'good' game and the kinds of play they want to create. Part of my job is to break through these assumptions and get students to think in more personal, generative ways about their own design process and the potential outcomes of that process.
Having tools to scaffold the development of a student's process is essential, and over the past several years, the Grow-a-Game cards have evolved into one of the core tools in my repertoire of teaching game design. These cards help provoke great designs and important discussion around the design process. They are easy to use in exercises and highly adaptable to different environments and levels of expertise. I can't recommend them more highly!"
- Tracy Fullerton, USC Interactive Media
"I've been using the Grow-A-Game cards in my university game design class for years (we were one of the original beta testers), and I've also used them in a variety of workshop contexts, from professional adult settings to teens. One thing I really like about them is that they are super flexible and you can make up your own games and exercises to do with them. You can combine different sets of cards, and you can use them not only in game design brainstorming, but also in various types of game analysis. They provide a really simple and compelling way to introduce and explore ways to think about the role of values in game design. They also provide a great tool for professionals with some media experience who are new to game design in thinking about documentary, serious or activist game design."
- Celia Pearce, Georgia Institute of Technology
Reviews
One of the best game design tools out there
I am lying
One of the best game design tools out there. I have used the cards for years.
Gets the creative juices flowing!
Shnissugah
This app is a great way to practice brainstorming game ideas. At first the categories always seem perplexing and incompatible, but once our group gives them some thought the floodgates open ideas start flowing thick and fast!
Grow a game
Myoung721
The game provides provocative combinations of words that spur thought. At times there is an interesting conjunction of words that make one rethink injustice or social problems.
Good idea, not the greatest execution
Josyoung
The idea to help others come up with ideas is cool, and sometimes, it does come up with what could be a great idea, but the design could improve. It looks like it was made when the app store first opened years ago. Also, the name is misleading, because it helps you come up with a game idea, not grow/make the game.
NEVER ENTER A PARTY WITHOUT THIS APP!!!
Zamayo
In my life, there are few rules that go unbroken. But there is ultimately one rule I know I am obligated to follow, for as long as I live. And that rule is: "No Party is a Party without Grow a Game". Before I found this life-changing app, I was a cultural outcast, a social misfit with nothing to offer a party save a smile, good humor, great looks, and wonderful company. Now, this has all changed. The second I walk in the building, I pound my chest and scream as loud as I can: "LETS INVENT A GAME." I then proceed to flip out my smart phone and open the app, as those in the room stare at me, curiously, in suspense. Now, it would be dishonest to say all the new games are multi-player. But I make up for that fact with my emotional fervor, making it possible for the entire room to join in the joy I'm experiencing. Call me a saint.
Could use a little or a lot of improvement
thejokersss
I love the creative exploration of new concepts when placed together create an array of new games. On the other hand, the name is not right for this simple application misleading possible users. In the app itself, there are not enough cards and simply is not the best brainstorming application. Most cards align completely off and we cannot play the game as such. The design reminds of a time four years ago. However, the application could become great!
Hey
Gdxcchsgg
This is a six grader from Bradford elementary school u came to our classroom to talk about u guys and I like the game awkward moment can u maybe make a app about that please and thank -six grader-
POTENTIAL BUYERS READ HERE
Emotional hell
Okay, perhaps it was my own misunderstanding, but reading what the app was about, I don't thought this was supposed to be like a create your own (mobile) video game. Thinking back on it, I realize that was pretty stupid to think, especially if it's free. No, this app is for creating new and adventurous games to use at a party or other social event. I'm not complaining at all, I just want this to be clear to other potential purchasers of the app.
