Gamestar Mechanic

Gamestar Mechanic
online game-building community, 2009
originally created by Gamelab

Gamestar Mechanic is a site designed for tweens and up that lets users create their own games. Originally funded by two grants from the MacArthur Foundation (one to literacy scholar James Gee and one to the Institute of Play), Gamestar Mechanic was based on the idea that game design represents an important form of literacy.

Gamestar features a game-making tool with an intutitive drag and drop interface that lets users focus directly on game design (as opposed to programming or visual design). The game creation activity is embedded within a role-playing game set in a steampunk universe, where the players are game mechanics trying to save their world and discover ancient mysteries as they create games. All of that is contained in a web-based community, in which users play each others games.

Gamelab’s largest project, Gamestar is currently being managed by the Institute of Play, the non-profit organization I helped spin off of Gamelab in 2007. Development continues on the project with E-Line Ventures, an NYC-based company focused on youth media, learning, and social change.

be playful