Teaching with videogames: Multimodal literacy with 'Short Trip'
In this lesson plan, we analyse different videogame elements that communicate meaning.
The browser game Short Trip is an atmospheric multimodal text based on an everyday experience. It has simple navigation, beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and a rich soundscape, but no words or dialogue.
This can be a starting point for students to develop their own game or soundscape ideas based on the world around them. Short Trip has very simple game mechanics with limited choices for players to make, offering a contained opportunity for students to explore how their choices make meaning within game play.
Year level: 3-4
Learning area: English
Suggested duration: 1 session, with optional further learning
You can also download a PDF version of this lesson plan.
In this lesson, students will
| 1. Play a browser-based game that makes meaning without dialogue |
| 2. Identify and analyse the way the game makes meaning |
| 3. Explore and analyse game mechanics |
| 4. Brainstorm a game based on a journey |
By the end of this lesson, students should
| the different elements in a game and how they communicate meaning and narrative. These may include images, soundscape, characters, gestures, motion, layout of the screen and movement of the frame and mechanics/ interaction. |
| some elements of game play. |
| analyse a video game |
| brainstorm/ plan a game on paper |
| plan or create a soundscape (extension activity) |
| visually design a world and characters (extension activity) |
| understanding of multimodal texts by looking at their different parts and thinking about how each part communicates |
| creating multimodal texts drawing on own experiences and places and people that they know |
| vocabulary |
| understanding of audio-visual communication methods |
| brainstorming and planning |