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Keeping middle and high school students engaged is a major challenge for educators, especially when teaching complex subjects like math, science, or storytelling. Traditional methods often fall short, leaving students disengaged.
Game making introduces play, creativity, and collaboration, turning passive learning into active participation. Open-source game development, in particular, offers free, adaptable, and community-driven tools that remove financial barriers.
Bringing game development into the classroom helps students build technical skills, think critically, and solve real-world problems, while also encouraging teamwork and creativity. Whether coding a physics simulation or designing a history-based adventure, game-making makes learning hands-on and engaging.
Testing the Theory: Can Game-Making Boost Engagement?
We recently put this idea to the test while working with students at Universidad Tecnológica del Perú (UTP), where we were tasked with helping them build future-ready skills. We wanted to do more than just prepare them for the future—we wanted to ensure they were actively engaged and that every student, regardless of background or skill set, could participate meaningfully.
This is where we introduced Collaborative Game Making.
Game making combines storytelling, art, music, coding, and project management, ensuring that there’s a place for every student, whether they’re drawn to technology, creativity, or organization. It seemed like the perfect fit for our vision, but we needed to try it out and bring back real results for educators like you.
Why Game-Making? And Why Open Source?
Unlike traditional learning methods that can favor specific skill sets, game-making brings together students with diverse interests and abilities. Not all students are drawn to coding, and that makes sense. With so many roles to explore, every student can find a way to contribute, making it a true team effort where all skills are valued.
But why open source? Because it’s more than free software. It’s about collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Students can customize, share, and build on projects while learning real-world skills like teamwork and problem solving.
But why open source? Because it’s more than free software. It’s about collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Open source provides unrestricted access to software and its code. Unlike proprietary software, which can be restrictive and expensive, open source is an environment where knowledge is freely shared.
By engaging with open-source communities, students contribute to real-world projects, gaining practical skills in teamwork and problem-solving that benefit their careers.
What We Learned: How to Make Game-Making Work in Your Classroom
For a deeper look into our UTP program—its origins, game selection, challenges, and more—read our full blog sharing the entire experience.
In short, we worked with 10-20 students over several months to equip them with future-ready skills through game development. Students set up tools like Godot and GitHub, explored a pre-built 2D game, and used collaboration tools while taking on roles like Game Producer and Art Lead, simulating a professional studio environment. Here’s what we learned:
1. Encourage Exploration
Encourage students to experiment with different game elements, allow them to tinker with code, adjust mechanics, and explore art styles independently, helping them develop problem-solving skills and stay engaged through hands-on exploration.
We saw students light up as they debugged their own code. The more they explored, the more invested they became in their learning.
"What excites me is how effective the 'learn-by-doing' approach turned out to be. Even when it was frustrating, learners progressed—from submitting incomplete contributions to delivering polished solutions. They got firsthand experience in real-world teamwork, like resolving disagreements between teams. That kind of growth is invaluable." - Mentor
2. Build Teams
Divide students into teams with specific roles, make sure each student's role matches their strengths and interests:
Programmers
Artists
Writers
Sound designers
Project managers
Just like a real-world game development team. This will help them practice essential teamwork skills like communication, conflict resolution, and appreciation for each other's contributions.
3. Focus on Creating Real Projects
Encourage students to work on projects they can be proud of by helping them bring their ideas to life in a playable form.
Language Learning Game
Historical Adventure Game
Math Puzzle Game
Environmental Awareness Game
From what we've seen, students get way more engaged when they see their work actually making a difference, especially when it’s something close to home or personally meaningful. For us in Peru, it was a language learning game since many of the local kids were eager to learn English.
4. Use Open Source Tools
Ensure Accessibility for All Students
Use free, open-source tools like Godot, GDevelop, to remove financial barriers.
Offer tutorials or guides for using the tools.
Encourage collaboration, so students can share resources and help each other out.
This ensures everyone can participate, regardless of their background or access to technology.
Where do I start as an Educator?
At Endless OS Foundation, we believe that education should be accessible to everyone.
All of these principles are included in our free and open-source curriculum, designed to help you bring game-making into your classroom with ease.
Fill out our form here, and we'll send you the curriculum so you can start transforming the way your students learn today!
Partner with us to bring impactful programs to life. Let’s build, learn, and create together. Reach out to us here: https://www.endlessos.org/contact-us