Overheard in Class

I’ve emphasized this year that design is about making decisions. Any time you decide something, that is the work we call design. I picked up this perspective from Jesse Schell’s book The Art of Game Design, and it seems to help make the abstract idea of “designing” a video game more concrete for students. As they’ve worked in groups, one of the things I lean on them about is sharing the decision-making and getting buy-in from their team on key design choices. Some of them take more naturally to this idea than others. Overheard in class:

A: OK, what color should we make this?
J: Uhhh… I dunno… random?
A: That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.

Obviously A already knew what color he wanted to use. There’s a part of me that really wants to give him credit for even asking in the first place. And there’s another part of me that’s just cracking up.