Can their character design on paper just be turned into a sprite and imported into Game Maker?

I believe so.

What I mean about carrying concepts from game design (table top) to aesthetics is how might they be related conceptually. Someone earlier also mentioned that only after having designed a fairly sophisticated video game would students be able to incorporate concepts learned from the table top games in the game design unit. Would that mean those concepts are useless to teach? Could they be applied over the course of the different units?

I suppose there is some overlap. One may influence the design of the other.

In high school, I took 3 programming courses, with two different teachers. One was a math teacher fresh out of college who had no knowledge of programming at all, the other was an older science teacher who had done a small amount of programming when he was in college. Neither was able to guide me or my fellow students to a real understanding of programming principles, patterns, or even how to do anything reasonably complex. They essentially wasted our time and theirs. Don't make the same mistake, teach what you know and know well - art. Drop unit 4 from your list, don't waste your student's time, don't put yourself in a situation where you can't teach, and use the time it frees up to provide more comprehensive coverage of the other units. I've been programming for over a decade now. I'm still not sure I'd be comfortable teaching someone to make a video game of their own design from start to finish. You definitely wouldn't be. Besides; this is something that would barely fit into a full-year course by itself, you can't do the subject justice in the last couple months of the school year.

If you have no interest in video games, you're probably going to have the same issue with teaching video game mechanics (Unit 1). This is less of a show stopper than programming/development units - to learn video game mechanics, you just have to do a little bit of homework - play some video games, and actually think about what the game is requiring you to do to play it, what your motivations are in taking certain actions, etc. Play a variety of games, modern and old school, shooters and platformers and RPGs, not just a type you know you're comfortable with. Your students will not all have the same tastes as you - if you can only teach them how to design games you like, you're not going to help them reach their full potential. Or drop #1 from your list. Again, don't waste your students' time, and don't waste time that would be better spent on other units.

And don't forget music, sound effects, etc. I don't know your background, but game audio might be something you could teach, and it can really have an effect on the feel of a game. And I would definitely teach 2D art before 3D art -- it's much easier to grasp.

To echo Nfries experiences, I had 6 years of computer classes from grade 7 through 12. I developed my interest in programming back in grade 5 actually though and in the two years before the classes in school started I learned everything that they covered up through grade 10. Grade 11 I finally had a project that I found challenging and at the end of it I was looking forward to grade 12 where we'd learn assembler. But I changed schools that year and my grade 12 year amounted to a teacher displaying code on the overhead projector that we had to type in to make a database work. All you had to do was show up and type what was there and you'd pass with like 90%. The class was loud and there was no chance to branch off to learn anything on my own. The sole purpose of that class was to make it look as though the school had a computer related course to prepare students for future jobs. At best it was experience typing and using a mouse. There was nothing useful or unique of experience that anyone in that class could've taken away from it. I had no respect for the teacher of that class.

That said, the course outline at the beginning of this thread I would've loved to enroll in that class and I would've been excited about it even knowing that there'd be minimal, if any, programming. Though it does not really prepare anyone for the industry, it sounds like good exposure to things that some students wouldn't otherwise have and makes me think of similar classes I had that did go well.

I still think however that you have not left yourself sufficient time to prepare for this class and it will show. I do think you'd be able to learn things sufficiently to run the class for Sept 2017. And I have little doubt that you could pick up on all the material of working with the software you've chosen with that time and determine the best flow of units on your own. You may well have little choice but to run the class this year between commitments made but I expect that if you push forward with running this class this year your class will be as chaotic and useless as my grade 12 class was.

Lastly, I'll recommend once again dropping the 3D modeling component, if you haven't already planned on it yet. Maybe replace it with sound effects and music. Sound is often overlooked for its contribution to a game.

Good luck.

I still think however that you have not left yourself sufficient time to prepare for this class and it will show. I do think you'd be able to learn things sufficiently to run the class for Sept 2017. And I have little doubt that you could pick up on all the material of working with the software you've chosen with that time and determine the best flow of units on your own. You may well have little choice but to run the class this year between commitments made but I expect that if you push forward with running this class this year your class will be as chaotic and useless as my grade 12 class was.

Going to second this sentiment. I suggest you take some time to immerse yourself in games and gaming culture. Play every board game and video game you can get your hands on. Lurk the forums and read blog posts and gaming news articles. Watch "Let's Play" streams. To teach any aspect of making video games without doing this is like trying to teach fiction writing without reading - without immersing yourself in literature.

Lastly, I'll recommend once again dropping the 3D modeliong component, if you haven't already planned on it yet. Maybe replace it with sound effects and music. Sound is often overlooked for its contribution to a game.

Also this. Sound is particularly important for horror games (Amnesia: The Dark Descent is an amazing example of this - I highly recommend playing through it or watching a "Let's Play"), but it's not unimportant for other genres as the music and sound effects can be a huge part of what makes a game recognizable or even iconic. I would not neglect sound, and teaching both 2D and 3D art when only one of them will be used in the final project seems like overkill.

I hear what you guys are saying, and believe me when I tell you I want to teach as much art and as little technical stuff as possible. But I'm confused.

Several of you keep saying that I am being too ambitious; that there will not be enough time for me to learn Game Maker and teach the students to make a video game with it. And yet, other teachers are doing it all the time. I suppose the main difference is that they are probably sitting their students down on day one and having them start learning software and making things with it. Perhaps they are spending two weeks max on table top games. But then they probably run their course in a vocational style, i.e. sitting in front of a screen everyday and working with a program to build something. That would bore me to tears, and I can tell you most of my students (other than the computer geeks) would also dislike it.

The difference with me is that I want to have multiple units rather than build up the components of a game to a final impressive product. I want to have a course where students get a little bit of exposure to various aspects of the industry, with an emphasis on aesthetics. I won't drop the first unit because it covers important principles, it will be fun and it will be relatively easy to teach. Plus its a good hook for the students. I have to do character design because I want them making art on paper. Several of you say 3d is too hard but the Ploor book covers making a character in Blender and I know teachers regularly incorporate 3d modeling and it doesn't take years to learn. I have to have them make a video game, though by all means I would prefer having them just get set up in Gamestar mechanic where the program does most of the work for you, but I want my course to be competitive with similar courses, so I don't want students shortchanged.

I definitely don't want to get in over my head, but it sounds like kseh is supporting my course outline.

I can tell you most of my students (other than the computer geeks) would also dislike it.

Who do you think will be taking a game design course? Your entire invested class will be computer geeks.

But then they probably run their course in a vocational style, i.e. sitting in front of a screen everyday and working with a program to build something.

And just what do you think making video games actually involves? Even game artists spend the majority of their time in front of a screen using content-creation software like Photoshop and Maya. ;)

I hear what you guys are saying, and believe me when I tell you I want to teach as much art and as little technical stuff as possible. But I'm confused.

Several of you keep saying that I am being too ambitious; that there will not be enough time for me to learn Game Maker and teach the students to make a video game with it. And yet, other teachers are doing it all the time. I suppose the main difference is that they are probably sitting their students down on day one and having them start learning software and making things with it. Perhaps they are spending two weeks max on table top games. But then they probably run their course in a vocational style, i.e. sitting in front of a screen everyday and working with a program to build something. That would bore me to tears, and I can tell you most of my students (other than the computer geeks) would also dislike it.

The difference with me is that I want to have multiple units rather than build up the components of a game to a final impressive product. I want to have a course where students get a little bit of exposure to various aspects of the industry, with an emphasis on aesthetics. I won't drop the first unit because it covers important principles, it will be fun and it will be relatively easy to teach. Plus its a good hook for the students. I have to do character design because I want them making art on paper. Several of you say 3d is too hard but the Ploor book covers making a character in Blender and I know teachers regularly incorporate 3d modeling and it doesn't take years to learn. I have to have them make a video game, though by all means I would prefer having them just get set up in Gamestar mechanic where the program does most of the work for you, but I want my course to be competitive with similar courses, so I don't want students shortchanged.

I definitely don't want to get in over my head, but it sounds like kseh is supporting my course outline.

Im interested in something. You keep mentioned these other teachers and was wondering could you provide links to either the the courses they are running or some of the work that the students are making as a result of these courses. Also what are the backgrounds of these other teachers. Are they maths/art/other teacher who decided to do this or do they come from the games/software industry to teach. Are they big gamers, programmers, artists or multi talented. How long did they spend preparing before starting their respective courses?

I think the answer to some of those questions might give people here a better perspective on your side of things and how you think this course is run by the other teachers as you have mentioned them a number of times.

Several of you keep saying that I am being too ambitious; that there will not be enough time for me to learn Game Maker and teach the students to make a video game with it. And yet, other teachers are doing it all the time. I suppose the main difference is that they are probably sitting their students down on day one and having them start learning software and making things with it. Perhaps they are spending two weeks max on table top games. But then they probably run their course in a vocational style, i.e. sitting in front of a screen everyday and working with a program to build something. That would bore me to tears, and I can tell you most of my students (other than the computer geeks) would also dislike it.

I'm not telling you that you're being too ambitious. I'm telling you that you lack the background to be an effective instructor/mentor in some of the units you want to teach.

If other teachers are successfully teaching game development using some game development tool, they probably have some sort of a background that makes them effective. Maybe they used to write games in QBASIC. Maybe they're mathematicians or naturally gifted logicians and were able to pick up the technical skills intuitively due to that. Maybe they're lifelong gamers and their passion gave them the focus and drive to overcome whatever shortcomings they might have had coming into the task of teaching the material. The key thing here is - from what you've shared, none of that describes you.

I know you think you're an expert teacher. Maybe you are. This isn't a question of your ability to instill knowledge and understanding that you already possess - it is a question of whether or not you have the knowledge and understanding at all. Good coaches are almost always former athletes themselves. Good English teachers are usually bookworms. Good science teachers are usually geeks. Good music teachers are musicians. Your background seems to be art - so teach art. Don't try to teach something you don't really understand yourself.

I can tell you most of my students (other than the computer geeks) would also dislike it.

Who do you think will be taking a game design course? Your entire invested class will be computer geeks.

No. It will be a mix of kids. Plus I want to be able to get a variety of students- especially creative ones, to take the course.