Abstract:

Video games are one of the topics that have received more attention from educators, since these are part of the daily lives of children, young people and adults, and are particularly active elements to call captivating for long periods of time. There are several references on the use of commercial video games or simulators in the classroom since the introduction of ICT in the educational context, but the interest of this document is to reflect on the development of videogames in the classroom.

There are a wide range of video game engines on the market. These engines have components that can be used for the development of various types of video games. Usually the use of these engines does not imply that there is previous knowledge about a programming language, since there is a separation between the specific code of the video game and that of the engine. The engine is usually associated with components that allow the management of artificial intelligence processing, manage resources (sounds or images), allow rendering of objects, and allow elements to be associated with physics. The specific code is usually used to make specific changes to these components. There is also the possibility of developing a video game engine, but this is a more time consuming process and only used by more experienced companies in the market.

There are more than 170 video game engines that are registered on Wikipedia (n.d.). About 57% are associated with a proprietary license, 20% have an open source license. From this list it is possible to verify that 82% allow the development for multiplatforms, which means that it is possible to export the video game to other operating systems than the one where it was developed. Although this large number of software available are in a reduced number those that are normally used by the community.

Based on the final product and the beginning of 2006, more than 34% of the videogames that appear in the market were developed with the Unity engine, 18% with Cocos2D, 2.6% with Corona and 2.2% with Unreal . It is possible to verify that they are data referring to videogames that are available in the market. However and despite this situation most prefect developers use engines developed internally, that is, by the companies themselves.

However development for the school context usually implies an association with an educational theory. In the work done by Ribeiro et al (2015) most of the videogames that were analyzed in the study have no association with any reference to a learning theory. That is, the videogame has been developed but without taking care to apply a learning theory to assist in the commitment to the development of educational video games. Theories like Piaget or Vygotsky are those that are more discussed, presented as basis in the development of these artifacts. There is, however, a reference to the preference of using the constructivist base learning theory.

The purpose of this article is to create a reference for teachers, about the work that can be done in the classroom, to enhance students' learning, based on the video games developed by them. The methodology followed will have as a principle a qualitative analysis of the elements that emerge from this collection and also present a possible framework or implementation model that can be adopted by teachers.

Keywords:

Game design, Videogame, Educator, Classroom, Reflection.