- Christie Cannon
- Jun 2
Open Beta: A Play Test of Student Made Games, Columbus State University 2026
I just wrapped up spring semester at Columbus State University, so I thought I would visit some of the high notes in a few blogs. This semester was pretty peak actually. Some experiences were absolutely delightful, the first feature is Open Beta. Well, actually the first was Designer Dogs, which is already out there, or here, actually.
To wrap up the semester and showcase some great student work, the CSU Graphic Design Association (GDA) and I hosted a play test night celebrating the games my students designed.. Open Beta was a real, structured play test where guests used a rubric to give feedback on each game. Cupcakes, cookies, and popcorn rounded out the evening, and the room had the kind of energy that probably was not just from all the sugar in the snacks!
Seriously though, I am so proud of every single one of them.
Olivia brought both fun and function to the table with Math-Matchical, an educational matching game that managed to be genuinely entertaining while sneaking in some learning. Trust me, that is the hardest thing to pull off. It was occupied the whole time!
Roddy @StripedGhoul created a card battle game anchored by their own beautiful fantasy
illustrations. The art alone made you want to sit down and play, and the game delivered to match with several pairs of players facing off.
Jordyn made something truly special! She produced a charming, beautifully illustrated digital interactive story game following the experiences of a little girl with ADHD. It was carefully considered and exactly the kind of work that stays with you after the night is over.
Rigby took players to another dimension with Redemption, a game where you play as a demon escaping a hellish abstract realm. It was imaginative, atmospheric, and a whole lot of fun. The most common feedback request was the option for more inter-player sabotage!
Carolina and Emilie collaborated on Cooking Mama, a competitive analog recipe based card game developed by Carolina and brought to life with illustrations by Emilie. Watching two students combine their strengths into one cohesive project was really delightful.
Hannah @HooliganHandfull closed out the lineup with Create Crate, a non-traditional game that generated exactly the kind of adorable, casual co-art-making vibe it was designed to produce. It drew people together and left them smiling. Also, I want to thank Hannah for taking so many great photos they allowed me to share!
Watching these students design something so complex was genuinely thrilling. Game design is not a small task. These students handled research, concept development, game mechanics, instructional design, prototyping, play testing, artwork, design, and packaging mockup production. They delivered work that was genuinely worth celebrating, and Open Beta was a great showcase.
Watching these students design something so complex was genuinely thrilling. Game design is not a small task. These students handled research, concept development, game mechanics, instructional design, prototyping, play testing, artwork, design, and packaging mockup production. They delivered work that was genuinely worth celebrating, and Open Beta was a great showcase.
This project, and the inspiration of how to approach it with my students, came from my graduate school video game design class with Simon Tarr. That was a great class. I really enjoyed the paper prototyping phase of that semester, and I may have gone a bit extra with my own prototype while working on my game No Child Left Behind. The nostalgia of that experience came back with this project. It was a blast to workshop so many tabletop games with my students and help them each realize their concept.
Pictured above is some shameless promotion of No Child Left Behind, Christine Cannon, 2012
That video game design class was also one of the major influences on my graduate thesis, and I found great community among the colleagues I sat down and played with there. It was one of my best grad school experiences, I really found my tribe. We made great work together, and the collaborative nature of it was something truly special. Early that semester I played my first game of Dungeons & Dragons, a pastime I still very much enjoy on the semi-regular. Y'all know how it is. And yes, we played D&D in class. It was a great demonstration of the power of story telling combined with game mechanics.
At University of South Carolina my grad thesis focused on the nature of play, games, and rules as I apply them to art making and my practice. I come back to that concept of play as a foundational tool in both teaching and community building pretty frequently. I hope we are able to host another round of Open Beta at some point.
If you want to get into game design, I cannot recommend Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games enough. It was the text in the video game design course. I actually still have my original copy, but the new edition is fantastic with lots of additional content that was great for table top game design. I revisited that text with these students. I also shared resources from boardgamedesignlab.com, a solid blog with lots of practical advice on building tabletop games.
And for those interested in gamification in education, I have really enjoyed The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. It has some great ideas I have incorporated into my teaching practice this year, but that is probably best saved for another blog.
Thanks for visiting!
Christie