Michael Barrett

IDD
1. Purpose of the instruction
a. Teaching elementary aged students music rhythms
2. Description of the learner
a. Elementary aged students without prior knowledge
3. Goals and objectives of the instruction
a. To teach students basic rhythm in music
4. Plan for assessment
a. Achieving new levels in the game will show students are
learning the skills necessary.
5. Scope and Sequence
a. Teaching rhythm according to TEKS
6. Estimated time
a. One six week
7. Selection of specific instructional strategies or methods
a. Rhythm is often the hardest concept of music students to
learn. This game will help reinforce the skills needed to
master rhythm.
8. Selection of special media to be developed
a. Modifying an existing game Candy Crush to work with
music classes
9. Estimated time to complete the design process
a. Two months
10.
Resources required for development
a. Web/game designer
11.
List of team members
a. Web/game designer
b. Instructional designer
c. App designer
12.
Plan for evaluation, maintenance, and update of the
instructional materials
a. Scores saved in game
b. Updates when OS is updated
c. Updates with new levels of increased difficulty
13.
List of approvals
a. Any copyrights currently existing
14.
Plan for testing and improvements
a. One month testing and improving as needed.

Michael Barrett

Game Design Development

Team:Individual
Player: Elementary Music Students
Focus:

Modification of existing game

Game: Rhythm Crush

Purpose: To help students learn music rhythms without the aid of
melody.
Format:
Five Worlds with five to six levels in each
Rules:
1. Each level will begin with a time signature (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 9/8)
2. Line up rhythms vertically or horizontally in order to complete the
measure using eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes, dotted quarter
note and dotted half notes
3. Once the measure is created the notes with disappear and more
notes will fall in their place.
4. Levels will advance once a particular set of objectives has been met.
ie. Score, number of rhythms collected, etc.
Ex. 1 2/4
3/4
4/4
6/8
9/8

=
=
=
=
=

2
3
4
6
9

beats
beats
beats
beats
beats

to
to
to
to
to

the
the
the
the
the

measure
measure
measure
measure
measure

and
and
and
and
and

the
the
the
the
the

quarter note gets the beat.

quarter note gets the beat.
quarter note gets the beat.
eighth note gets the beat.
eighth note gets the beat.

Ex. 2 2/4 the following equal a measure:

2 quarter notes
4 eighth notes
1 half notes
3/4 the following equal a measure:
3 quarter notes
6 eighth notes
1 doted half note
In 4/4 time the following equal a measure:

Michael Barrett
4 quarter notes
8 eighth notes
2 half notes
In 6/8 time the following equal a measure:
2 dotted quarter notes
6 eighth notes
1 dotted half note
In 9/8 time the following equal a measure:
3 dotted quarter notes
9 eighth notes
Rhythms can be mixed to equal a measure as well.
2/4, 3/4, 4/4:
= beat
= 1 beat
= 2 beats
6/8, 9/8:
= 1 beat
. = 3 beats
.

= 6 beats

Playtesting:
Because I would plan for this to be a computer based game I had to
put some real thought into how I would playtest my game. What I
decided to do was use my family (My Mom and Dad just happened to
be in town) The list of players were, my parents and my wife. I chose to
use a small dry erase board and a dry erase marker for each player. I
created a board of rhythms for each player. The rows were ten across
and ten down. I used half notes and quarter notes in 4/4 in the first
level. The levels were scored with:
Quarter = 10/each
Half =
20/each

Michael Barrett
The first player to score 10000 points moves on. To make it simple
everyone started with the same play field. Also, I created a chart to use
for replacing rhythms.
Quarter, half, quarter, quarter, half, quarter, quarter, quarter, half,
quarter, half, half, half, quarter. The player would return to the
beginning of the list once they made it to the end. The first person to
win was my Mom. The second time we played it was my wife.
After the game was over I spent time in reflection. Because I plan for
this to be electronic I only tested one level to see its effectiveness. The
overall gist of the game came across. The players lined up their
rhythms and created the measures and scored the points required to
move to the next level. I originally planned for the game to be an
individual game, but in this test I discovered that players could benefit
from group competition as well. Overall I think the game worked.
Obviously this was a basic recreation of a game that would be much
more complex, including more colors, sounds effects and music. The
players found the game fun especially when playing against each
other.