PALS Hawaii Project Page
Welcome to my PALS Hawaii Project Page

History

I have been part of the PALS Hawaii family since 2013.
Through PALS, I teach an after-school class on game design with an emphasis on community and place based development.

Jack Hobbs (student) demoing of our game Huli for the staff of PALS.

huli demo board

This was a demo of the monumental project Huli. The board that you see here was created as a demo installation by Pat Ohta and Charles Timtim. For more info on Huli click the link in projects.

3d design with Unity

Working on 3d terrain in Unity. The game we developed explored the final minutes of someone drowing in quicksand. The game explored the importance of life and the reflection of what matters most in our existence.

narrative game engine

Game design contest. We created a narrative game engine for a game contest. The engine was a simple choose your adventure creator in HTML5 CSS and JS. Each contestant had five minutes to use the engine to develop a game using the engine.

Analogue & Digital compartive field trip.

Analogue vs Digital Field trip

We did a exploration of analog vs digital media in a field trip. We reflected on the importance of both mediums and why analogue media still matters. In the picture above my studends purchased what they would call "artifacts" from Ideas Books & Music (formally Jelly's)

Jedi Master Mentor

Using the Master & Jedi concept from Star Wars, a big part of the programming we do in class is paired with a student mentor. I have found this methodology to be the most effective to teach a new concept. We often find that the mentor learns more than the padawan: "Teach Once Learn Twice."

Pro Tour Hawaii field trip

Thanks to educator and renown Magic The Gathering player, Sean Pottenger, we were able to not only attend the Pro Tour event at Hawaii, but were also able to actually get a behind-the-scenes look at the logistics of running the event & exclusive interviews with Pro Magic players. It's safe to say that this event changed the trajactory of many of my students.

The Use of board games in class

Board Games in the Classroom

I use a board games in my classes as a reflection tool on what we covered in class, to explore game mechancis, as a comprehension engine and prototyping. Here we are playing Iello's dexterity game, Master Fox.

Akika Spahn Naihe working on huli prototype

In 2017 my friend and artist reknown Alika Spahn Naihe, joined my class as an art teacher. This has completely elevated the class. In this picture Alika works with Jack Hobbs on creating prototype assets for our game Huli.

Alika Spahn Naihe working on Surface Pro's Clip art studio

Our design teacher, Alika Spahn Naihe, brings an abundant of knowledge on digital art design. Here he works with our student on the pro's of using Clip Art Studio Pro.