Class Information
- Grade: 8–12 (students must be 13 or older to participate in this class)
- Lesson timeframe: Five to ten 40-minute class periods, depending on student familiarity with Fortnite Creative
- Featured tool: Fortnite Creative
- Class / learning environment: A Fortnite-capable device with a one-to-one device-to-student ratio, and with Internet connectivity. A computer lab or mobile laptop cart should provide the ideal environment.
This class is designed as a quest — or choice-based learning environment — that provides students with an opportunity to take different approaches to meeting the learning outcomes based on their own interests in terms of content as well as project options. Classroom has computers available for all students, with flexible seating. This activity is designed for any content area.
Author Contact
Author, Organization/Role: Steven Isaacs, Bernards Township Public Schools, Teacher, Game Design and Development
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mr_isaacs | @mr_isaacs
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-isaacs/
Lesson Overview
Escape rooms have become a cultural phenomenon, both physically and virtually. Businesses have popped up around the world to provide professionally created game experiences. They have also made their way into all areas of the curriculum in exciting ways, thanks to Breakout EDU and digital escape rooms that are created in innovative ways, and with a variety of tech solutions.
Fortnite Creative is an excellent tool for students to demonstrate their expertise in creating visually stunning environments while learning core subjects in meaningful and engaging ways.
Through this activity, students will:
- Research an area of a curriculum to create an interactive experience.
- Create puzzles related to the content area that engage participants in an authentic, game-based learning experience.
- Build an environment in Fortnite Creative, using prefabs, galleries, and standard building materials.
- Utilize devices and items to automate actions within Fortnite Creative.
- Engage in the iterative design process through peer testing and incorporation of feedback as part of the development cycle.
DESIRED RESULTS
The student will be able to answer:
- How does the design thinking process support creative problem solving?
- How does content creation allow students to demonstrate expertise in the content area through research and incorporation of curriculum-related ideas?
- Does learning through interactive experiences created by peers help students learn the desired content?
Lesson Plan
Introduction/Hook
Many Fortnite Island Creators have gotten into the escape room craze and developed escape room maps to challenge the Fortnite community. A simple search for Fortnite Creative Escape rooms will yield many results. YouTubers have also joined in on the fun, and you can watch videos of them as they attempt to complete a variety of user-created escape rooms.
Here’s an example to get you started:
AlexAce: The New Default Escape Room Map (Fortnite Creative)
Exploration: Experiment with Fortnite Creative to get a sense of the different devices and how they work to automate functions in the game.
Create one puzzle room experience that incorporates devices for automation and requires another player to solve the puzzle to escape the room.
Sample ideas:
- Provide a maze with a riddle that requires the player to make choices leading them to the correct path for the exit.
- Create a lock-and-key system where the player must find the item required to unlock the door.
- Create a teleport system where correct answers help the player advance while incorrect answers lead to a trap.
CURRICULUM INTEGRATION
This activity works well with any content area. As an instructional designer, it is up to the teacher to develop the content related learning outcomes.
An escape room can be based on learning and responding to what is learned to guide the game experience and support the learning outcomes.
A good game-based learning experience provides the learner with an opportunity to learn through the gameplay. When a student is the content creator, they also have the opportunity to become the content area expert in order to teach their peers through the created game.
In this activity, it is easy to have different groups of students become content area experts in different areas, and for the entire class to benefit by learning from each student- or team-created game.
Example: For Social Studies, the escape room could be based on an historical event. The puzzles/clues for getting past each area would be based on the content covered. Content can be taught through billboards, or through the HUD display within the world.
The creator can also provide links to outside resources for players to use. The puzzles would relate to the course content.
RESEARCH
Students should choose from a variety of content-related topics that support the learning outcomes. In teams or as individuals, students will research their area to become the content area experts. Ultimately, this will serve as a jigsaw where all students/teams become content area experts different areas, and students learn from one another’s interactive experiences.
Students should have the choice to work in teams or individually.
DESIGN DOCUMENT
Students should create a design document to guide the process in creating their map in Fortnite. (They can use the downloadable template included with this lesson.)
A design document is the planning document created by game developers to brainstorm and lay out ideas for the game to be developed. A design document can be thought of as the blueprint for the game.
The design document for the escape room should include:
- Narrative: The background context that will tell the back story.
- Content: What information the player is expected to learn from the experience.
- Visual theme/setting: Description of the overall island/escape room theme.
- Level design/challenges: Description of the different areas/challenges players will encounter as they move through the experience.
- The levels/challenges should be accompanied by a sketch/storyboard depicting the progression through the game
- Game mechanics—types of challenges and mechanics involved should be thought out and labeled with each level/challenge (see the Standard Escape Room Game Mechanics section below).
- Consider devices that might be used for each challenge based on the available devices in Fortnite.
STANDARD ESCAPE ROOM GAME MECHANICS
As you explore and think about creating escape rooms in Fortnite Creative, you will start to understand the game mechanics that lend themselves to creating your experience.
You will also see how escape rooms are comprised of a number of different puzzles that lead to completing the experience. Below are some game mechanics to consider (and students are encouraged to incorporate original ideas not mentioned here):
- Maze—a simple maze with traps, different paths, and secret passages.
- Parkour—puzzles consisting of jumps to work your way through the level.
- Secret passages—carpets, pictures, fireplaces, and other hidden areas.
- Teleport the player based on selected response/path.
- Lock-and-key system—find items to unlock doors.
- Riddles/trivia questions to determine a player’s path or outcome.
DEVICE SUGGESTIONS
- Traps
- Teleport
- Player Spawn
- Player Checkpoints
- Trigger
- Button
- Door Lock
- Billboard
ESCAPE ROOM DEVELOPMENT
Based on the design document, students will develop the first prototype of the escape room experience. Students can work in teams or individually. The first round of development will take a number of class periods, as students will be creating an immersive environment with a variety of puzzles that incorporate a number of devices, with customization in Fortnite Creative. This will involve students in developing, testing, and debugging their projects.
PLAYTESTING/PEER FEEDBACK
It is important to have peers test the game to help discover bugs and provide feedback.
It is common for the game developer to think things should be obvious to the player, and feedback—both written and through observing the player during play—helps the developer better see their game through the eyes of the player.
In the case of an escape room experience with puzzles, it is very important to get feedback regarding the difficulty of different challenges, and whether the ramp of difficulty (increasing difficulty) is appropriate. It is also helpful to receive feedback regarding the layout/design (aesthetics), playability/fun factor, narrative, and so on.
A downloadable Peer Evaluation structure is provided with this lesson.
ITERATE
The game developer should iterate on the content based on peer feedback. When possible, it’s great to continue to recruit feedback, and use it to continue to improve upon the game.
PRESENTATION
Ideally, the games will be experienced in a gallery walk format so that players can play and learn from each other’s games to expand the sharing of the content focused on by each player. As a deliverable, a narrated video walkthrough is great to include in a digital portfolio for sharing with a wider audience.
EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Wakelet of Fortnite Escape Room resources. NOTE: Some include maps with weapons. It is suggested that educators review any online resources prior to sharing with students. The resources are intended to provide educators with support and ideas.
ASSESSMENT
Use the downloadable rubric included with this lesson to assess student work.
STANDARDS MAPPING
ISTE STANDARDS
3 Knowledge Constructor
Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions.
4 Innovative Designer
4a Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.
4c Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.
4d Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.
5 Computational Thinker
5c Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.
5d Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.
6 Creative Communicator
6c Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7 Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
INTERDISCIPLINARY AND 21ST CENTURY CONNECTIONS
This lesson covers areas related to any content area while incorporating elements of game design.
21st Century Connections:
- Critical thinking
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Technology literacy
- Flexibility
- Leadership
- Initiative
- Social skills
MODIFICATIONS AND ACCOMMODATIONS
Provide students with the option to use a different tool to create an escape room experience.
- Use a different digital tool to create an escape room.
- Create a physical escape room experience (such as BreakoutEDU).
Provide modifications and accommodations as appropriate based on student needs: IEP, 504, and so on.
Provide adaptive controller/game controller if necessary.
ADDITIONAL TEACHING MATERIALS
Include other teaching materials as separate documents:
- Downloadable design template
- Downloadable peer testing/evaluation form