Photography & New Media

Code: P0204-24

    • O

      Open to All

      Students of any skill and knowledge level.

    • Ages 9-12

Basics of Game Design in Scratch

Jun 10 - 14, 2024

9AM - 3PM

Concept

In this workshop, each participant learns to create at least one small, complete video game in Scratch, a delightfully inviting programming environment that rewards tinkering and exploration. We are inclusive, welcoming, loose, and quick in our process as we explore game design in an art context, using a combination of do-as-I-do demonstrations and prompting to create a game of one’s own, encouraging making one’s own characters and stories. This workshop is open to learners at all levels. Se habla español.

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Media & Techniques

Scratch web-based software, character development, story development, basic game design, collaboration, demonstrations

Faculty

Rafael Fajardo

Rafael Fajardo (he/him/his) is an artist, designer, researcher and educator. Through his collaborative, SWEAT, Fajardo has been creating boundary blurring videogames as an art form since the year 2000. These games have been exhibited in museums and festivals worldwide. Fajardo’s research and creative projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, by the Colorado Council on the Arts, and by MTV in excess of one million dollars. In 2004, I.D. Magazine named Fajardo among the top fifty designers in the United States. With Adán De La Garza and Justin Ankenbauer he curates a series of popup artist’s games arcades as Dizzy Spell. At the University of Denver, where he is an Associate Professor of Emergent Digital Practices, he also serves as a founding member of the Board of Advisors for the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (in)Equality (IRISE) and is core faculty of the LatinX Center. Fajardo earned both a BA and a BFA from The University of Texas at Austin, and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. He was born in Colombia and migrated to the US with his parents in 1968. He was raised in San Antonio, Texas. Fajardo’s earliest games, Crosser and La Migra, are featured in ReVisión, an exhibition at the Denver Art Museum on display through July 2022 that is reimagining 2000 years of art history from what we now call Latin America.

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Rafael Fajardo, Seeds of Solitude, detail

Workshop Details

Scholarships, College Credit & Discounts

Making Art Accessible

Applications for scholarship support are encouraged. Specific scholarships are funded by Ranch supporters, either through endowed funds or special gifts.

Many colleges and universities offer college credit for workshops taken at Anderson Ranch. Discounts are available for students and teachers.

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