Lego is a great tool to build early prototypes of games and apps. At PUCPR’s, we stimulate students to supplement talking with making to increase shared understanding. Physical prototypes are quicker to build together in a team and can be used to test if ideas work in the real world. In this hands-on session, participants will have the opportunity to experiment three techniques: building Lego Serious Play models, making Lego prototypes and recording Lego video scenarios.

1. Prototyping
Games and Apps with LEGO
Frederick van Amstel @usabilidoido
www.usabilidoido.com.br
Apple Developer Academy | PUCPR

2. Software relies on a stack of abstractions which free/
distance us from the material world (Bratton, 2016).

3. When people understands what is represented, the
abstraction becomes concrete to them.

4. When designing mobile apps, teams need to cross the
stack often, but they get lost when members are talking
about different layers of abstraction.
Code
Business
GUI

5. This is particularly acute in CBL Engage phase, when
teams need to move from an abstract Big Idea to a
concrete, actionable Challenge.

6. LEGO is a toy system that let children learn dealing with
abstractions and use them to materialize their ideas.

7. LEGO Mindstorms helps learning abstract programming
by representing physical objects in software.

8. Can we use LEGO to
support collaborative design in
mobile app development?

9. Lego works as a physical ground for speech and thought
while also introducing its own concrete abstractions.

10. Lego Serious Play metaphorical models for building Big
Ideas from Little Ideas.

11. Lego Video Scenarios to richly present Big Idea,
Essential Question and Challenge. Example.

12. Lego Prototype to answer guiding questions regarding
game mechanics issues:

13. This is a running prototype built from the game
mechanics created with Lego.

14. Lego Modeling Language (LegoML) is a physical
representation inspired by UML. This is a Class Diagram.

15. This is a Sequence Diagram displayed in a video. It
reveals how the interaction of multiple actors unfolds.

16. This is a Use Case Diagram. While describing the cases,
we laid down the pieces.

17. Use Case Diagram was built after interface sketches and
checking if there was missing features.

18. Video tutorials on using Lego for teaching Software
Engineering by Stan Kurkovsky http://web.ccsu.edu/lego-se/

19. Thank you!
Frederick van Amstel @usabilidoido
www.usabilidoido.com.br
Apple Developer Academy | PUCPR