Week2 class2010

© Carrie Heeter, 2010

Foundations of Serious Games

Professor Carrie Heeter


Derek 40 John 39 Greg 37 Kristy 37 Daniel 37 Carolyn 36 Ted 36 Steve 28 Kristine 28 Sandrine 27 June 27 Mete 25 Julia 21 Alan 17 Kari 16

I’m going to reset points at the beginning

of each class…

>150 tweet

s


Pick 2 numbers between 1 and 7 Your blogs Game Design Diary Readings Discussion Exertion Games Exercise Game Analysis Assignments Next week


PlayCatan Kari Hototogisu Tairan

Alan

Half Life 2 Steve Angry Birds

Julia

Starcraft Mete Heavy Rain Kristine

Godfinger June Drake’s Fortune

John

Mirror’s Edge

Sandrine Resident Evil

Kristy

Super Mario World

Derek Sonic the Hedgehog

Daniel


EXogenous ENDogenous


Kari (Catan)Get Serious I would restructure the game in such a way that it encourages sustainable harvest. Payers would get more points are awarded for making more environmentally sustainable choices.

Alan

Get Serious The illustration viewer mode allows player to more closely examine the beautifully designed and graphed card of each samurai. A brief message accompanying the illustration introduces the samurai’s background and major events he/she attended. A change worth considering to make the game serious would be to add historical events or timeline that reflects how warfare evolved during that era.

Steve (Half life)

Get Serious: With the realistic physics engine, the game could be changed from a first person shooter to a serious game for teaching physics. There are already the tools out there to be able to do this as well - Garry's mod can be purchased that can provide everything needed to customize the game

Julia (Angry Birds)

Get Serious The game already requires basic knowledge of physics to accomplish the proper speed, trajectory, and building collapse. This could be boosted with the inclusion of actual calculus formulas in order to accomplish each level's goal for use in a beginning physics class.


Mete (Starcraft) Get Serious Since this game is heavily based on resources management, it could be used in a way to teach students about the geographical advantage and the relationship between the resources and the military power the nations have. For such purposes, one would need to find suitable pre-game/post-game activities (these could be implemented in the game system, like an explanation of the summary screen after the game finishes).

Kristine (Heavy Rain)

Get Serious One of the most interesting parts about Heavy Rain is its ability to evoke emotions in the player. If using these game mechanics in a correct way, I believe a very effective persuasive game could be created. With only small changes to the story, I believe this game could be effectively used to teach ethics. Even without making changes to the game, it shows us how our actions can have great consequences to our own or other people’s future.

June (Godfinger)

Get Serious Make it an environmental movement game. Add two rules, 1) whenever gold is generated, trash is also generated and has to be moved to recycling building by a players, themselves. If trash is left, it pollutes and weakens wonder power. 2) Trash can be cleaned by friends, too. Players see that when gold is generated, trash is also generated. When trash is not removed, natural resources (wonder) will be weak and their planet will be polluted. Moreover, cleaning friends' trash is beneficial to both me and my friends, although trash from friends’ planet doesn’t harm my planet.


John (Drake’s Fortune)Get Serious Add more history into story. The game is already driven by "fake" history about Francis Drake. Add some real history into the cut-scenes. (May hurt the story.) OR add more archeological elements. Then the game could serve as training module for archeology students. (May hurt the pacing )

Sandrine (Mirror’s Edge)

Get Serious: Change the context to be more linked to today. The game could be a warning : "Don't confuse terrorism and Islam", or "Don't confuse immigration and violence" or "Don't confuse immigration and unemployment" …

Kristy (Resident Evil)

Get Serious Tweak the story to put larger emphasis on the Biohazard caused by the development of biological weapons. Next, add a game mechanic that follows with this theme. Maybe focus more on the human element of who the "monsters" were before the T-virus. I wouldn't change the violence/gore (though I know that is often a concern around serious games), because the audience of a game like this is a survival horror audience.

Derek (Super Mario World)

Besides the already underlying themes of invasion from the koopa army, ask trivia questions about dinosaurs or use subtle game mechanics like those in another Mario’s Time Machine. OR, use jumping tied to notes to teach music.


Daniel (Sonic the Hedgehog)Get Serious Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as it stands could be considered something of a serious game. Title could be adjusted slightly to provide more content. Add anthropomorphic characters as heroes, relevant power-ups such as food that a hedgehog would actually eat, trivia questions, realistic gems…


(open from Eclipse) Google docs, groups?


GEMS & Inspirations Game Ideas

Game Idea 1Prior Art: Similar GameplayPrior Art: Similar Content

Game Idea 2Prior Art: Similar GameplayPrior Art: Similar Content

My TC830 Tweets


http://googleapps.msu.edu/




Story – no interaction

Toy – no goal

Puzzle - goal

Game - winning


Associate Professor GEL Lab Director Co-founder, Serious Game Design MA

specialization






READ: Exertion Games Making Games harder

Teams have 15 minutes to invent a simple, elegant exertion game. Goals: Lots of exertion for duration of play (can be 1

minute or 5 or 10) Clear rules, easy to learn Fun


Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 13

Health Health Corporate Learning Change Learning Change Military

Julia Carolyn Kari Ted Sandrine Mete June Julia

Carolyn Kristy Greg Daniel Derek Kari Daniel Steve

John Sandrine Mete Alan Steve Kristy Kristine

Kristine Ted June Derek Alan Greg John


Week 3 Week 4

Julia Killer Flu OR Fatworld CarolynHappy Neuron OR

Wii FIT

Carolyn CHAT Kristy EASe Game

John Ben’s Game Sandrine Finding Zoe

KristineAkrasia OR Code of

Everand Ted

Mind Habits OR Dirty Bomb: After the Blast OR Community Clash


Introduction – one sentence summary + DESIGN: The name of the company who made the game DESIGN: Your best guess at approximate budget & team size DESIGN: Who paid for it?

PLAY: Hardware and software platform DESIGN: Serious Goals (what are the creators hoping

the game will do to the players?) PLAY: Gameplay (Use categories like those described

in Fullerton’s book.) PLAY/EXPERIENCE: Forms of Fun (what kinds of fun

have been designed into the game? Refer to readings in the class to recognize and label forms of fun.)


DESIGN: Theory (bonus) – what theory or theories are embodied in the design that help explain why the creators hope and expect the game will be effective?

EXPERIENCE: Effectiveness – to what extend do you feel the serious goals are successfully accomplished? In what ways does playing the game result in meaningful play to the player?

DESIGN: Gems and Takeaways – notice and point out a few brilliant design features you want to remember and perhaps use in your own games someday.

DESIGN: Anti-Gems – what did this game teach you NOT TO DO in your own games?


Seesmic.com interface


1. Players 2. Player Objectives 3. Rules 4. Resources 5. Conflict 6. Boundaries 7. Outcomes (win-lose states)

(Read Chapter 3 of GDW before doing the assignment)


Documents

Week2 class2010