Design of Serious Games

#GameBasedLearning

#gamification

#coursenotes

Agenda

• Definitions

• Serious Game Examples

• Game Design App: eAdventure

• A Serious Game Prototype

• Resources

What is a «Serious Game»?

Designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. *

E.g.: education, defense, healthcare,

scientific exploration, emergency management, city planning, engineering, religion, politics, … **

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game ** www.slideshare.net/martinsillaots/gbl

What is «Gamification»?

The use of game thinking and game elements in a non-game context to engage users and solve problems. *

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification

Other Definitions *

• Game‐Based Learning (GBL) – branch of serious games that deals with applications that have defined learning outcomes

• Digital Game-Based Learning

• Edutainment – entertainment + education – form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse

* www.slideshare.net/martinsillaots/gbl

Serious Game Examples

freerice.com

www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq

www.kongregate.com/games/Coolio_Niato/light-bot

www.lumosity.com

e-adventure.e-ucm.es/repository/index.php?lang=en_en_utf8

geoguessr.com

www.hoodamath.com/games/briker2.html

<e-Adventure>

The <e-Adventure> platform is a research project aiming to facilitate the integration of educational games and game-like simulations in educational processes in general and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) in particular.

It is being developed by the e-UCM e-learning research group at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, with three main objectives:

• Reduction of the development costs for educational games

• Incorporation of education-specific features in game development tools

• Integration of the resulting games with existing courseware in Virtual Learning Environments

e-Adventure project website : http://e-adventure.e-ucm.es

Designing Serious Games

A SERIOUS GAME PROTOTYPE

DISHION: IMPOSSIBLE FOOD PROTOCOL

• Join us for a journey around the world and experience different cuisines!

• This is an interactive adventure game which is aiming to provide cultural information about countries like local cuisine, city views, flags etc.

Educational Objective

• The player will identify 5 to 10 types of ingredients which are necessary for making a meal from the pre-defined country during the game.

Self Evaluation Most important requirements

• The game promotes self-learning

• The player can easily start and quit the game

• The player could use the game without reading a manual

• Simple navigation and controls for a great user experience

• The game is fun to play

Resources (Course)

• Gamification Course by Kevin Werbach, University of

Pennsylvania with Coursera, online course preview:

https://class.coursera.org/gamification-002/lecture/index

Resources (Books)

• The Gamification of Learning and Instruction, Karl M. Kapp.

• Fundamentals of Game Design, Ernest Adams

Thanks to:

Martin Sillaouts: linkedin.com/in/martinsillaots

Iván Martínez-Ortiz: linkedin.com/in/imartinezortiz

Birgit Kirsimägi: linkedin.com

Tallinn University: www.tlu.ee

Tallinn University Summer School: summerschool.tlu.ee