Week 9 Live Class 2010

© Carrie Heeter, 2010

Foundations of Serious Games

Professor Carrie Heeter


GAME FOR CHANGE Daniel

The McDonalds Game

GAMES FOR LEARNING Kari

Wolfquest

Kristy

Do I Have a Right

INNOVATIVE INDIE GAME Derek

Spectre

NEXT WEEK:

MeteGregKristineJohn


Kristy, 91 points Kari, 51 points Daniel, 48 points Ted, 46 points Derek, 43 points Carolyn, 34 points Greg, 34 points Alan, 34 points Kristine, 30 points Steve, 25 points

Example of poorly designed

gamification…



8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Finals

10/27 11/3 11/10 11/17 11/24 12/1 12/5 12/15

playtest final game

Meaningful Play report due

Playtest report due

Final project web site, game due

Graded on quality of RESEARCH.A successful playtest informs important

design CHANGES. (Confirming that your game was perfect would be a failed

Playtest.)

(no LIVE class)


Missing Link History Ctrl Alt Del


Week 9 Brainstorm again with a renewed, deeper

understanding of your audience, the need, the content. Decide on a core game mechanic and direction

Weeks 9 & 10 Continue research on all fronts Develop rough paper prototype of some aspect of

your game, with a clear idea of the questions you want to answer.

Your prototype is your hypothesis!


Game Design Workshop Games for Change Toolkit Conduct and watch game analyses of ~30 games Indoctrinate to culture of iteration Practice envisioning and revising game ideas Assign you to fill yourselves with content and user

knowledge


Known domain, goals, player Brainstorm again, thinking freely about the

game mechanic Notice how different brainstorming feels when

you understand the problem space better and have a general direction.


Try it out! (Remember our play acting exercise?) Central starting point:

Is your game playable? Then you can tweak content and fun and

values.

PITFALL: making it too complicated


Some experts even change them DURING a playtest, or between playtests

A great prototype is one you can make quickly and change easily

PITFALL: making it to polished


Do what you say you will, on time. Everything takes longer than you think – allow

time Communicate clearly. Call for help if you run

into trouble.

PITFALL: not being ready


I’m happy to meet with any team or individual. Just let me know.

Entertainment & Humor

Week 9 Live Class 2010