Level 5: Mechanics and Dynamics « Game Design Concepts. Until this point, we have made lots of games and game rules, but at no point have we examined what makes a good rule from a bad one. Nor have we really examined the different kinds of rules that form a game designer’s palette. Nor have we talked about the relationship between the game rules and the player experience. These are the things we examine today. Course Announcements No major announcements today, but for your curiosity I did compile a list of tweets for the last challenge (add or change a rule to Battleship to make it more interesting): “Reveal” was a common theme (such as, instead of firing a shot, give the number of Hits in a 3×3 square – thus turning the game from “what number am I thinking of” into “two-player competitive Minesweeper”)Skip a few turns for a larger shot (for example, skip 5 turns to hit everything in an entire 3×3 area).
We will revisit some of these when we talk about the kinds of decisions that are made in a game, next Monday. Readings The Process of Design. Content Design Patterns for Game-Based Learning (2155-6849)(2155-6857): Dennis Maciuszek, Sebastian Ladhoff, Alke Martens: Journal Articles. Abstract To address the lack of documented best practices in the development of digital educational games, the authors have previously proposed a reference software architecture.
One of its components is the rule system specifying learning and gameplay content. It contains quest, player character, non-player character, environment, and item rules. Documented content design patterns can assist in the authoring of such rules. This paper reports on four studies that have collected quest, character, environment, and item design patterns by analysing a variety of media. A selection of the results is presented, as well as a discussion of how the patterns can be used in designing educational game content. Article Preview Introduction When computer scientists look at the field of game-based learning, they investigate existing systems, their implementations and software architectures. Figure 1. Educational RPG architecture Quest Design Patterns. Docs/badernatal_aied_ieg2009.pdf. Game Dynamics of Learning: The Gamification of Training and Performance Improvement. 8 Mechanics from the Tech Crunch Panel on Social Gaming and Virtual Goods Here are 8 of the game mechanics the panel talked about: 1) Hero Effect Dynamic 2) Status & Ego/Pavolivan Mechanics 3) Social and Community Dynamic.
Social layer (comparison via scoring) & participation in something larger [mostly in Facebook & social-mobile games] 4) Farmville Harvest Mechanic 5) Challenge Mechanic 6) Badges & Rewards & virtual goods/currency (progress bars & leveling up) 7) Music (and identity) Dynamic 8] The experience of augmented reality (specific type of mobile games) 9) Leaderboards (I don’t think they actually highlighted this one, but its worht nothing) “7 Ways Games Reward the Brain” is a an interesting TED talk on the topic by Tom Chatfield.
Brett Bixler, Instructional Designer at Penn State and Evangelist for their Education Gaming Commons, believes there are 5 ways this applies to learning: 1. Use experience bars to measure progress. (milestones/virtual rewards) 2. Like this: Syllabus « Gaming the Classroom. Indiana University, Bloomington Department of Telecommunications T366: Multiplayer Game Design Section 13353 Spring 2010 Email: clsheldo@indiana.edu Description Focus is on massively-multiplayer online games and virtual worlds. Students will be introduced to the design elements and production requirements necessary to create and maintain online games. We will study various existing worlds from major commercial worlds like World of Warcraft to free web-based games. Format This class is designed as a multiplayer game.
Class time will be divided between fighting monsters (Quizzes, Exams etc.), completing quests (Presentations of Games, Research etc.) and crafting (Personal Game Premises, Game Analysis Papers, Video Game Concept Document etc.). At the beginning of the semester everyone in the class will choose and name their avatars. Grading Procedure You will begin on the first day of class as a Level One avatar. *Your level will be determined by experience points (XP) on a 2000 XP scale. 1. “This Game Sucks”: How to Improve the Gamification of Education (EDUCAUSE Review. Sarah "Intellagirl" Smith-Robbins (sabsmith@indiana.edu) is Director of Emerging Technologies and a faculty member at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. With this issue of EDUCAUSE Review, she begins a one-year term as Editor of the New Horizons department.
Comments on this article can be posted to the web via the link at the bottom of this page. "Focusing on the ways that entertainment technology engages us can result in methods that we can transfer to any learning situation. " Gamification. Maybe you've heard of it. It's the new term invented to describe the application of game mechanics such as points, badges, and levels to non-game processes. Your first introduction to gamification may have been through a location-based check-in service like foursquare. Education has been a system of status and points since the dawn of the Industrial Age.
What Is a Game? The first step is to understand exactly what a game is. Is Higher Education Already a Game? Notes 1.