Digital Games’ Development Model

Nowadays technology follows us everywhere. However, and although always present, sometimes technology slips by unnoticed. One field that could make better use of technology is the field of social causes, namely the care and aid of individuals with disabilities. Currently, the main drivers of this cause are dedicated people, doctors, professors, etc., who spare some of their time to aid and take care of this individuals but generally don’t master most of the modern technologies. As such the initiative, Social Tech Booster was created, with the purpose of boosting the use of information systems and/or digital games whose sole ob-jective is aiding individual with disabilities. This initiative is fueled by students on later stages of their master degree, whose final thesis, takes the form of one of these systems/games. Since then, multiple systems and games have been de-veloped, mostly digital games with mixed results, through methods that change from student to student, due to the lack of a more viable methodology. As such, in this document a new methodology to successfully develop digital games, capable of dealing with the difficulties linked to social causes, is presented. This methodology makes use of several proven development re-sources to insure the main beneficiaries are the individuals with disabilities, that will feel an improvement in their quality of life

A Digital Game Maturity Model

Game development is an interdisciplinary concept that embraces artistic, software engineering, management, and business disciplines. Game development is considered as one of the most complex tasks in software engineering. Hence, for successful development of good-quality games, the game developers must consider and explore all related dimensions as well as discussing them with the stakeholders involved. This research facilitates a better understanding of important dimensions of digital game development methodology. The increased popularity of digital games, the challenges faced by game development organizations in developing quality games, and severe competition in the digital game industry demand a game development process maturity assessment. Consequently, this study presents a Digital Game Maturity Model to evaluate the current development methodology in an organization. The objective is first to identify key factors in the game development process, then to classify these factors into target groups, and eventually to use this grouping as a theoretical basis for proposing a maturity model for digital game development. In doing so, the research focuses on three major stakeholders in game development: developers, consumers, and business management. The framework of the proposed model consists of assessment questionnaires made up of key identified factors from three empirical studies, a performance scale, and a rating method. The main goal of the questionnaires is to collect information about current processes and practices. This research contributes towards formulating a comprehensive and unified strategy for game development process maturity assessment. The proposed model was evaluated with two case studies from the digital game industry

A Model to Identify Affordances for Game-Based Sustainability Learning

Sustainability learning requires the assimilation of domain-specific knowledge and the development of mindsets suitable to engage in complex system dynamics to foster sustainable action. There is a need for bespoke educational models and practical tools to foster sustainability learning. Digital games can answer such need, due to their remarkable potential to wholly engage players in sustainability-related contexts and problems entailing complex dynamics, and the advantages of intrinsically motivating game-based learning processes. However, there is evidence suggesting that such potential might be underexploited. To address this, in this paper we present a model for the identification and analysis of game-based sustainability learning affordances. Our model can be used to support the selection of games for educational purposes, or to facilitate the planning and introduction of game-based sustainability learning affordances when designing new games

A Digital Game Maturity Model (DGMM)

Game development is an interdisciplinary concept that embraces artistic, software engineering, management, and business disciplines. This research facilitates a better understanding of important dimensions of digital game development methodology. Game development is considered as one of the most complex tasks in software engineering. The increased popularity of digital games, the challenges faced by game development organizations in developing quality games, and high competition in the digital game industry demand a game development maturity assessment. Consequently, this study presents a Digital Game Maturity Model to evaluate the current development methodology in an organization. The framework of this model consists of assessment questionnaires, a performance scale, and a rating method. The main goal of the questionnaires is to collect information about current processes and practices. In general, this research contributes towards formulating a comprehensive and unified strategy for game development maturity evaluation. Two case studies were conducted and their assessment results reported. These demonstrate the level of maturity of current development practices in two organizations

Serious Game Development Model Based on the Game-Based Learning Foundation

Serious games or applied games are digital games applied in serious fields such as education, advertising, health, business, and the military. Currently, serious game development is mostly based on the Game Development Life Cycle (GDLC) approach. A serious game is a game product with unique characteristics that require a particular approach to its development. This paper proposes a serious game development model adapted from the Game-Based Learning Foundation. This paper’s main contribution is to enhance knowledge in the game development field and game-related application research. The proposed model was validated using the relativism approach and it was used to develop several game prototypes for universities, national companies, and the military

Acceptance of Serious Games to Develop Digital Competencies in Higher Education

Serious games are the focus of the current research agenda. They show promise for allowing students to learn and practice skills. In fewer studies, they are used for the development of academic competencies. Therefore, it is of interest to deepen the research on the benefits of serious games in academic education and training. This article presents a study using serious games aimed at higher education academics’ training for the development of digital competencies. The study was carried out with 56 academics, using the serious game called AstroCódigo. The study analyzed the level of acceptance of serious games using the TAM model and what factors the academics believe affect this acceptance. It is important to know possible barriers that affect the development of actions oriented to the formation of academic competencies through serious games, which can also affect the adoption of games as a resource for teaching situations. None of prior studies have focused on analyzing the technological acceptance of serious games used for the development of academic competencies. The results of this research indicate that participants believe that using serious games can be beneficial to drive digital competencies. However, there are aspects such as the highest academic qualification, work experience, professional development, perceived usefulness, ease of use, and fear of change associated with age rank which can play a negative role in the use and acceptance of digital technologies by academics, particularly serious games. These results may be a clue to the barriers linked to the fact that most of the participants in this study do not use serious games in their classes or for their digital skills training. Additionally, the possibility to try and fail and the increased level of challenges proposed in the serious games, related to enjoyment, were valued by academics, during the sessions with AstroCódigo. These findings open the door to organize strategies for academic training in digital competencies within higher education institutions. They can also impact the design decisions of new serious games.This research work has been partially funded by the Office of International Affairs and External Cooperation (OAICE) of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), Costa Rica, through a supplementary scholarship granted to support studies towards obtaining a Master in Information Technology Applied to Education and a Doctorate in Information Sciences, both at the National University of La Plata (UNLP), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also, Project REFORTICCA of the Scientific Research Agency of the Province of Buenos Aires (CICPBA) and RTI2018-096986-B-C31: "PERGAMEX: PERVASIVE GAMING EXPERIENCES FOR ALL" project, partially funded this research.UCR::Sedes Regionales::Sede del Atlántic

A Platform Independent Game Technology Model for Model Driven Serious Games Development

Game‑based learning (GBL) combines pedagogy and interactive entertainment to create a virtual learning environment in an effort to motivate and regain the interest of a new generation of ‘digital native’ learners. However, this approach is impeded by the limited availability of suitable ‘serious’ games and high‑level design tools to enable domain experts to develop or customise serious games. Model Driven Engineering (MDE) goes some way to provide the techniques required to generate a wide variety of interoperable serious games software solutions whilst encapsulating and shielding the technicality of the full software development process. In this paper, we present our Game Technology Model (GTM) which models serious game software in a manner independent of any hardware or operating platform specifications for use in our Model Driven Serious Game Development Framework

A Future-Forward Examination of the Viability of Worker Cooperatives Within the Digital Games Industry

In this thesis I explore the subject of cooperative labour and its potential broad adoption within the digital games industry in light of recent unionization efforts. I begin with historical and environmental scans to examine the trends surrounding the practices of digital game development and publishing, followed by a review of the literature on worker cooperatives as an alternative to the traditional hierarchical organization prevalent within the digital games industry, and finally apply the Three Horizons model as a foresight method to ascertain what impact the broader adoption of this model might have upon the digital games industry. Through this study, I present the indie games movement as a site of industry disruption, and its recent experiments with worker cooperatives as an indicator towards emerging future game development practices, highlighting points of synergy between indie game development and worker cooperative principles. I conclude with the suggestion that this structure affords the opportunity to develop games collaboratively between independent studios towards their own ends beyond profit and shift towards a more equitable, creative and collaborative game development ecosystem

KOMPARASI MEDIA DOMINO EDUKASI KONVENSIONAL DAN DIGITAL KONTEMPORER TERHADAP KOGNITIF ANAK

Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perbedaan efektifitas media domino edukasi konvensional dan media domino edukasi digital kontemporer terhadp kognitif anak usia 5-6 tahun. Jenis penelitian ini merupakan jenis penelitian R&D (Reaserch and Development) dengan menggunakan model ASSURE. Desain uji coba yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan Cross Sectional Survey. Sampel penelitian yang digunakan terdiri dari 135 orang tua anak usia 5-6 tahun. Perolehan data didapat dari pengumpulan menggunakan kuisioner yang dilakukan secara online melalui google form, dokumentasi berupa desain produk sebelum dan setelah direvisi. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah dua buah produk media domino edukasi berupa media konvensional dan digital kontemporer yang berupa aplikasi games. Dari hasil survey dan feedback orang menghasilkan bahwa media domino edukasi konvensional dan digital kontemporer sangat berpengaruh terhadap kognitif anak, serta media domino edukasi konvensional dan digital kontemporer layak dan efektif untuk digunakan. Dengan tinggkat keefektifan lebih tinggi media domino digital kontemporer dibanding media domino konvensional. Implikasi penelitian ini adalah pada aspek kebermanfaatan media digital yang positif, dimana perkembangan kognitif anak terbentuk melalui stimulus games kohnitif yang dimainkan oleh anak, sehingga gamification learning dapat diterapkan secara efektif dalam pekembangan kognitif pada anak. Kata Kunci : domino edukasi, kognitif, anak usia 5-6 tahun Abstract This study aims to determine the difference between the effectiveness of conventional educational domino media and contemporary digital education domino media on children aged 5-6 years. This type of research is a type of R&D (researchReaserch and Development) using themodel ASSURE. The trial design used in this study used a Cross Sectional Survey. The research sample used consisted of 135 parents of children aged 5-6 years. Data obtained from the collection using a questionnaire conducted online through Google form, documentation in the form of product design before and after revision. The results of this study are two educational domino media products in the form of conventional and contemporary digital media in the form ofapplications games. From the results of surveys and feedback from parents, the conventional and digital contemporary educational domino media are very influential on childrens cognitive, and contemporary and digital conventional educational domino media are feasible and effective to use. With the higher effectiveness of contemporary digital domino media compared to conventional domino media according tocalculations. The implication of this study is on the positive aspects of digital media, where childrens cognitive development is formed through stimulus games utilizationthat are played by children, so gamification learning can be applied effective in cognitive development in children. Keywoards: educational domino games, cognitive, children 5-6 years ol