Evaluation of the game development process of a location-based mobile game

There is a growing interest of government bodies and NGOs in using (serious) video games in awareness campaigns. Until now, however, little was known on how to set up such a campaign so as to effectively cater to the needs of different stakeholders including the target audience. Hence designing, developing and translating a game for educational purposes whilst balancing between fun and learning is a complex process, this paper aims to evaluate this by presenting a methodological framework for involving stakeholders in the design and development of a game-based awareness campaign based on a user-centered software design methodology and assesses its effectiveness in a concrete use case: the development of the location-based mobile game City Jam. The goal was to develop a game-based road safety campaign to confront adolescents with road traffic situations with the aim to positively influence road safety attitude and behavior. Mobile technologies offer new opportunities to embed digital game based learning by in different contexts. Given the nature of the road safety campaign, a location-based game format was chosen, aiming to facilitate learning by means of an extended three-way interaction (human interaction, game and context). Different user-centered design methods were deployed throughout several phases of the game development process: In phase one (the opportunity identification) a literature review was performed to investigate relevant fields for the game’s goal. In phase two (the game concept development) expert interviews and a focus groups were conducted with relevant stakeholders and in phase three (the game concept design) co-design sessions and a focus group resulted in a game design document. In phase four (game development and testing) the beta version of City jam was developed and tested in an iterative field testing design and resulted in the final game. Results obtained throughout the game development process provided us the opportunity to evaluate several major aspects. Firstly the impact of stakeholder involvement on the different phases of the design process and the final product resulted in a game that was tailored to the preferences and needs of the target group. Secondly translating the game concept into practice, such as game elements, proposed educational game elements, were evaluated based on the usability, playability principles and social and technological aspects. Benefits and challenges of user-centered design methods are discussed and how budget constraints and differing desired outcomes of different stakeholders challenge but also enrich the process

Me, us and them: evaluation of cooperation and competition in a location-based serious game design

Introduction Parallel to the growing interest in the deployment of digital games as an instructional tool for educational and social purposes and their theoretical underpinning and viability (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2006), the social aspect of gaming itself has also gained interest as in how various forms of human interaction in digital games and game play manifest. For example, Zagal, Nussbaum and Rosas (2002) developed a model for multiplayer game design to support initial steps in the design process of multiplayer games, proposing that social interaction depends on elements of the game (i.e. player(s), rules and goals, and props and tools) and characteristics of a multiplayer game. Moreover, mobile technologies offer new opportunities to embed and exploit multiplayer game and/or game features to various contexts, potentially adding an extra element to the human interaction and digital games, such as the spatial environment in which the digital game is played). For instance, due to GPS integration in mobile devices, game play progression in so called location-based games is based on players’ interaction with certain game features in a predefined physical location. For example, Huizinga, Admiraal, Akkerman and Dam (2009) developed a mobile city game for students from secondary education to acquire historical knowledge and motivation for history. Likewise, Facer et al. (2004) developed a mobile game experience to encourage the development of children’s conceptual understanding of animal behavior in a direct physical interaction with space and with other players. Due to new game formats, new media and technology opportunities, the social aspect of multiplayer digital gaming the complexity of optimizing game design and eventually game play rises. This paper therefore aims to further explore the competition and cooperation elements (Zagal et al, 2002) for a location-based serious game. This study was part of a larger study aimed to design and develop a game-based road safety campaign from a user-centered design perspective using several mixed methods throughout the game development process (Pagulayan, Keeker, Wixon, Romero, & Fuller, 2003). The goal was to develop a serious game to enhance the awareness of road safety and to stimulate safe behavior on the road among adolescents. In the first part of the game development process a literature review, interviews and focus groups with relevant stakeholders resulted in a game design concept. [Reference removed to protect anonymity] involved stakeholders in a co-design sessions to gather input on the perception and needs of the target group on several game mechanics. Insights obtained in part one led to the creation of a beta version of the game ‘City Jam’. The game’s goal is to become the most popular band of the city by collecting virtual items spread throughout the city center and therefore competing against one another in teams (four > team < ten); each team consists of two to four players and players have the option to cooperate given the game mechanics and features. In order to evaluate the results we considered a social hourglass shaped framework as to describe cooperation and competition during game play (see figure 1). Methodology Three field tests were deployed during the game development process of the beta version of the location-based serious game ‘City Jam’ with roughly one and a half month between each test. A total of 43 adolescents from the third cycle of secondary education were recruited from eight schools (see table 1). Field test Game testers (N=41) Number of teams Age range (years) Gender M F 1 18 4 14-18 15 3 2 7 3 14-17 6 1 3 16 5 15-17 8 8 Table 1. demographics of game testers in the iterative testing phase. Each field test consisted of two parts: the game test and a focus group held directly afterwards to evaluate the game play and experience among the target group. In preparation for each field test a checklist with predefined and/or adjusted goals to optimize game experience were established in collaboration with the game developer. Game mechanics throughout the development process were subject to adjustment based on the insights and results obtained in the test phase. In the game test audio and video recordings were gathered with a Go Pro camera with head mount and audio recordings and survey data were collected in focus groups sessions with (a selection of) the game testers. A semi structured list was used as guidance throughout the focus group. Survey field test included game experience. However, given that the full final version of the game was developed after field test three, researchers evaluated the value of the Likert scale survey on its contribution and decided to reduce survey to open questions only: game testers were asked to write down the 3 most positive and 3 most negative experiences during game play. The field tests were held after school time in the low traffic city center. Each game test was approximately two hours and focus group sessions were around one hour. Results Our preliminary results from field test one showed that on the competitive level sabotaging other teams (dropping virtual bombs to steal points) was considered one of the most positive aspects of overall game play. Also, the menu function ‘newsfeed’ was also received positive as to obtain knowledge on the movements and actions of other teams (although not all teams used this function). Although game testers enjoyed the location based game (good concept), they stated that the game was seen as an individual rather than a team game. Discussing strategy, explaining game features was mixed from team to team and testers addressed that they were not always involved in the game given the restriction of game play on one tablet (size, visibility and walking makes cooperation difficult). Additional physical maps with information on items and scores for non-tablet holders for each team were often neglected during game play. Four promo actions (e.g. taking group pictures with virtual fans) were integrated as to promote cooperation and interaction, however, actual interaction with these elements were considered as mildly interactive. When players were asked during the focus group which elements they would add to improve game experience, several suggestions were made to interact with other groups (via chat) and to expand options and scores of sabotaging other teams. Furthermore suggestions were made to improve cooperation (extra tablet or sync with mobile devices). Field test two results strengthened the positive game experience of sabotaging other teams as it was a recurrent topic of discussion in the focus group. In focus groups, teams addressed that city maps were not used during game play although a game element was changed so that pubs were removed from the tablet map and only shown on the physical city map in order to stimulate cooperation within teams. Traffic questions implemented in the game with the purpose to stimulate cooperation and discussion resulted in mixed results; some teams negotiate and in other teams the tablet holder made decisions and proceeded without mentioning or providing team members with information. Some game testers addressed that the game was not that difficult and in another team the switching of tablet was a considerable issue, which influenced negative game experience on an individual level and resulted in minimal cooperation within the team. In field test three, new game mechanics were integrated and introduced to game testers as to improve cooperation (and to a lesser extent competition, hence it was evaluated based on the previous field tests that this game dynamic was working to expectations in line with the expectations and goals of the game). Results showed that sabotaging was again one of the top positively received game mechanics. The role of a bodyguard was implemented to safeguard that the game was played in a safe manner; hence tablet usage can lead to a decrease in situational awareness due to attention shift. However, all game testers were confused on the extra roles implemented in the game, given the initial role of ‘musician on tour’ and traffic participant. Furthermore, go pro results obtained showed that although interaction during game play is obvious, game related cooperation was mild. As in previous field tests, the improvement in theory did not match expectations on cooperation improvement; decisions and strategy for game play were mainly discussed among two players who were directly into contact with the tablet. The other team member(s) were seldom involved and often not aware of their status in the game. Traffic questions were mostly discussed together which influenced cooperation positively and promo actions were received as positive. A full analysis on the extensive audio and video data will be conducted as to evaluate how to optimize cooperation and competition considering the hourglass social framework in a location-based serious game

Designing a 3D serious game about career pathways in the games industry

The aim of this paper is to give a detailed overview of the development of a 3D serious game that informs game students about career pathways in the games industry. The paper provides a scoping review on the key principles related to serious game design. These core design issues are reiterated in relation to how the development of the game has adhered to them. The paper illustrates the game’s audit trail in terms of implementation providing a development blueprint for other educators to follow when developing an educational game. The learning outcomes of the game are also accentuated and how the implementation of the game has catered for them. An important aspect of the paper is to highlight how the underlying aspects of game design can accommodate intrinsic content and motivation whilst accommodating the various pedagogical frameworks embedded in the gameplay. The characterising goals of the game have adopted a linear and cyclical approach that allows the player to progress through the gameplay completing formative and summative assessment challenges. The serious game was developed using the Unity game engine adopting a hub and spoke design. A key challenge when designing the game was how to ensure that the game remained endogenous when designing the game’s levels. The design considerations presented in this paper provide a solid implementational framework about how to implement principles of learning and assessment associated with employability skill sets with a specific focus to the games industry

Developing an alcohol and other drug serious game for adolescents: Considerations for improving student engagement

Objectives: To explore perceptions of alcohol and other drug (AOD) education and digital game design preferences among Australian adolescents with the goal of identifying key factors to promote engagement in an AOD serious game for Australian secondary school students. Methods: Semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 36 adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years. Qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Participants described heightened engagement with AOD education that incorporated relatable and relevant real-life stories and interactive discussions. They also expressed a desire for learning to focus on practical strategies to reduce AOD harm and overcome social pressure to use AOD. Participants highlighted the importance of incorporating relatable characters and context-relevant scenarios in promoting engagement, and identified social elements, player choice, and optimal challenge as important game design considerations. Conclusions: A focus on meaningful realistic scenarios, relatable characters, relevant information and practical skills may promote high school aged students’ engagement with AOD educational content. Game designs incorporating social elements and decision-making opportunities may be conducive to promoting engagement and enhancing learning. Implications for public health: Findings from this study can be used by researchers and game designers for the development of future AOD serious games targeted at Australian adolescents

“It's like you’re actually playing as yourself”: Development and preliminary evaluation of ‘Green Acres High’, a serious game-based primary intervention to combat adolescent dating violence

AbstractThis paper provides an overview of the development of ‘Green Acres High’, a serious game-based primary intervention to raise awareness of and change attitudes towards dating violence in adolescents, and an analysis of how adolescents described their experience of playing this game. Transcripts from focus group data were analysed using thematic analysis. The global theme that was developed, Assessment of the game, was represented by two organising themes, Positive assessment: Pedagogical Underpinnings and Negative Assessment: Functionality Limitations and Frustrations. These represented the fact that overall the learning experience was positive based on the pedagogical principles and content that could be embedded in this digital game but that technical issues with the game needed to be addressed as these could impinge on the learning experience of the adolescents. It was seen that using a serious game was a valid and meaningful way for adolescents to learn about dating violence and that this is a viable alternative or adjunct to traditional teaching methods

Design perspectives on diabetes management games

For decades, there has been scholarly interest in the use of serious digital games to assist individuals suffering from diabetes with the self-management of that disease. However, previous research in this area has not effectively integrated the knowledge of the expert game designer. This dissertation aims to further understandings of design approaches to serious games for diabetics by confronting both the arguments of the diabetes games literature and the diabetes games themselves with the experiences and opinions of expert game designers. The arguments of the diabetes games literature were synthesized into a design template composed of twenty-four interrelated desirable elements. This template was then used by three focus groups consisting of a total of twelve expert game designers to both evaluate six diabetes self-management games and respond to the assertions of the diabetes games literature. The findings from these three empirical studies indicate both that the diabetes games themselves are of uniformly unsuitable quality and that the diabetes games literature is rife with what the expert game designers consider to be problematic assumptions. The problems identified by the focus groups include those that fundamentally cripple the functionality of the game artifact, those that are embedded in a game’s rules and themes, and those to those that exist at superficial levels. Furthermore, the focus groups had an overall negative reaction to the arguments about games that they found to be deeply embedded in the design template’s elements. Tensions exist, however, between the reasons for the diabetes games literature’s demand for certain game features and the beliefs of the expert game designers. The findings strongly suggest that additional research is necessary and that an interdisciplinary effort, including both health care professionals and expert game designers, is necessary for the development of new, superior design scenarios for diabetes self-management games.Informatio

Exploring Emotion Representation to Support Dialogue in Police Training on Child Interviewing

Police officers when dealing with interviewing children have to cope with a complex set of emotions from a vulnerable witness. Triggers for recognising those emotions and how to build rapport are often the basis of learning exercises. However, current training pulls together the full complexity of emotions during role-playing which can be over-whelming and reduce appropriate learning focus. Interestingly a serious game’s interface can provide valuable training not because it represents full complex, multimedia interactions but because it can restrict emotional complexity and increase focus during the interactions on key factors for emotional recognition. The focus of this paper is to report on a specific aspect that was explored during the development of a serious game that aims to address the current police-training needs of child interviewing techniques, where the recognition of emotions plays an important role in understanding how to build rapport with children. The review of literature reveals that emotion recognition, through facial expressions, can contribute significantly to the perceived quality of communication. For this study an ‘emotions map’ was created and tested by 41 participants to be used in the development of a targeted interface design to support the different levels of emotion recognition. The emotions identified were validated with a 70 % agreement across experts and non-experts highlighting the innate role of emotion recognition. A discussion is made around the role of emotions and game-based systems to support their identification for work-based training. As part of the graphical development of the Child Interview Stimulator (CIS) we examined different levels of emotional recognition that can be used to support the in-game graphical representation of a child’s response during a police interview

The Development of an Escape Room-Based Serious Game to Trigger Social Interaction and Communication Between High-Functioning Children With Autism and Their Peers:Iterative Design Approach

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have social deficits that affect social interactions, communication, and relationships with peers. Many existing interventions focus mainly on improving social skills in clinical settings. In addition to the direct instruction-based programs, activity-based programs could be of added value, especially to bridge the relational gap between children with ASD and their peers. Objective: The aim of this study is to describe an iterative design process for the development of an escape room-based serious game as a boundary object. The purpose of the serious game is to facilitate direct communication between high-functioning children with ASD and their peers, for the development of social skills on the one hand and strengthening relationships with peers through a fun and engaging activity on the other hand. Methods: This study is structured around the Design Research Framework to develop an escape room through an iterative-incremental process. With a pool of 37 children, including 23 children diagnosed with ASD (5 girls) and 14 children (7 girls) attending special primary education for other additional needs, 4 testing sessions around different prototypes were conducted. The beta prototype was subsequently reviewed by experts (n=12). During the design research process, we examined in small steps whether the developed prototypes are feasible and whether they have the potential to achieve the formulated goals of different stakeholders. Results: By testing various prototypes, several insights were found and used to improve the design. Insights were gained in finding a fitting and appealing theme for the children, composing the content, and addressing different constraints in applying the goals from the children's and therapeutic perspectives. Eventually, a multiplayer virtual escape room, AScapeD, was developed. Three children can play the serious game in the same room on tablets. The first test shows that the game enacts equal cooperation and communication among the children. Conclusions: This paper presents an iterative design process for AScapeD. AScapeD enacts equal cooperation and communication in a playful way between children with ASD and their peers. The conceptual structure of an escape room contributes to the natural emergence of communication and cooperation. The iterative design process has been beneficial for finding a constructive game structure to address all formulated goals, and it contributed to the design of a serious game as a boundary object that mediates the various objectives of different stakeholders. We present 5 lessons learned from the design process. The developed prototype is feasible and has the potential to achieve the goals of the serious game

Towards an Iterative Design for Serious Games

The design and development of Serious Games is a complex task, including a considerable risk of failure. Many attempts end up in non-fun, non-engaging games that fail to meet the purpose of improving education. Many different proposals have been published in the form of design frameworks, with the aim of helping practitioners succeed. Although these frameworks define and explain relevant concepts and guidelines, there is lack of focus in iterative methodologies. These methodologies have proven valuable in other areas on engineering and are also used by commercial game designers. This work proposes the introduction of iterative design for Serious Games and presents an early stage methodology, along with an example of the core mechanic of a game and a prototype for learning the concept of slope of a line.This research has been internally funded by the Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Transferencia de Conocimiento from the University of Alicante, project GRE20-17-C

A STRATEGIC SERIOUS GAME ADDRESSING SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Serious Games are currently extending their capabilities to strategic Education and Training by innovative approaches and new technological solutions. In this paper, the authors propose a new Serious Game devoted to address such aspects with special focus on System of Systems Engineering (SoSE). The proposed case uses a challenging framework related to the development of an innovative System of Systems for defense and homeland security that could be used by users to acquire the fundamental concepts of SoSE. The scenario allows to investigate alternative interoperable solutions among different platforms, sensors, infrastructures and doctrines respect evolving threats in relation to an air defense solution based on airborne radars