Skills for creativity in games design

This paper reports on an experimental study to understand further the extent to which academics may differ to practitioners in their conception of skills relevant to creativity within a specific design related subject: in this instance, Games Design. Ten academics, sampled from BA Hons games courses in the UK, participated in identifying what factors they each considered important to creativity in games design, and how, collectively, they rated particular skills, knowledge, talents and abilities relevant to creativity in games design. With the same research methodology, theoretical framework and procedures, the focus was placed on ten games design practitioners’ conceptions of skills for creativity in games design. A detailed comparison is made between the findings from both groups

Measuring Uncertainty in Games: Design and Preliminary Validation

Uncertainty is an important element of game play, which is widely believed to act as a precondition for player experience (PX). To investigate the concept and examine its relation to other PX concepts, we should be able to measure it. We present the design and preliminary results of the validation of the Player Uncertainty in Games (PUG) questionnaire. Based on various sources from games user research and work done with regards to searching digital archives, we designed a questionnaire that measures the experience of uncertainty in games. The scale was refined down to 66 items via interviews with players and expert reviews, which was then validated and further refined based on data gathered from gamers in an online survey. The Principal Component Analysis showed high level of internal consistency for the scale and each of its four factors: Disorientation, Exploration, Prospect, and Randomness. This work demonstrates the initial findings towards a validated tool for measuring uncertainty of players in digital games

An Architectural Approach To Level Design

This paper review’s Christopher Totten’s 2014 book, An Architectural Approach to Level Design. Totten’s work arguably represents the most advanced and up to date discussion in applying traditional architecture principles to level design. The work in many aspects is ground-breaking and truly unique; he is one of the first (and only) architects writing in the field of games design and to developed an extensive discourse on why and how architectural principles, can and should be applied to the process of games design. Totten’s work can be considered at the forefront of demonstrating the ever-expanding domain of games design; it is successfully combines two disparate disciplines, in this case architecture and games design, and despite several weaknesses can be considered to be a leading key text in the field of architecture and games design. The paper concludes with a recommendation that the work is a valuable read for both game developers in the field wanting to develop a deeper understanding of designing more immersive and authentic game spaces as well as students engaged in studying games design & development or architecture and wanting to bridge the gap between the subject areas

Serious games: design and development

With the growth of the video game industry, interest in video game research has increased, leading to the study of Serious Games. Serious Games are generally perceived as games that use the video games’ capabilities to emerge players, for other purposes besides entertainment. These purposes include education and training, among others. By using Serious Games for education, teachers could capture the students’ attention in the same way that video games often do, thus the learning process could be more efficient. Additionally, by exploiting the potential of these virtual worlds, it is possible to experience situations that would otherwise be very difficult to experience in the real world, mainly due to reasons of cost, safety and time. Serious Games research and development is still very scarse. However, nowadays there is a large number of available platforms and tools, which can be used to develop Serious Games and video games in general. For instance, web browsers can now provide easy access to realistic 3D virtual worlds. This grants video game developers the tools to create compelling and rich environments that can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection. Additionnaly, other development platforms can be used to achieve different goals. Desktop technologies provide greater processing power and achieve greater results in terms of visual quality, as well as in terms of creating more accurate simulations. This disseration describes the design and development of two Serious Games, one for PC, developed with XNA, and another for the web, developed with WebGL.O crescimento da indústria dos jogos de vídeo, despoletou um maior interesse no estudo deste fenómeno, o que consequentemente levou ao estudo de Jogos Sérios. Jogos Sérios são normalmente considerados jogos de vídeo que são desenvolvidos para outros fins para além do entretenimento. Estes fins incluem a educação e o treino, entre outros. Ao utilizar Jogos Sérios para a educação, os docentes poderiam conseguir captar a atenção dos alunos da mesma forma que os jogos de vídeo normalmente conseguem. Desta forma o processo de aprendizagem poderia ser mais eficiente. Adicionalmente, ao explorar o potencial destes mundos virtuais, é possível experienciar situações que de outra forma seriam difíceis de experienciar na vida real, devido ao seu custo, a razões de segurança e também ao tempo dispendido para as realizar. O estudo de Jogos Sérios é ainda bastante disperso. No entanto, hoje em dia existe já um grande número de plataformas e ferramentas disponíveis que podem ser usadas para desenvolver Jogos Sérios. Por exemplo, os web browsers podem agora fornecer acesso fácil a mundos virtuais 3D. Isto permite que os criadores de jogos de vídeo tenham acesso às ferramentas necessárias para criar ambientes ricos, que possam ser acedidos por qualquer pessoa através de uma ligacção à internet. Adicionalmente, existem outras plataformas de desenvolvimento que podem ser utilizadas para alcançar objetivos diferentes. Tecnologias desktop fornecem um maior poder de processamento e permitem alcançar melhores resultados em termos de qualidade visual, bem como em termos de criação de simulações mais precisas. Nesta dissertação descreve-se a criação e o desenvolvimento de dois Jogos Sérios, um para PC, desenvolvido em XNA e outro outro para a web, desenvolvido em WebGL

A behavioural framework for designing educational computer games

Research has indicated that computer games can be innovative and powerful tools for education. Indeed, combining psychological research and games design principles offers a framework for developing educational games that promote learning while maintaining high motivation of the players. If designed correctly, it appears that games can utilize the inherent motivation demonstrated by game players to teach skills that are of immediate practical benefit. The current paper explores “the edges of gaming” in terms of proposing a novel theoretical and methodological framework for the design of educational games

Student participation in serious games design

Serious games can be defined simply as games with an educational intent. These games are regularly positioned within a curriculum as simple teaching agents and often lack meaningful participation from learners in their development. In 1992, Roger Hart proposed a model for the roles children play in participatory projects with adults. ‘Hart’s Ladder’ presents eight levels of children’s participation moving from tokenistic manipulation of children at the base of this ladder to ‘citizenship’ at the top where children can initiate and share activities with adults. This research contributes to knowledge on methods of integrating serious games into formal educational settings by investigating how children, as participants, can work with their educators, as facilitators, to create serious games for use by their peers. Exploratory field studies have worked with secondary school children (11-16 years) to evaluate the hypothesis that higher levels of participation of children in making serious games will produce more effective educational artefacts. Educational artefacts are context specific to each study but encompass the product and accreditation of the process by participants, facilitators and all stakeholders involved

Games design as a curatorial intervention: Rethinking museum representation, meaning-making and agency with games design

This thesis contributes to the academic fields of Museum Studies and Game Studies by rethinking the application of games, play and design in museums. I propose and document the applicability of games design with museum visitors as a creative and visual methodology. Building upon established Museum Studies, games, play and design theories, power and agency theories and Multimodal Social Semiotics, I conceptualise games design as an active curatorial intervention in representation, meaning-making and agency. Drawing on data collected during two case studies, I examine and describe step by step how families with young people design games inspired by museums and their collections. As part of the research process, two workshops were designed and implemented in two different museums in the UK. Bringing together theories from the fields of Museum Studies, Game Studies, Platform Studies and Museum Distributed Network theories and Multimodal Social Semiotics, I read visitors’ games as curatorial platforms that challenge, add and transform the context within which they are situated, designed and played. This thesis maps out and highlights the potential of games design as a creative and visual methodology. It provides new and important insights into the much-debated question of museum representation, the notion and ethics of the playful and participatory museum and the role that games as media can play in the relation between museums and their communities. Its findings show that games design with visitors offers museum practice and academia the methodology to rethink issues of curation, representation, meaning-making and agency. Games design with visitors as a curatorial intervention allows museums to recognise and empower the production of alternative classifications that add new layers of playful representations and meanings to the authentic museum curation. In this way, new paths of encountering and experiencing the tangible and intangible heritage and natural history are created allowing visitors to play and experiment with meaning and representation in the museum setting. These findings make a significant contribution to the literature of Game Studies. By proposing and applying games design as a participatory curatorial intervention in museums, this thesis introduces and documents the value of games as media beyond their current entertainment and educational application. In this way, the findings in this study extend the understanding of how game studies and games culture contribute to other academic fields and practices