Game Design Exegesis

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Alexandrina Clara Barker
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1 Game Design Exegesis Upon entering the degree of Game Design and Culture, my end goal objective has been to design and create educational video games for high school students. These games are intended to help students with in-class learning difficulties, whether they have problems with text books or don t feel comfortable interacting with the classroom and its aspects, i.e. teacher. So for a creative project I have come up with the concept of a Science based game centring on the aspects of Chemistry. As I have also only just started this degree I am limited skill wise as to what I can create and produce for such a project. What I do have is my imagination and creativity which I intend to put to full use. The game, titled Quantum Scope: Enter the World of Atoms, is in itself a collection of mini-games. Although there is a collective storyline, the majority of the game is intended to induce and promote cognitive learning. The information on chemistry in the game is information that the students will have use over time in their school and possible real life, so the game is there to help the information become second knowledge to the students. There is also a mixture of game styles to appeal to different individuals and cater for the learning of different intelligences. Materials I will provide for this project are illustrations, possible 3-D model and a game brief/game design document. The required content, information wise, for the game is already predetermined by the curriculum council. Instead of making a game with random content, having the specific learning requirements for the target group helps better to construct how the game should be set up as well as assisting in creating levels of difficulty and challenge. The Jamie Spence ( ) Page 1

2 reason for the mini-games is because students won t have time in class to sit down and play a full length game. Each mini-game is designed to only last up to 5 minutes, as longer than this can make the mini-game boring and the students should be alternating between different game modes. If they choose to, the students can go back and play the same game but each time it will generate a different set-up so as to provide a new experience every time. Each mini-game will also come with a free-play challenge mode where the students will be able to set the conditions of the games to their own choice. From this they can either test their own skills or pit themselves against their peers. The idea for this came from a Big Idea concept (Davis, 2004) where I was thinking of playing a full length First-Person Shooter Role-Playing Game where the player interacted with rogue atoms in the sub-atomic world. From this I adjusted the features to fit within an education based game while also accommodating for the game being used in a class room environment. I added an experiment game where the students conduct virtual classroom or otherwise chemistry experiments, the original shooter concept was worked into a sidescroll style arcade shooter. To provide a challenge to learning the other mini-games are various types of puzzles, each providing different types of information to the students so they are exposed to various content aspects of chemistry. There are various ways to go about structuring and designing the concepts for a video game. Inna Treyger (2012) lists the steps as: 1. Plan the idea, brainstorm. Jamie Spence ( ) Page 2

3 2. Research and select the target market, find pros and cons of competitors. 3. Choose the revenue model, how will you make profit. 4. Define the game, what is the game and how does if function. 5. Define characters and backgrounds. 6. Specify features, scenes and fine details, list everything you want and then break it down. 7. Create a Game Design Document (GDD), document all your material. Francois Laramee (1999) provides a slightly alternative approach to the game design process: 1. Design treatment, a discussion of features and target audience. 2. Preliminary design, discuss games rules, contents and behaviour. 3. Final design, rewrite and review the previous document. 4. Product specification, how final design features will be implemented. 5. Graphic bible, look and feel of games characters, maps, environments, etc. 6. Interactive screenplay, dialogue and story implementation. Now while I personally may not have done step by step the structure these two people have listed, Laramee also notes that There is no such thing as a "standard" game design document. By this he means that every style of game has its own approach, it would be silly and with a degree of difficulty to try and design a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game using the concept of a game like Tetris. From the education point of view, there is much praise and incentive to aim towards making educational video games for students. To students and people of varied Jamie Spence ( ) Page 3

4 ages, video games provide cognitive stimulation (Tannahill, Tissington, & Senior, 2012) and can be very motivating. Games can provide instant feedback while also not critically judging the player on mistakes, using failure as a learning device. This can eventually lead to students developing systems thinking, where they are able to take in random variables in front of them and manage them accordingly. Tannahill et al says that commercial of the shelf games can promote a synergy between pedagogy and engagement, and that educators should be taking advantage of this contemporary learning. In review and analysis of these theories and criteria, I believe my project does fullfill the deed in its own way. While my intentions were never to seek profit or try to compare my game to its competitors, I attempted to define the game, its characters, contents and gameplay while also providing graphical and conceptual imagery. The amout of detail with this though is limited to my current experience with game designing and concept material development. With further education I will be able to provide more accurate concept art and game level design information. With the education component of the game I have a good personal understanding and knowledge of the content going in as well as providing the curriculum council syllubus as a reference source. I have also attempted and encouraged the game to be fun and challenging because a) most education games put the learning first and the fun second (Hughes, 2010), so I prioritised the fun part while making the educational content subliminal, and b) challenging games with goal directives ensures dopamine production in the player Jamie Spence ( ) Page 4

5 (Tannahill, Tissington, & Senior, 2012), which makes the game play appear rewarding to the player. In conclusion, this project has the makings of a fairly enjoyable and educative game. It provides challenges that test the players own knowledge and ability while also allowing player versus player modes, invoking the challenging spirit that drives most individuals. With further experience in game development it is possible to see this game being used in the education system in the near future. Reference Davis, G. A. (2004). Creativity is Forever (5th ed.). Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. Hughes, A. (2010, September 16). 12 Educational Videogames That Were Actually Fun. Retrieved from Topless Robot: ually_fun.php Laramee, F. D. (1999, November 23). The Game Design Process. Retrieved from Gamedev.net: Tannahill, N., Tissington, P., & Senior, C. (2012, June 25). Video Games and Higher Education: What Can Call of Duty Teach Our Students? Retrieved from Frontiers in Psychology: Treyger, I. (2012, November 29). Seven Steps to Game Concept Development (Guest Post). Retrieved from The Corona Labs Blog: Jamie Spence ( ) Page 5

SAMPLE. Lesson 1: Introduction to Game Design

SAMPLE. Lesson 1: Introduction to Game Design 1 ICT Gaming Essentials Lesson 1: Introduction to Game Design LESSON SKILLS KEY TERMS After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Describe the role of games in modern society (e.g., education, task