GAME DESIGN | GAME HACKS for CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

CARDS | BOARD GAME | GAME NIGHT

About Us – GreaterPlaces + DotankDC

• Urban Planning tech startup in DC• Named one of Planetizen’s Top 10

urban planning resources (like Strong Towns!)• Working on mobile app and new

print products• Stumbled into game design

WHAT WE WILL COVER• Simple game design and solving problems•Game design backgrounder & basics• Examples of game hacks already out there•Game design and mechanics•How can you hack card and board games for your work?•WILL NOT COVER – Video game design & super complex

strategy games (at least not now)

GAMES FOR CITIES: FLIP CITIES** needs its own hack

CARDS AGAINST URBANITY STARTED AS A JOKE AT NEW PARTNERS for SMART GROWTH CONFERENCE

CUSTOM GAME NIGHTS AROUND THE COUNTRY …

RICHMOND VA

ARLINGTON VA

SMART GROWTH CONFERENCE - PDX

NERD TRAIN

CONGRESS FOR NEW URBANISM

NY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

Young Professionals in Transportation (YPT)

WHY ARE GAMES HOT NOW?•Games of all kinds are hot• Video/phone games• Kickstarter +

Pinterest• Game and Trivia

nights in restaurants and bars

• Participatory Planning & Open Government on the rise•Game Design already creeping into processes

WHAT IS IT ABOUT GAME HACKING FOR CITIES?• Fun (expand # & type of participants)• Portable (try lugging a projector for PowerPoint)• Relateble• Co-creation game ideas part of the game• Incidental learning stealth education• CHEAP – get game supplies online & Pinterest; or companies that now specialize in cards/games

• Let’s take a look…..

WHAT PROBLEMS NEED SOLVING? ENGAGEMENT• Participants not informed and/or don’t know what they want• Going into new structures• People come in late to the process• Same people – same echo chamber• People tired of same tactics (Dot visual preference surveys)• People inundated with information•Well organized disruptors• Language and age barriers•WHAT WOULD YOU ADD? (USE THE CHAT BOX)

ELEMENTS OF A GAMEPlayer(s) + Information + Action + Payoff

SUB-ELEMENTS OF A GAMEMotivation + Engagement + Meaningful Interaction

Autonomy -Meaningful Choices

Competence - Mastery

Relatedness -Connections

TIMINGGame as part of a process used:• For a process (a new tool) • As co-creation - participants develop game• As icebreakers before• To “blow off steam” after an event

GAME HACKS - ICE BREAKERSCards to start conversations – city triviaGame ElementsAudience: All• Memory/Knowledge• Timing/Race – answer Trivia

question first• Connections

GAME HACKS - ICE BREAKERSCards to start conversations –similar to Table TopicsGame ElementsAudience: All• Connection – answers questions

connecting people to:• process• place • each other

GAME HACKS – SCRAPS NEIGHBORHOOD - BARCELONA

“Baseball cards” for places + stickers (collect ‘em all)

Game ElementsAudience: Families with kids• Race (time element)• Mapping – location based scavenger hunt• Deck Building• Completion (fill out sticker sheets for a

prize)

World Resources Institute (WRI)

How to turn 200 page pdf into an accessible, interactive product

GAME HACKS - SAFE ACCESS TO TRANSIT MANUAL – INDIA

Why Turn Manuals into a Game?

• Taxpayer investment • Don’t want sitting on a shelf• Competing interests with

limited budget• Graphics & “game rules” in

place

Need: Make sure everyone’s needs heard and considered

Players assume different roles in planning transit stations

Game ElementsAudience: Stakeholders planning transit station areas• Role playing• Trade-Offs• Area Control• Network Building• Conflict into Cooperation

GAME HACKS - METHOD CARDSUsed by web designers to communicate using visual, scannable informationGame ElementsAudience: Public (teaching) or professional (brainstorming, strategy)• Deck Building• Puzzle – what combination of cards

a best fit for task• Common vocabulary & mastery

METHOD CARDS FOR PLACEMAKING

TURNING METHOD CARDS INTO A GAME

GAME HACKS FOR REGULATIONS

Center for Urban Pedagogy

Los Angeles CA

QUESTIONS?

GAME MECHANICS for CITIESApplied to cities….

Role Playing(Eminent Domain)

Builds empathy, understand constraints

Deck Building Strategic combinationsArea Movement & Control Area planning, regulatory

Cooperative Play Stakeholder interactionEconomy Management Constraints, Budgets, tradeoffsPick up and Deliver Transportation, logisticsHand Management (Pandemic, Exploding Kittens)

Optimal sequence/grouping

Network Building (Catan, Ticket to Ride, Airlines Europe)

Transportation network building

GETTING STARTED - RESEARCH• Audience• Needs & Goals• Player goals• Your goals

• What are their constraints in meeting full potential?• Preferred playing style (solo, cooperation, competition)?• Who is everyone playing with?• What interactions do they enjoy?• What metrics do players care about?

GAME MECHANICS – CLASSIC BOARD GAME

• Board or path• Usually driven by

luck/chance• Graphically simple• Fun experience drives game• City hack: Point A to Point B,

regulatory process, vocabulary

GAME MECHANICS – SIMPLE CARD GAMES

• Word play or matching• Fun experience drives game• Key - explainers• City hack: Vocabulary

building, placemaking matches

GAME MECHANICS – EURO BOARD GAME

• Heavy on strategy• Resource constraints•Mitigate “bad luck”• Players expected to

collaborate or compete• City Hack: Mimic complex

processes (training, resource allocation, build out)

EXAMPLE: STREETCARS & STROADSSTEPS1) Graphic design package & printer (18” x 18”)Or Search “printable template” for Chutes & Ladders2) Funnest: Coming up with squares to send forward/back3) Cost: ~$10

NEXT - TOD: THE BOARD GAME

EXPLODING KITTENS - EXPLODING PUBLIC MEETING

How Exploding Meetings Work1) Meetings stocked with “well

organized opposition” (WOO)2) Unless – you know how to

handle said WOO3) Facilitators have strategies to

lessen the chance of exploding meeting

How “Exploding Kittens” Works1) Deck packed with kitten cards

– cause player to explode2) Unless – you can defuse said

kitten3) Deck also has strategy cards to

lessen chance of drawing kitten card

RECAP• Participants not informed and/or don’t know what they want• Going into new structures• People come in late to the process• Same people – same echo chamber• People tired of same tactics (Dot visual preference surveys)• People inundated with information•Well organized disruptors• Language and age barriers

WHAT’S NEXT FOR US?

HIRE US!• Game design for facilitation, planning

and civics• Custom Method Cards• Traditional town planning + smart citesTHE APP (Soft Launch @ CNU) Tech+Data driven urban design

• Content • Community• Connections• Commerce (Marketplace)