Teaching with Games

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Teaching with Videogames Pietro Polsinelli All links for this talk: http://bit.ly/teachVG 1

description

Slides for a workshop on teaching with videogames.

Transcript of Teaching with Games

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Teaching with Videogames Pietro Polsinelli

All links for this talk:

http://bit.ly/teachVG

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Example: learn about renewable energy

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Teaching with videogames – at its best: Ludwig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nTG9Oigvd-E

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Ludwig: playludwig.com See trailer.

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Search energy in a 3D environment.

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Reach of videogames

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Addiction by Design Natascha Schull

http://gelconference.com/videos/2008/natasha_schull

97% is given by the slot machine – study IT

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Learning & games: a workshop

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This is our schedule.

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Readings. From literary criticism to videogame criticism.

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Fun is learning - but learning is not always fun. “Fun is a feedback we get in the mind when absorbing patterns for learning purposes” - Koster

From “Theory of Fun”

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Crash course in game design

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Example analysis: Pinball

Which are the user inputs?

Works in different media – nice on the iPad.

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Pinball game hermeneutics.

Progressive views: 1.Just keep the ball in play 2.Make point rich hits 3.Reach goals 4.Complete the story 5.Solo not fun any more. Can be fun just to show off (high scores, show to friends).

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Game are made of loops

To analyze the mechanics of a game, you got to find the loops.

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And loops are made of surprises

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise

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Stick to basics

These are some of the mechanics – plus status competition …

This is very important in order to establish deep contact with your users: find the deep motivation.

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Is this simple mechanic union relevant only for classical games? Union of drawing – racing

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Drawing with your figer on the iPad is nice. Racing with small cars is beautiful.

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Considers shape, speed. Also runtime “turbo” interventions. You don’t drive – which simplifies development, but is a plus here, not a minus.

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Surprises

Flipper surprises us by say enabling additional bats Or by moving parts that were still. In videogames.

Using the same mechanics for different ends is usually very effective and preserves usability used so far.

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HEROICA

Heroica: the hero’s journey, becomes engaging through mini games – typically a DUEL. Race, mystery solving. Most natural (and most difficoult) game design choice.

Interesting because of cross game gaming.

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“This game is engaging”

Engagement can be caused by disparate reasons:

1. Engagement because of s fun base mechanic

2. Engagement by using a virtual world projection mechanics

Engaging design is ambiguous: can mean engaging by using a base mechanic (flipper tower defence, verify the chapter in theory of fun), or by using a virtual world projection mechanics

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Koster – Deterding definition of fun.

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“Fun is about learning in a context where there is no pressure”

But in school there is, and there has to be, pressure. There is here a dynamic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x5YtkTw4wn4#!

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the flow

The blurry edge between challenging and too difficoult.

There is the flow. We are tackling the tip of something complex. When we are

kept at the margin of our abilities – it’s the flow graph. So its complex,

there are exceptions everywhere.

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Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Author)

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Learn more on Classical Game Design

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Games based on Narrative Enchantment

Another path for going beyond usability.

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Metrics driven game design intro

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Feedback is scary – but can help.

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http://vimeo.com/32161327

Mafia Wars guy.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Measure, measure, measure.

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No narrative ideal, no purpose beyond monetization. Lenses in a skeleton: The Sims Social.

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From Bokardo’s Metric Driven Design

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Addiction by Design Natascha Schull

http://gelconference.com/videos/2008/natasha_schull

97% is given by the slot machine – study IT

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Went there to get milk...

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• Las Vegas Airport

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Overall designed...

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A different auro to the zone term

“So annoying when I do jackpot”

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Casino Gaming Magazine: indded motivated in working Uis. How to make the user feel she’s winning when she’s not”

The aim of game design is “get player EXTINCTION” – NO MONEY LEFT

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Learn more on Metric driven game design

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Link kahneman and game design.

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New user models.

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And from a teacher’s standpoint? A positive lesson is that games can be an opportunity for stats.

Videogames are a great opportunity for statistics. Statistics are way better than teachers reports or impressions – see Kahneman…

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Example game designs

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Game Dev Story

A small, simple game…

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Game Dev Story reverse engineered (Zynga ) http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Game_Dev_Story/Walkthrough

Game genres, …

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Learning & teaching with games from games

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Cargo Bot http://twolivesleft.com/CargoBot/

Videogames are ideal for transmitting formal rules through concrete examples. This can cover a lot of ground.

Also probe – test – rethink – probe cycle.

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Example mockups & storyboards

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A Word storyboard

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Game flow graphs.

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Mockup. Tool: Balsamiq http://www.balsamiq.com/

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Exercises

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Find a theme that it taught in school and that you like. And that maybe you don’t like how it is being thought. Reach as far as you can in this scheme:

Your turn.

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Financials

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Estimation (sample) - Game design (game loops), model - Concept art - Logo, naming - Intro + options (only EN?) + theme music - Company setup (friends) - Running company - Game strategic choices - Getting professionals - Press reviews - Events (heuristics) - Game engine - Levels? Winning conditions? - Jingles - FB / Twitter integration - Presentation site + documentation, leaderboards - Balancing, testing

Production estimation. How much does a videogame cost? A lot:

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Example phases for a brower game: - Balsamiq mockup /game design - JavaScript prototype - Full game - Promo ?

Dev phases.

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Teaching with Videogames

Pietro Polsinelli

All links for this talk: http://bit.ly/teachVG

Follow me on Twitter: @ppolsinelli

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