E-Learning and Games – Week 4

Based on photo by xandert found on morgueFile

Link to all Weeks     Week 1     Week 2     Week 3     Week 4      Week 5     Week 6

Content:

1. Game Mechanics
2. Brainstorm Game Mechanics
3. Assessment 2
4. Feedback

Game Mechanics

Jenga, photo courtesy of: Design-Crit.com

Game mechanics are at the core of a game and decisive for game play. Good engaging game mechanics will make a game fun to play  or challenging and as well rewarding.

Game mechanics can be found in board games (Chess, Backgammon, Jenga) and for board games we often refer to core mechanics. Examples are:

• Role Playing (Charades)
• Capture & Eliminate (Chess)
• Pattern Recognition (Chess, Rush Hour)
• Memory (Memory)
• Dice Rolling (Monopoly)
• Find the extensive list below at: BoardGameGeek.com

Acting	Action / Movement Programming
Action Point Allowance System	Area Control / Area Influence
Area Enclosure	Area Movement
Area-Impulse	Auction / Bidding
Betting / Wagering	Campaign / Battle Card Driven
Card Drafting	Chit-Pull System
Co-operative Play	Commodity Speculation
Crayon Rail System	Deck / Pool Building
Dice Rolling	Grid Movement
Hand Management	Hex-and-Counter
Line Drawing	Memory
Modular Board	Paper-and-Pencil
Partnerships	Pattern Building
Pattern Recognition	Pick-up and Deliver
Player Elimination	Point to Point Movement
Press Your Luck	Rock-Paper-Scissors
Role Playing	Roll / Spin and Move
Route / Network Building	Secret Unit Deployment
Set Collection	Simulation
Simultaneous Action Selection	Singing
Stock Holding	Storytelling
Take That	Tile Placement
Time Track	Trading
Trick-taking	Variable Phase Order
Variable Player Powers	Voting
Worker Placement

Video games use game mechanics as well, but besides the core mechanics they are more related to aspect of digital technology.

Find an extensive list of game mechanics at Wikipedia.

We can and should list game mechanics to be able to select what game mechanics we like, but at the end of the day we need to be able to apply game mechanics to a game. This need to happen in the context of the game’s overall purpose. We will read this post: Game Mechanics and Gamification by Andrzej Marczewski on Gamasutra together to get a better idea about how to apply game mechanics.

Brainstorm Game Mechanics

We will do a brainstorm in class for potential game mechanics for the ABC learning game for children (assessment).

Look at this list of Motivators and Supporters (as found on Gamasutra’s post Game Mechanics and Gamification – link is above):

Motivators	Possible Supporters
Autonomy	Customisation Choice Freedom
Mastery	Levels Challenges
Purpose	Giving / Altruism Narrative Greater Meaning
Status	Leaderboards Achievements
Social Connections	Suggest similar users Cooperative “play”
Rewards	Points Badges Achievements
Peer Pressure	Peer review / feedback / grading systems Boasting / Bragging system Competitive “play”
Avoidance	Lose Points Lose Status Game Over
Scarcity	Exclusive / Unique Rewards Reward Schedules
Fun!	Real Games Quiz’s Competitions

Screenshot of Writing Wizard, courtesy of AppsPlayground.com

Screenshot of Endless Alphabet 2, courtesy of AppsPlayground.com

Use 3 motivators from the list above and brainstorm game mechanics for the e-game for your assignment (prep-children recognising letters of the alphabet).

List the factors:

• Desired Behaviour (eg blow away sand to reveal a letter – find the same letter in a list of letters and click on it)
• Motivation (Mastery: Learning the letters of the alphabet; Status: receiving a badge, star, completing a level)
• Supporters (for mastery: being able to read; for status: having your score displayed, completing a series – eg a series of green frogs)

Assessment 2

Assessment 2 – E-Game

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E-Learning and Games – Week 3

Based on photo by xandert found on morgueFile

Link to all Weeks     Week 1     Week 2     Week 3     Week 4      Week 5     Week 6

Content:

1. Learning Needs
2. Learning Styles
3. Assessment 1
4. Feedback

Learning Needs

Learning needs are the requirements that the learner needs to learn to pass a subject or to move to the next step.

So, a learning needs analysis is conducted to recognise the gap between the existing skills, knowledge and abilities and those that are needed for the level of education. Once this gap is determined, decisions can be taken as to the type of training required (if this is the preferred action) and the form of delivery.

By conducting a learning needs analysis, you can identify what features are needed in your e-learning game.

Write down the learning needs of your target audience? Start this point of with the desired outcome: what does the learner need to learn?

This is a good point to brainstorm. What is it that you need to expose your learner to?

Read more about Learning Needs at AssetProject.info.

Learning Styles

Every learner has a preferred style of learning. The majority of learners prefer a mix of learning styles.

Look up the link Learning Styles Online and discover which learning style is your preferred one.

Assessment 1

E-Learning Conceptual Layout of Screen: http://www.emedicus.co.uk

Assessment 1 – Research

Feedback

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E-Learning and Games – Week 2

Based on photo by xandert found on morgueFile

Link to all Weeks     Week 1     Week 2     Week 3     Week 4      Week 5     Week 6

Content:

1. Game Genres
2. Find 5 Educational Games (Task)
3. Game Mechanics
4. Homework
5. Feedback

Game Genres

We will start off by comparing last week’s works by you. What definitions did everybody find?

Game genres are different from film genres. While film genres are related to a style of a film or an era a plot is set in, game genres relate more to the way a game is played. This is the actions a gamer needs to perform to succeed in a game. These actions are also called Game Mechanics. Game genres can also be classified by a viewpoint (eg First Person Shooter = FPS and Third Person Shooter = TPS or 3PS) or the style.

Examples are:

Action

Fast paced, player needs to be accurate and quick (eg shooting)

Racing

Competitive games that revolve around vehicles of all sorts racing against each other. Can be single player or multiplayer.

Example: Need for Speed

Sport

Anything about sports, either action of playing the sport with a character or simulation of making a team succeed. Most current sport games are hybrids of Action/RPG or Action/Simulation.

Examples: Fifa, Pro Evolution Soccer, Tiger Woods Golf, Football Manager.

Strategy

A genre that requires planning and thinking to succeed. There is real-time and turn-based strategy. Real-time that the game runs to a clock and that every players actions take place straight away. Turn-based strategy is more of a stop and go experience, players decide on their turns and then the game advances per turn.

Examples: League of Legends, Total War Series, Risk

Adventure

This genre is about solving problems, there may be puzzles, exploring, memorisation and twists along the way. Levels play a part, often there are areas that need to be explored. Most adventure games are hybrids with other games.

Examples: Tombraider, Myth

Simulation

Arcade

Puzzle

FPS – First Person Shooter

3PS/TPS – Third Person Shooter

RPG

Party, Dance , Rhythm

Children

Fitness

Edugames or Educational Games

Find 5 Educational Games

Research Educational Games!

Use the internet to find 5 games (including Ubisoft’s Rocksmith) that are current.

• Describe the platform,
• the technology,
• game mechanics and
• target audience as well as
• learning material/topic.

Upload in form of a comment to this post with a link to game images and and info online!

Game Mechanics

Game mechanics are a topic that has created a fair bit of controversy over the years. People vary in their definition of what should be a game mecahnic. Below is a definition that we will use for this class:

A simple division between mechanics and rules breaks down into two things:

Mechanics are the actions you can perform

Rules determine the outcome and

gameplay is derived by balancing these two things.

So, to take a Tetris example:

The mechanics of Tetris are:

Turn a block

Drop a block fast

Destroy blocks by creating a line

The rules of Tetris are

• Gravity, which accelerates in a stepped fashion according to score
• Score, which increases in a stepped fashion according to created lines
• Pile reformation, which determines the effects of a destroyed line on the blocks above.
• The lose condition of whether the pieces reach the top
• The next piece determinant, which selects what new piece will show after the previous one has landed.

Source: http://www.lostgarden.com/2006/10/what-are-game-mechanics.html Feb 2012

Homework

Please look at the sites/posts below on edugames or educational games or serious games during the week.

Try at least 3 games and be prepared to speak about them in class!

BBC Educational Games   ZaidLearn   75 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course

Feedback

Please leave your feedback in form of a comment. Your feedback and suggestions will help me to make this blog more user friendly. Thanks!

E-Learning and Games – Week 1

Based on photo by xandert found on morgueFile

Link to all Weeks     Week 1     Week 2     Week 3     Week 4      Week 5     Week 6

Content:

1. Introduction
2. Scope of Class
3. Games
4. Your Favourite Games
5. Game Genres
6. Feedback

Introduction

This class has a focus on Game Design and E-Learning. You will design on educational games or a cross-over version with some educational value.

Your design will not incorporate a finished and working video game! You will complete the planning and look at important components of the game and e-learning resource.

Units of Competency

These two units of competency will be covered in this unit:

• CUFDIG504A Design Games
• CUFDIG503A Design E-Learning Resources

Scope of Class

Over the coming weeks we will learn some game related terminology, look at games and analyse games and look at how to create a learning resource.

We will learn how to scope and research a target audience, how to establish learner needs and finally how to design an educational game.

There will be an emphasis on graphics.

Games

Games are a way for children to learn the tasks of adulthood. What easier way is there but to teach your child what to do in their life as a grown-up, than in a game? Games are fun and create strong memories. Game include repetition, which is a strong aspect of memorising the learnt material by practising it.

Video games have long become a large and fast growing industry and games surround most of us on a daily basis. This has only been magnified with the growth of social media (eg Facebook).

What are the most popular platforms for video games?

Mindmap to be added.

Your Favourite Games

What are your favourite games?

List 3 games that you like to play:

• Describe the platform
• Describe the game mechanics (rules to complete game)
• Describe the GUI (graphic user interface)
• Why do you think you play that game?
• What is fun about the game?
• Is it educational? What do you learn?
• What is the game genre that it falls into?

E-mail me your answers or leave them in form of a comment.

Student responses to be added.

Game Genres

Research game genres. List a minimum of 8 major genres, add descriptions and 3 examples of well-known games from each genre.

E-mail me your answers or leave them in form of a comment.

Student responses to be added.

Feedback

Please leave your feedback in form of a comment. Your feedback and suggestions will help me to make this blog more user friendly. Thanks!