Michelle-Game-Design


 * IDEAS FOR SERIOUS GAMES**toc

Middle school students enjoy games but teachers don't appreciate that. Teachers feel that students should read and write to gain greater understanding about world issues. The problem to be solved is to make a serious game that is about a world issue.

**Requirements:**

 * 1) Game must be accessible to the intended players
 * 2) Game must be well-paced to be enjoyable
 * 3) Game must be challenging to the intended players.
 * 4) Game must have a clear goal
 * 5) Game must be winable.

** Constraints: **

 * 1) It must be possible to create this game with the tools available to middle school students (computers, wikis, blogs, cardboard, poster board, glue, colored pencils, markers, scissors, rulers, paper cutter, exacto knives, glue guns, found objects, dice, spinners, and other common items found in the home and school)

1. A Serious Game Using Gamestar Mechanic that follows the design brief.

My serious game would be based on the issue of censorship in Iran.More specifically. there is music censorship. Rock musicians must perform underground or not play at all.

In my game, you are given no blasters to shoot the enemy (which are symbolic for revolutionary guards) but very limited shot' blasters to pave ways to ways to escape. You are trying to reach an area in the center of the screen that holds many points you must collect to win. You are trying to evade, not kill the enemies. Collecting the points is a symbol for playing music and evading censorship. In this game, there is also a time limit. I will use a dark backdrop and eerie theme music to create a feeling of darkness and underground.

2. A Serious Game Mod for an Exisiting Boardgame that follows the design brief. A game I would modify is Clue. In my modification, the new core mechanic would be.... In my new game, each character would represent a artist of Iran Ms.Scarlett- A journalist Colonel Mustard-A blogger Mrs.Peacock-A musician Mrs.White- An author Proffesor Plum- An artist Mr.Green- An actor

The game would follow the same principles, except that instead of trying to figure out the murderer, the players must try to figure out who has censored them. The murder weapons and rooms will be changed to censoring tools and workplace. __Original:__ __New:__ -Dagger -Censoring Software (Internet Censorship) -Lead Pipe -Red Pen (symbolic for censoring writing) -Candlestick -Torch (Burns paper) -Rope - Handcuffs (Journalist imprisonment) -Revolver - Doorway (Underground music scene) -Wrench - Cloth (to cover canvas/art censorship)

__Original__: __New:__ -Kitchen - Tech Room -Ballroom - Stage -Conservatory - Gallery -Dining Room - Recording Studio -Billiard Room - Newspaper HQ -Library - Same -Study - Same -Hall - Same -Lounge - Weapon Room -Cellar - Same

3. A Serious Game -- Free Choice that follows the design brief. I would create a serious game based on Internet Censorship in Iran. The game lasts until the blogger loses, the censors lose, or either side forfeits.The role of censors and bloggers must be chosen. There should be 2-4 bloggers and 2-4 censors and one judge. The blogger must open a Google Docs document and share it (allowing editing) with the censors, and vice verso with the censors. (the google doc will not be public.) The docs will both be shared with the judge, but the judge can only view, not edit. The blogger will blog about anything they want. The Censors will post restrictions for blogs on the censors' page.

Some examples are... And any other restrictions they can think of. The blogger will write about any topics they wish, but they must keep the censors from blocking out their page. The Censors censor by replacing writing with a restriction writen in red. They can only censor what violated their restrictions, and they can only add two new restrictions once the game has started.They cannot block out more than three lines per paragraph. The blogger should continue to blog, and also attack the censor's page and write on it. If "Haystack" ( the name of a censor evading-software) Is written in red 100 times on the censrors' page, then the censors cannot censor for three minutes. The gamers should set a time limit at the beginning of the game saying how much time there is to blog/censor. It can be between 10 minutes 30 min. The timing begins after docs are shared. (the judge keeps track) By the end of the time limit, whomever's page has the most words wins, but the page must be presentable, or the player is disqualified. (check through highlighting word count in 'tools') Count the number of words in the restrictions on the blogger's page, and that is deducted from the total # of words. Throughout the entire game, the judge makes sure these rules are enforced and disqualifies players who do not follow them or write non-relevant things on google docs.
 * Not writing about any type of music other than classical
 * Not writing about any type of foods that are not traditional American
 * Not advocating for any type of 'green' ideas to save energy

GOAL: -To have more words on your page. OBSTACLES: - Restrictions/ Censoring -Haystack