Gaby's-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.

A serious game using Gamestar Mechanic to gain a greater understanding about world issues, like the problems going on in Darfur, is possible in my opinion. You could make the game telling a narrative story about one person's daily life in, this case, Darfur. The game would follow the requirements, by explaining about the topic and then playing the puzzle in Gamestar Mechanic which can be won and enjoyable. The game would also be challenging because to reach the goal I imagine questions that the students would have to answer, which increases their understanding of the topic while still having an interesting time. The core mechanics would include very descriptive narrative and characters in order to get the gamer to understand Darfur and the problems there. It would be hard to make a game about a world issue on Gamestar Mechanic but with a narrative, characters, and goals to learn about the problems.

2. A Serious Game Mod for an Exisiting Boardgame that follows the design brief.

Another game I have in mind is the game Life. Life is a board game where you go around a board using a spinner. The different boxes on the board tell you to do different things. I imagine a game that is based on the life of a person living in Darfur to increase a person's understanding of the topic and problems. It could be challenging with extra trivia questions and the students will learn about the issues through a first hand experience as they act through a person who lives a regular life in Darfur. The core mechanics of this game would be specific direction with step by step narrative. The goal in the game will be to reach the end of the board through all the spaces with the different problems. The more points at the end would be the best to win.

3. A Serious Game -- Free Choice that follows the design brief.

While I have played many games I think the idea I am trying to portray would be a game mixed in between the games Evoke and Ayiti: The Cost of Life. In the game about Ayiti you try and create a family living in Haiti and give them good life under the circumstances. While in the game Evoke you simply learn, act, and imagine. I imagine a game where you learn about world problems, by acting in the sense that you find ways that you can help the problem, and you imagine by seeing how things will be in the future. You learn, act, and imagine, which would would definitely benefit the students who would be able to relate to the problems and see how important they are, and how they too can help. Though I would change the game to make it more of a narrative in which the students would have to act in the characters shoes with virtual experience. I imagine a game where you learn about Darfur like the Evoke game but then apply the knowledge from that to a challenging game made like Ayiti: The Cost of Life. The core mechanics here would be a set of clear instructions or ideas to improve knowledge, the money that you would get would be from the jobs the virtual family got, and the goal would be to survive a couple of years in a theoretical place of Darfur, more points being better. Also there would be a specific narration.

A game to describe the problems and issues in Darfur would be a mix between the game of Monopoly and Life. You would act in the life of a person from Darfur while going through the game board based on the game of life. Monopoly would mix in with the other game because I would make cards (like in monopoly) to describe Darfur with events that would affect the results of the game. The core mechanics would include a narrative about a typical person living in Darfur as the person picks the different cards like in the game Monopoly. You would start off with a certain amount of money (still to be determined). This game would also include a spinner, personalized information/event cards, a good narrative and a detailed set of instructions. To start you would have a spinner, to calculate the number of spaces you would move on the board. It would be a game of around 4 people. The first person to go would have to choose a work or education path (so far this is what I'm thinking but it will probably change). First you would learn a little about Darfur from a quick narrative and then you would continue on the board. There would be events like losing you job or home. The goal of the game would simply to be to get to the end of the board with the most money, or still alive in the game character. The game would be drastic to make a point but also interesting to learn about.