Adela's-Game-Designs


 * 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.

For the subject of poverty in Honduras, a maze game or a small game using the technology in Game Star Mechanic might not work as well as some of the other options I've been given, but I feel like I could still represent my topic through one of those such games. The way to do that would be to create a narrative story with background information about Haiti to put the player in a situation where they know what is happening in real life, and can play a game with similar ideas. I feel like I could portray poverty in a game like that by making it hard to reach the goal that ends the level and creating a way for the player to feel like the sprite faces the same challenges that the Hondurans do in every day. That could work if I put a lot of enemies and time constraints within the game. Core Mechanics: this game requires a very descriptive narrative and characters in order to transform it into a believable serious game because it would be so hard to really manipulate amd change a Game Star mechanic game to fit a serious topic like poverty. Those would be the only core mechanics because it would be hard to adapt a gamestar mechanic game with pawns, cards, or dice.

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

I feel like there are many games that could serve the purpose of a serious game if modified in the right way, but I feel like the game of Life could do that the best, seeing that it takes a while to win the game, and it is all up to chance because you have to spin the spinner to see how far along you will move. I think that I would call it The Game of Life: Poverty Edition, because I could change what was written on the spaces to make the game more specific to the poverty in Honduras, and I feel like it is accesible, as long as the game board provides an accurate set of detailed instructions and a small background story to get the player interested. Core Mechanics: this game would need a spinner, a very descriptive set of instructructions, and a game board that I would have to adapt if I wanted to customize it for the topic of poverty in another country. A narrative would need to be included to put the player in a stituation where they feel like they are part of a real issue in the real world.

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

I have thought long and hard about the game that I feel could best fit the topic of poverty in Honduras, but I feel like there is no existing game that, even modified, would send out the message that I really want my game to convey. So I have come up with a game which is kind of like the card game, Spit, combined with a game of dice. It has to do with rolling the dice to rack up points, and then with enough points, you can trade in some of your points to draw a card. Depending on what the card says, there is either two things that happen: it gives you a set number of dice that you can roll to keep earning or it ends your turn. It keeps going around until one player reaches a set number of points. I feel like I can adapt that to the topic by providing a narrative and making the cards all have different scenarios written on them. I feel like a game of chance would work best, because so many things in the Hondurans' lifestyle is left up to chance. There will be many ways to win points in my game, but I have decided that there will also be many ways to lose points. Plus you will have to spend points if you want to pick a card from the pile. There will be one payer who is picked to be the score keeper for each round, and they will keep track of how many points have been gained, how many have been lost, and how many the player needs to reach the end goal. Points will be tallied up at the end of the game, but not before, so the player won't know their score until the end. I have devised a way to start the game: To start, you need to have six dice, a cup to roll them in, a piece of paper and pencil for keeping score, and a set of the specialized cards. Each player rolls a single die, the person with the highest value on the die goes first, then it goes clockwise. Then the player who goes first rolls all six dice. Each 1 rolled will get the player 100 points. Each 5 rolled will give the player 50 points. 2's, 3's, 4's, and 6's are worthless alone, but all pairs are worth 200 points. 3 different pairs will equal 300 points. 3 of a kind is 350 points. All of the values just listed will be included on the instruction sheet. Once the player has racked up 500 or more points they can either choose to pick a card or end their turn. If they choose to end their turn, they will hold on to all of their points, an in their next turn they will have the same choices. The goal of the game is to earn 5,000 points, but it is hard to reach because you have to give up points when you pick cards, but it is risky not to pick cards because the cards will give you special point-earning opportunities. The cards will have special facts about Honduras and the serious topic, but they will apply to the game to put the player in a place where they feel like part of the narrative. Core Mechanics: This game would require dice, customized cards, a very detailed set of instuctions and a narrative to really make it compelling for the player. It might be one of the most complicated of my ideas, but I think that with the right core mechanics and a good narrative, I could really make it the best option for the desing brief suggested.