Lydia's-+Game-+Designs


 * IDEAS FOR SERIOUS GAMES**toc

**Design Brief**

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.** So there are two levels to the game. The first level, you are in India. You're avatar is a little child growing up in India. You have to get your avatar through the maze and enemies of life. If your avatar reaches the star and completes level one then it has completed its first 4 years of life. You can collect health. That's pretty good considering the high infant mortality rate in India. The enemies are diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, dehydration, infection, infanticide, SIDS or birth defects. The second level, you are in America. It's basically the same as the first level but your avatar is a little child growing up in America. And the enemies are more like pneumonia, birth defects, random deaths and infanticide.

Examples: Plot/ Story Line, Goal, Rules, Moving Parts and Territory Moving Parts: Enemies, Avatar Goal: Get to the star at the end of the maze to complete 4 years of life for your avatar. Plot/Story Line: Keep an Indian child and American child alive for atleast 4 years.
 * Elements:**

2. **A Serious Game Mod for an Exisiting Boardgame that follows the design brief.** This game is based on the board game "Candy Land". But you're in India. And your little dude is a child in India and if it gets through the whole board it has lived 10 years. Obstacles are causes of infant mortality. When you stay back a turn it is when you are sick with a disease which holds you back from continuing and learning in life.

Moving Parts: little stick figure things Territory: Candy Land Lane Goal: Get across the board to the finish line. Plot/Story Line: Get your Indian child through life! Rules: The same rules as a regular Candy Land rules.
 * Elements:**

3. **A Serious Game -- Free Choice that follows the design brief.** A role play writing game. You create a character from 8-15 year old that lives in India. The story is about growing up and surviving in the center of India and getting through your problems. You catch diseases, get infected, get overworked, abandoned, even sold. It is like an adventure story that you are creating. There really is no way of winning the game because //you// are writing the story.

Moving parts: None. Rules: Must follow basic story line. Goal: None. Plot/Story Line: Create a story about an indian teen facing life's hardships.
 * Elements:**