Abstract

Creating an effective learning game involves many tasks – some that are driven by the methods of particular disciplines and others that blend the approaches of multiple disciplines. An iterative learning game development method is introduced that blends best practices from all of the key disciplines involved in learning games as well as embodies lessons learned from prior efforts to create learning games. The chapter discusses some of the key issues you may encounter in your learning game development effort, how the different disciplines contribute throughout the project, and what to consider as your game grows in capability over time.

Introduction

Certainly by now you realize that developing an effective learning game is a multifaceted challenge – you must design and develop a variety of instructional and gaming elements, robustly test and carefully tune your game to ensure that it teaches effectively, and appropriately integrate it into the target learning environment to ensure success. Moreover, as with many complex software development efforts, you may not know all of the specific requirements for the game in advance and/or those requirements may evolve as you progress.

Abstract

When developing a learning game, how important is it to include the elements of story? How do you develop a story for learning games? Is it hard to do? Is it worth it? In this chapter, you will learn about the importance of using story in learning environments, more specifically serious games. We introduce approaches that you can use to embed story into games. We also introduce key issues and challenges designers face when trying to incorporate story into learning games and provide recommendations for overcoming them.

Introduction

We all tell stories. Man has used them for thousands of years as a way to share experiences, pass on cultural traditions, celebrate the past, imagine the future, and communicate lessons learned. It seems that we have always turned to stories as a way to transmit thoughts, feelings, and knowledge. So what makes a story so special? When we have an opportunity to exchange or deliver information, why do stories seem to convey the message better than other constructs such as bullet points, outlines, or reports? The answer is that we are built to understand stories.

Abstract

Serious game design presents a unique challenge to researchers and developers alike. The most successful games are designed by integrating two disparate bodies of knowledge: training and education, and high-quality game design. Simply pairing instructional elements with traditional game elements, however, is often inadequate. In an attempt to improve serious game design, we review several effective instructional mechanisms extracted from the science of learning literature and discuss ways that they can be directly implemented in games. We make explicit suggestions as to how serious games should be designed with respect to core elements of gameplay, sensory and perceptual elements, and cognitively focused elements.

The “Whys” and “Hows” of Serious Games

Sitting in the quiet glow of the monitor, she slips the headphones over her ears. Within moments, she’s in the game. She’s examining the virtual room for clues and contemplating her next move. She raises her gun, and with two quick shots and a running start, she i nds herself thrown face-i rst into a wall. Unhappy with this result, she tries again, this time experimenting with portal placement and springboard jumps until she builds up enough momentum to successfully launch herself out of the room and into the next area. The music picks up and the sound of a nearby enemy chattering away is heard. As she’s about to face her next challenge, her teacher flips on the lights, signaling to the class that it is time to stop playing Portal 2 (Valve, 2011) and come together to discuss the day’s physics lesson on how acceleration can be applied in the game to beat that level.

Abstract

In this chapter, you will learn about the unique challenges of learning game design, the necessary multidisciplinary makeup of learning game design teams, and ways to improve team efficiency and effectiveness through communication. Learning games combine content and context to create a meaningful interaction between players’ experience and learning. They often employ an experiential learning strategy and have been called “designed experiences” (Squire, 2006). When learning games are viewed in this light, designing them becomes quite a challenge for several reasons: 1) many variables must be manipulated to achieve the right kind of learning experience at the right time; 2) learning game design has characteristics of ill-structured problem solving; 3) as an ill-structured problem, it requires learning game designers with a high level of expertise; and 4) the solution will require input from multiple disciplines. Having a highly skilled multidisciplinary design team raises another set of challenges including the development of a shared mental model. Research has shown that when team members think similarly, they are more likely to work effectively together (Cannon-Bowers & Salas, 1998; Guzzo & Salas, 1995; Hackman, 1990). When team members understand their differences and take measures to leverage them, learning game design teams are strengthened, leading to a more efficient and effective design process. Research indicates that multidisciplinary learning game design team members think differently about: 1) design goals; 2) authenticity requirements; 3) feedback design; 4) the integration of fun within the learning experience; 5) term definition; and 6) documentation contents. Current design models do not include steps to mitigate these differences and to build a team’s shared mental model. Therefore, we provide specific actions that should be integrated into a learning game design model to support the critical and necessary communications among learning game design team members.

Abstract

The VESSEL Damage Control Trainer (DCT) was designed to augment classroom instruction at the Navy Great Lakes Recruit Training Center. This game allows students to have practice opportunities and to demonstrate their skills in communication, shipboard navigation, and basic damage control concepts. The game’s primary goal was to increase performance in the mixed reality simulation Battle Stations 21, which serves as the final culminating event of Navy recruit training.

The design of the DCT game was sophisticated in its ability to leverage prior experiences and affordances its primary audience might have with 3-D games, while creating a motivating learning environment that anyone should be able to quickly find intuitive. By incorporating game design principles like continuous feedback, menus and goal structures, and difficult problems, DCT has created an engaging and challenging game that should increase its players’ ability to perform in their real-life tasks.

Introduction

When a player launches a game for the very i rst time, they do so with a myriad of expectations about what the experience that lies before them might include. When the game that you’re about to play is a serious game, a serious game specii cally that relates to skills that might ultimately save the lives of you and your friends, that expectation becomes different. Maybe it is not so important that this game be fun, or good looking, or even all that easy to play. Imagine you’re a naval recruit, and you’re about to play a game that was designed to help you practice THE culminating event of your training. You know there will soon be a real-life test on all the material that this game is supposed to help you practice and failing that test has consequences that you don’t want to think about.

Abstract

With the increase in the use of games for education and training, learning game developers seek to create games that not only teach, but engage and motivate learners.

One attribute often associated with successful and motivating games or training devices is authenticity, also referred to as realism or fidelity. Many falsely equate the amount of realism within a training environment to effective training; the higher the realism, the more effective the training. However, as in other training methodologies, a combination of factors, such as learner expertise, instructional domain, and details related to the knowledge and skills taught, informs the optimal level of authenticity within an effective learning game.

This chapter defines and describes authenticity as the combination of physical and cognitive fidelity. We discuss these concepts and summarize cognitive research related to authenticity and effective learning. Finally, we discuss the decisions a learning game developer makes during different stages of the development process to achieve the optimal blend of authenticity, and ultimately an effective, motivating learning game.

Abstract

Practice Marketing is a serious game designed to teach the introductory principles of marketing to college students. The game was built for McGraw-Hill Higher Education to serve as a learning tool that would support multiple introductory curricula and textbooks. Practice Marketing is the first in a line of games envisioned by McGraw-Hill for multiple higher education subjects that will provide a consistent user experience, look and feel, and common elements. In this chapter, we introduce the design and development process we followed in creating Practice Marketing and summarize some of the lessons we learned in our effort.

Introduction

At Muzzy Lane, we believe that well-designed games offer a compelling medium to give students the means and the vehicle to personally interact with educational content. By designing games in which the core game mechanic reinforces the key learning objectives, as well as by using feedback systems that correlate to valid assessment metrics, serious game developers can provide a better alternative to current methods of instruction. And we know that today’s students – from kindergarten to grad school – are willing to spend hours and hours in front of a console or a computer when they’re playing games they find engaging.

Abstract

Under the Virtual Environments for Ship and Shore Experiential Learning (VESSEL) project, we developed the VESSEL Damage Control Trainer (DCT) to help address a key training need at the U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command. Using an agile development methodology and a multidisciplinary team of instructional, gaming, story, and assessment experts, we created a highly successful training game. Our goal was to bridge the gap between the classroom-based instruction recruits received during their boot camp and their final hands-on capstone assessment event. We designed DCT with a focus on using a scaffolded guided practice instructional approach with a relevant story and authentic game elements and interactions. Our team used regular playtesting as well as empirical validation studies to guide the evolution of our design. We introduce our team and development methods and describe some of the key design decisions we made. We discuss some of the lessons we learned and provide some of our recommendations for you to consider in your efforts to create effective learning games.

Abstract

Practice Marketing is a multiplayer business strategy game that teaches introductory marketing principles to university students. Built by Muzzy Lane Software and distributed by McGraw-Hill Education, the game allows the learner to explore the “4 Ps,” or the four foundational factors of marketing: Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. Over multiple turns in the game, players research the preferences of potential buyers, design a product to sell, analyze how their products and those of competitors compare, and make decisions on how to improve their sales for the next turns. We introduce the core game elements of Practice Marketing, including the game structure, assessment and feedback elements, learner interaction methods, and the elements of immersion. We present an analysis of the design and discuss how the game’s elements allow its learning objectives to be met.

Context

Practice Marketing by Muzzy Lane Software is a 3-D, turn-based multiplayer business strategy game. It is built on Muzzy Lane’s Sandstone platform for 3-D browser-based games. The game is available through McGraw-Hill Education as part of a series of educational learning games (McGraw-Hill Education, n.d .). The intended users of the game are university students who are taking a course in, or interested in learning about, introductory marketing principles. To that end, the game provides a business simulation that allows the learner to explore the “4 Ps” or the four foundational factors of marketing: Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion. The game teaches learners that the key to marketing success is to have a strategically aligned marketing plan based on a thorough understanding of the different possible options for each of the 4 Ps and their potential impact on business outcomes. After playing the game, learners should have a better understanding of the 4 Ps of marketing and how they interrelate.