Game Design Essentials

1
Game Design Essentials

• designing games
• with learning content
• Nick Fortugno

2
Introduction

• Nick Fortugno
• Co-Founder/CCO of Rebel Monkey
• Previously Director of Game Design, Gamelab
• Lecturer at Parsons The New School of Design
• on Game Design Interactive Narrative

3
Introduction

• Discussion of designing games as teaching tools
• What can games teach?
• How do they teach?

4
Game design fundamentals
5
Game design fundamentals

• learning-oriented games are still games

6
Game design fundamentals

• learning-oriented games are still games
• games are systems

7
Game design fundamentals

• learning-oriented games are still games
• games are systems
• built of rules

8
Game design fundamentals

• learning-oriented games are still games
• games are systems
• built of rules
• that create play

9
Game design fundamentals

• learning-oriented games are still games
• games are systems
• built of rules
• that create play
• game designers create the rules

10
Game design fundamentals

• embrace the gameness of games
• competition and cooperation
• pleasure and frustration
• the process of play

11
Lets play a game!

• get into groups of 4-6 players
• each group has a deck of 15 cards
• each player has 10 clips of any color
• shuffle cards and place into three stacks of 5
  cards
• put all your beads in your left hand
• now you are ready to play

12
Dungeon Attack!

• A bidding game with gamer content
• - turn over the top card on the first deck
• secretly put beads in your right hand (your bid)
• players reveal bids all at once
• the highest UNIQUE bid gets the card
• leave the beads you bid in front of you
• start a new card new bid
• after 5 cards, you get all your beads back
• do the next two decks
• the player with the most points at the end wins

13
Discussion

• what was your groups experience?
• what were the elements of the system?
• what kind of play did the rules create?

14
Process, not data

• games are good at procedures, not information

15
Process, not data

• games are good at procedures, not information
• designing a game is creating an activity, not
  content

16
Example 1

• Ayiti The Cost of Life
• Teaches about poverty as an barrier to education

17
Example 1

• Ayiti The Cost of Life
• Players guide the Guinard family, giving them
  jobs and sending them to school

18
Example 1

• Ayiti The Cost of Life
• The use of poverty is the system forces hard
  strategic choices.

19
Example 2

• Constitutional
• Convention
• LARP
• Designed to teach middle school students
  Constitutionalhistory

20
Example 2
What you want The delegates from Maryland,
representing one of the smaller states, want to
have equal representation, one state one vote,
in congress. - The best case scenario is simply
equal representation for the states. (5
points) - You can compromise a little. Just dont
let population be the only thing that determines
representation. (2 points) You, Luther Martin,
are opposed to slavery in general and wanted to
ban the slave trade. - The only moral and right
position would be to ban slavery entirely in the
new constitution. (7 points) - Marylands people
did not approve of counting slaves as part of a
states population to be represented. (3 points)

• Constitutional
• Convention
• LARP
• Points used to encourage emergent negotiation
  conventional politics.

21
Process, not data

• games are good at procedures, not information
• designing a game is creating an activity, not
  content
• choose system-based content for your project
• work with a game-appropriate learning model
• translate the learning content

22
Redesign!

• select one learning content
• redesign the game by changing up to 3 rules
• - modify the cards or beads
• - shift the balance of public private
  information
• - play with the turn order or sequence
• - create and include a map or board
• - alter winning conditions or player
  relationships
• - make a special role for one player
• stay focused on having your learning content
• embodied in the activity of the game

23
Discuss

• what did you do?
• what worked and what didnt work?
• what was most challenging?
• could this become a viable learning game?

24
Closing thoughts

• game development and game design is hard
• this is not an accurate simulation of the process
• games have strengths and weakness as learning
  tools
• design for the larger context

25
QA
26
Thank you!

• Nick Fortugno
• nick_at_rebelmonkey.com
• www.rebelmonkey.com