Exploring Educational Video Game Design

2011 ◽  
pp. 1004-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Åkerfeldt ◽  
Staffan Selander
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Educational Video ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Educational Video Game ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Principles Of Learning

The aim of this chapter is to explore two educational video games as a repository for action and meaning-making. Rixdax and El Patron feature two different game genres and designs. Through a comparative analysis, it will be shown how these two games actually address very different learning goals and also seem to miss a crucial aspect of learning: reflective action. This chapter will investigate how the layout on the screen is composed and how knowledge is represented. To do so, six structuring factors introduced by Prensky (2001), some of the organizing principles of learning design developed by Selander (Selander, 2008a-b; 2009, Selander & Åkerfeldt, 2008) and the multimodal framework developed by Kress and van Leeuween (Kress & van Leeuween, 2006; Kress, 2010; van Leeuween, 2005) are used. The chapter analyses the individual elements as semiotic resources in the educational video game and show how these elements are represented, especially from the points of view of information value, salience and framing, but also how the information is sequenced, the tempo of the games and how they accommodate meta-reflection by the users.

Playability Design Patterns

2013 ◽  
pp. 118-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amer Ibrahim ◽  
Francisco L. Gutiérrez Vela ◽  
Natalia Padilla Zea ◽  
José Luis González Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Design Patterns ◽  
Educational Video ◽  
Educational Video Games ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Player Experience ◽  
Educational Video Game ◽  
Learning Through Play

Learning through play is currently an effective and attractive educational strategy. Recently, many educational video games have failed because methods of analysis have not been used to discuss playability level in a structured way. Ensuring a good player experience characterized by playability requires cooperation and collaboration between game designers and educators. To this end, the authors have proposed a new set of patterns to support educational video game design and analysis. These patterns aim to facilitate the development of educational video games, summarize the essential information and requirements needed to understand a particular problem and the proposed solution, and present the interrelationships between educational video game components and playability attributes.

Virtual Psyche in Play and Tending the Collective Unconscious

2016 ◽  
pp. 156-179
Author(s):  
Susan Marie Savett
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Archetypal Psychology ◽  
Collective Unconscious ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Pivotal Point ◽  
James Hillman ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Insight Into

Knowingly or unknowingly, games manifest archetypal forces from the unconscious. Through play and fantasy, unconscious content of the psyche is able to express its deep longings. Hypnogogic landscapes of videogames provide immersive realms in which players enact psychological dramas. Game designers reside on a unique axis from which their work with the imaginary realm can create profound psychic containers. At this pivotal point in our culture, digital games hold tremendous influence over the creation of new myths, lore, and possibilities. This chapter investigates archetypal psychology concepts of Carl Jung and James Hillman for insight into 21st century realm of virtual play and its relationship to the collective unconscious. It focuses on how games provide a means for bringing individual and cultural unconscious impulses into consciousness through personification, pathologizing and meaning making within virtual play. It aims to introduce an alternative lens to bridge psychological dynamics with the video game design.

scholarly journals Interfejsy intymności. Tendencje intymistyczne we współczesnych grach wideo

2021 ◽  
pp. 215-239
Author(s):  
Piotr Kubiński
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Final Conclusion ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Media Form

The article concentrates on a specific tendency that can be observed in some video games created in recent years. This trend is that more and more video games present an intimate perspective and focus on the individual experience of the protagonist. The author of the article approaches the phenomenon in question mainly from the interpretative and genological perspective, since video games are not a media form commonly identified with the expression of intimate, formative or identitycreating experiences. The author starts with an analysis of the reasons why video games and intimistic texts are commonly perceived as very distant genre forms. Then he analyzes those video games that represent the intimistic tendency: Bury me, my Love (The Pixel Hunt, 2017), A Normal Lost Phone (Accidental Queens, 2017) and Wanderlust: Travel Stories (Different Tales, 2019). The analysis leads to the following conclusions: what is common for all the three discussed games is i.a. a particularly important role of the text as the basic semiotic material in which the game is realized. Even though Interfejsy intymności this concentration on the word is not a necessary condition of intimistic poetics – it definitely helps introducing such a dimension into the work. What is more, two of the three discussed games use the strategy of remediating a smartphone. In both cases, the creators designed new interfaces modeled on the real ones and turned navigating on the phone screen into basic game mechanics. This, in turns, means that intimistic tendencies in video games stimulate reaching for new genre forms. This process of remediation is possible mainly because modern intimacy has shifted very clearly towards the digital, and smartphones have become its basic tool. This phenomenon, which the author of the article calls ‘intimacy 2.0’, is a result of the fact that: (a) contemporary culture is deeply anchored in the digital and its interfaces, and (b) the importance of smartphones in everyday communication and media consumption has been growing enormously in recent years. The final conclusion of the paper is as follows: all the discussed games use an intimate perspective to evoke empathy, which was not a typical video game design goal. This is especially interesting, given the fact, that all the analyzed games remain primarily commercial products that are driven by the laws of the market.

scholarly journals Mobile Game “Color in Life” Development for Dichromatism Color Blind

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-61
Author(s):  
Ivan Reinaldo ◽  
Boy Nurttjahyo Moch
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Questionnaire Development ◽  
Color Blindness ◽  
T Test ◽  
Educational Video ◽  
Mobile Game ◽  
Educational Video Game ◽  
Color Blind

The purpose of this research was to escalate players’ knowledge on color blindness by designing an educational video game which design was oriented to dichromatism color blind. The topic selection was based on the lack of players’ deeper knowledge on color blindness. The graphic and gameplay selection on this research was adjusted to the chosen color blind category. Research methods were conducted by analysis, development, and evaluation. Analysis was done by questionnaire. Development was done by game design document, UML, storyboard, and was implemented using Unity. Evaluation on 35 players, which are 32 with normal eyes and 3 with color blindness, was done by two approaches, which are t-test and questionnaire. The result of t-test was t(34) = -7.704, p < 0.05 and Enjoyment score on CEGE is 0.763 for normal eyes and 0.651 for colorblind. To conclude, there was an improvement on knowledge from the video game and the design was enjoyable.

Formative Research for STEM Educational Games

2013 ◽  
Vol 221 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Sherry
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Sesame Street ◽  
Children's Television ◽  
Educational Video ◽  
Educational Media ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
Educational Video Game ◽  
Games For Health

Millions in taxpayer and foundation euros and dollars have been spent building and testing educational video games, games for health, and serious games. What have been the fruits of this frenzy of activity? What educational video game has had the reach and impact of Sesame Street or Blues Clues television shows? By comparison, the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) managed to get Sesame Street off the ground within a couple of years, writing the basic scientific literature on educational media design in the process. Not only is Sesame Street well known and proven, it laid the basis for every effective educational show to follow. This article explores the differences between the CTW scientific approach to educational media production and the mostly nonscientific approach consuming so many resources in the educational games, games for health, and serious games movements. Fundamental scientific questions that remain unanswered are outlined.

A Video Game for Brazilian T1D Children about Knowledge of Disease and Self-care: A Methodological Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 193229682110175
Author(s):  
Valéria de Cássia Sparapani ◽  
Sidney Fels ◽  
Noreen Kamal ◽  
Rebecca Ortiz La Banca ◽  
Lucila Castanheira Nascimento
Keyword(s):  
Health Behavior ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Health Behavior Change ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Methodological Study ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Management Behaviors

Background: Video games are interactive technologies able to support children in health promotion, behavior changes, and chronic disease self-management. The use of health behavior change determinants in video game design can increase its effectiveness. This study describes the process of designing a video game for Brazilian children with T1D clarifying the use of health behavior change determinants that may influence self-management behaviors. Methods: This was a methodological study based on health behavior change theories and the user-centered design approach. The results of a qualitative study conducted with children aged 7 to 12 years identified learning needs about knowledge on diabetes and self-care tasks which contribute to inappropriate behaviors. A Behavioral Diagnosis presented health behavior change determinants, capable of influencing children’s learning needs and behaviors, that were considered to design The Heroes of Diabetes—the power of knowledge. Results: The results presented the process of designing 4 mini games with its description and theory foundation to reach children’s lack of understanding about T1D, insulin’s role, SMBG requirements, food groups and physical activity’s role in glycemic control. Knowledge, goal settings, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation determinants were related with video games design features. Conclusions: The findings support the use of health behavior change determinants into video game design as a guide to achieve children learning needs and that might influence self-management behaviors.

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