Becker Video Game Design

"The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the historical origins of Serious Games to try to understand where the current wave of "Serious Games" comes from. We first review the origins of the "Serious Games" oxymoron. We will then analyse digital games designed for serious purposes before the 2000's. Such games can be traced back to the beginning of the history of video games. We will use all these elements to discuss how the current wave of "Serious Games" began; and to highlight the differences between "Serious Games" and their ancestors.

Abstract: "In this work we investigate whether the innate visual recognition and learning capabilities of untrained humans can be used in conducting reliable microscopic analysis of biomedical samples toward diagnosis. For this purpose, we designed entertaining digital games that are interfaced with artificial learning and processing back-ends to demonstrate that in the case of binary medical diagnostics decisions (e.g., infected vs. uninfected), with the use of crowd-sourced games it is possible to approach the accuracy of medical experts in making such diagnoses. Specifically, using non-expert gamers we report diagnosis of malaria infected red blood cells with an accuracy that is within 1.25% of the diagnostics decisions made by a trained medical professional."

"By demonstrating that communities formed in massively multiplayer online games are true communities, examining communication and behaviour within MMOG communities, and discussing the benefits and negative aspects of MMOG communities this paper will show that the communities of massively multiplayer online games are better than offline communities."

Summary results of survey of 500 K-8 teachers using digital games in classrooms

"Keywords for Video Game Studies Colloquium Saturday, May 19, 2012 8 AM to 4 PM Communication 202 University of Washington, Seattle" "The Keywords for Video Game Studies colloquium invites game scholars, artists, designers, developers, and enthusiasts to participate in roundtable discussions, presentations of individual and collaborative work, scholarship, and play. This year's colloquium, broadly themed by the keywords "research/design," is the capstone event to a year-long series of workshop sessions on democracy, time, altplay/fandom, gold farming, and hack/mod. The colloquium, now in its second year, hopes to foster the growing engagement with what it means to study or make or play digital games."

Giza 3D enables virtual pyramid exploration,

"Kickstarter Game Watch is an occasional feature calling attention to some of the most interesting and/or high-profile games currently seeking funds on the service."

Abstract: "Serious games have proven to be a useful instrument to engage learners and increase motivation. Nevertheless, a broadly accepted, practical instructional design approach to serious games does not exist. In this paper, we introduce the use of an instructional design model that has not been applied to serious games yet, and has some advantages compared to other design approaches. We present the case of mechanics mechatronics education to illustrate the close match with timing and role of knowledge and information that the instructional design model prescribes and how this has been translated to a rigidly structured game design. The structured approach answers the learning needs of applicable knowledge within the target group. It combines advantages of simulations with strengths of entertainment games to foster learner's motivation in the best possible way. A prototype of the game will be evaluated along a well-respected evaluation method within an advanced test setting including test and control group."

"Automated lm editing involves the generation of the position, orientation, motion and selection of virtual cameras in interactive 3D graphics applications. There is a pressing demand for techniques to assist and automate the control of virtual cameras in the computer games industry where the rapid development of personal computers and high performance consoles has led to substantial improvements in the visual delity of games. The goal of this survey is to characterize the spectrum of applications that require automated lm editing, present a summary of state-of-the-art models and techniques, and identify both promising avenues and hot topics for future research"

Excerpts available on Google Books, published in May 2012. Praise for The Gamification of Learning and Instruction"Kapp argues convincingly that gamification is not just about adding points, levels and badges to an eLearning program, but about fundamentally rethinking learning design. He has put together a brilliant primer for learning professionals on how to gamify learning, packed with useful advice and examples."

An Ars Technica discussion on the impact of Kickstarter, with some saying that games need to be better developed before seeking support

Projects at University of Utah

From the introduction:"Space functions in video games in a multitude of manners, many of which have been examined at length, but for the purposes of this analysis, I focus on several contemporary games that feature dystopian environments and also implement the oft-cited concept of intertextuality in their treatment of visual design. More specifically, I examine the visual design of video games that feature a dystopian setting, and use intertextuality to depict distinct, cohesive game worlds. Through the practice of drawing inspiration across mediums and recontextualizing existing aesthetics in hostile, alien, and oppressive environments, designers employ intertextuality within the spatial context of the 3D game environment and juxtapose the perceived nostalgia of historical visual references with the intrinsic oppression of a dystopian game world. This analysis rejects the notion that the postmodern practice of intertextuality is an intrinsically negative one that dilutes our past - rather, in the games that are mentioned - intertextuality does the opposite. It puts the player in contact with the aesthetic trappings of the past, and in turn, creates an ongoing visual lexicon within a specific, nuanced cultural chronology of the dystopian aesthetic."

A Game Jam involves designing a game in as much as an entire weekend,either individually or in teams

"Wired correspondent Gus Mastrapa was on the scene in Los Angeles to witness the recovery of a piece of gaming history. LOS ANGELES - Jordan Mechner saved everything. He saved all the videotape he took in October 1985 of his brother running and jumping around their old neighborhood, footage that he rotoscoped into the animations for his Apple II game Prince of Persia ."

SOUTH FREEPORT, Maine - Ben Sawyer helped train the next generation of university leaders, worked to school Cisco employees in binary math and is hoping to help at-risk youths avoid the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. For him, it's all a game - a serious game. Sawyer is the co-founder of Digitalmill Inc., a game design consulting firm that is focused on the "serious games" space."

"Tension is high at the 2012 Toronto Independent Game Jam (TOjam). The countdown begins on the first floor of a downtown George Brown College classroom. The count then snakes up the building's six stories with volunteers standing at a doorway on each floor."

"Abstract Video game developers have a tough road ahead as they try to out-do their competitors and develop the next blockbuster video game. The problem they face is that the cost of developing a video game is rising. The pressure mounts as economic uncertainty has led many consumers to cut spending on lucrative video game titles that publishers are tossing out up to $100 million (in rare cases) to develop, and the publishers are already beginning to feel the heat. Recent years have seen a number of publishers close up shop and even more publishers cutting jobs to save on spending. Despite the need for producing a product more efficiently and within a time restriction, the video game industry bases most of the production phases in-house instead of adopting a 24-hour business model in co-located sites around the world. Implementation of the 24 hour knowledge factory can help to solve some of the problems developers face in the numerous phases of video game development. However, publishers have yet to take advantage of this efficient business model."

Presentation for the Invitational Research Symposium on Technology-Enhanced Assessments, April 27, 2012

"This project involves developing an action-platformer game for the Flash platform. The user controls a character who must progress through levels, while avoiding obstacles, collecting items and fighting many types of enemies. Role-playing game elements such as equipment and upgrades support user customization and varied battle strategies. Developing a successful Flash game involves several factors. Flash games must be simple to get into, yet rewarding to play in both short and long sessions. Flash games must be accessible to a wide audience; both in terms of user preferences and technical limitations. Finally, Flash games must offer something unique to stand out from the crowd, in a market where hundreds of free games are published every month. This report covers the research, design and implementation done to achieve these requirements, in terms of game mechanics, interface, level design, visual design, accessibility options, and replay value. Technical challenges include building, testing and optimizing a game engine and interface from scratch, balancing the game mechanics and difficulty, and structuring the whole development process in a way that enables easy creation of new content. In addition to game design and development, this project also deals with the business aspects of developing online games; how games generate revenue, how they are marketed and distributed, and developing trends in the consumer market. Project success in different areas has been evaluated through usability studies, user ratings and reviews, and vast quantities of usage and distribution statistics. Overall, the project has been a success in terms of user reception and generated revenue, and the final section of this report includes plans for a second game, utilizing and building upon the same game engine and mechanics."