Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world

Buy now on Unity Asset Store 2D Toolkit provides an efficient and flexible 2D sprite and text system which integrates seamlessly into the Unity environment. Our key focus with this product is mobile performance and workflow efficiency. 2D Toolkit is designed for rapid prototyping, and is built to take you all the way to a shipping game.

The patented technology that makes DreamBox adaptive learning so powerful The DreamBox Learning adaptive learning platform enables the best methods and lessons of effective classroom teachers to help every student excel. DreamBox technology answers the question, “what’s the right next lesson for this student”, to provide a learning experience based on: Integrated assessment and effective, data-informed instruction Continuous, dynamic adaptations Sophisticated sequencing technology that provides millions of paths through the curriculum A robust math curriculum An engaging learning environment with game-like elements and motivational features.

This experience is based on the following patented technologies. Platform infrastructure. We’ve built our platform to be a large scale, extensible web service that can support a wide variety of curricula (e.g., K-12 math, literacy, science, chemistry, etc.), high traffic, world-wide usage, and multivariate data analysis. DreamBox will continue to drive platform innovation by building more applications and extending its reach. GuideRight™. An heuristics engine for continuous assessments and adaptations, this technology provides for individualized placement so that every student is continually in their optimal learning zone. More importantly, integrated assessment and instruction, with a powerful, proprietary sequencing engine, means that there are millions of possible paths through our robust curriculum. LessonScript™. LessonScript™ is an authoring environment for scalable lesson development. Instead of having to rely on the traditional sequential software development model, our engineers have created a lesson authoring environment full of interactive and teacher-designed virtual tools so that our academic team (most of whom are National Board Certified Teachers) can build and refine lessons in real time. This also means that LessonScript can support 3rd party content development. Dynamic and “skinnable” lesson architecture. DreamBox developed a flexible overlay for substituting creative assets (graphics and audio) and language so DreamBox-enabled content can be presented with different themes (e.g. pirates or neighborhood pets) to appeal to different students. It also allows easy localization to new languages. Teacher and Parent Dashboards. Our online dashboards provide detailed academic progress reports, giving teachers, administrators, and parents insight into concept-level comprehension, progress through the curriculum, and DreamBox effectiveness.

Seven Ways to Build Your Own Educational Games There are hundreds of places to find educational games and quizzes on the Internet. That said, sometimes you still cannot find quite what you're looking for. In those cases you're better off creating your own games. Here are seven good tools you and your students can use for creating games.

Research blog by Kristian Kiili Home About me About this blog Call for educational game design patterns October 9, 2009 tags: Design pattern In spite of increased interest in game-based learning, the development of educational game design methods has been insignificant. Apparently, this lack has negatively influenced the quality of published educational games and the diffusion of game based learning. One of the biggest problems of educational games has been the inadequate integration of educational and game design principles. Furthermore,  it is common that the multidisciplinary nature of the design teams also arouses problems – there are too many chief cooks with their own recipes without having a common language to collaboratively mix the masterpiece. Good educational games just do not get cooked by merely hiring game designers and instructional designers for the game design team. A shared vocabulary and an understanding of how the instructional designers’ and the game designers’ work aligns and synergizes would facilitate the development of high quality educational games. As a solution, I have proposed a  pattern-based approach that supports the design, analysis and comparison of educational games. Educational game design patterns that extend existing entertainment game design patterns are descriptions of commonly reoccurring parts of the design of a educational game that concern and optimize gameplay from an educational perspective. The aim of this post is to awaken the educational game community to approach educational game design more structurally and to motivate them to participate in creation of design patterns. The current patterns are presented in educational game design pattern library: http://www.pori.tut.fi/~krikii/patterns/. In the same page you can propose patterns to be included in the library.

About Playfish Playfish leads the social gaming industry in innovation and creativity with award-winning, category-defining games designed for friends to play together. The company has changed the way people play games by creating more social and connected experiences. Played by tens of millions of people worldwide, Playfish games are amongst the most acclaimed and popular online, including Pet Society, Restaurant City, FIFA Superstars and Madden NFL Superstars. Playfish has development studios in London, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo, Montreal, and Tromso, Norway, and is owned by Electronic

What are Social Games? Social games are games designed to be played together with friends.Traditional computer games focus on standalone game play on consoles, your PC or on your mobile. Games that do allow you to play together with others online normally require you to buy the game, go online and try and find like-minded new friends who are also playing the game. This is something that usually only the most dedicated gamers are prepared to do.Our social games are different. We create games that let you play together with real-world friends and family using the infrastructure built by social networks. This is in some ways a return to the roots of games. You play with the same people you would play cards, board games or go bowling with in the real world. Sharing the game experience with friends makes it more compelling and fun.At Playfish we believe social games are a big part of the future of the video games industry, and are working hard to be the leading company in this emerging sector.

More than 50 Web Widgets for Your Learning Mix by Jeff Cobb I’ve been hunting widgets. My aim in doing this was to create a companion piece to my recent More than 100 Free Places to Learn Online posting. In the spirit of that posting, I went out to see what sorts of learning-oriented widgets I could find in relatively short period of time. My conclusion is that there is still a lot to be done to add great widgets to the world of learning online, but nonetheless, there are some pretty good things out there.

How To Play You play the game in three easy steps: STEP 1. Watch the 3-minute video. Watch the short welcome video to find out what future we’re forecasting. See what others around the world are doing to create catalysts for change. Get inspired. Imagine what you can do to be a catalyst for change. Get Started STEP 2. Play your cards. You can play Positive Imagination and Critical Imagination cards. Positive Imagination cards describe new winning paths out of poverty. Critical Imagination cards highlight paths that could lead to greater vulnerability. Each card is short and sweet—just 140 characters. You can play as many or as few cards as you like. The more you play, the more people you can engage around the world. And the more people you engage with your ideas, the more points you win.     STEP 3. Build on others’ cards. This is where the fun starts—and the points add up. Once you play a card, others may respond with cards that take the idea to the next level. You can do the same. On any card, you can play four kinds of cards: Momentum: If we take this path … what happens next? Antagonism: Disagree? What’s wrong with this path? Adaptation: Yes, and...how might this path play out differently in your community or region? Investigation: Curious? Ask or answer a follow-up question. Building on cards is the best way to build points—and build better paths out of poverty! When someone builds on one of your cards, you automatically win points without doing anything. When you build on others’ cards, you start a card chain and encourage others to build on your cards. The longer the chains, the more points you win! And the deeper your conversations with people in other regions. 4. Watch the game live on the Dashboard! Get a bird’s-eye view of the game unfolding on the Dashboard. Follow trending topics, and see which ideas are gaining momentum. Track your favorite ideas and players in the game. And keep an eye on the Leaderboard to see where you stand!     HOW CAN I WIN

The best way to be a catalyst for change is simply to be yourself. Tapping your skills, your knowledge, your experience, and your social circles will amplify everything you do to as a change-maker. So the first quest is to uncover your hidden catalyst identity. There are four Catalyst for Change personalities. Which type are you?     Evidence Collector You like facts and figures. You think information can change the world. Graphs, charts, and maps can turn the world upside down and set individuals, organizations, cities, even entire countries on a new path. Photographs document problems and solutions. Text messages tell the world the truth. You measure your heart rate, the flow of traffic, the bacterial count in your water source. These are the feedback systems that can spark real change that you can measure and track. #catalyze4 #evidence

  Capacity Builder You are a person-of action. You like to get to work and get your hands dirty. You build things, invent new tools, plant gardens, raise llamas. You know how to take something small and make it bigger–or something big and make it smaller. You know how to string things together, like containers on a train or vending carts on a street to make them more efficient, more attractive, or more affordable. When you look around, you see resources everywhere, and you can’t wait to put them to good use. You build capacity. #catalyze4 #capacity

   Rules Architect You’re a people-and-power person. You like to reach out, meet people, understand what gives them strength and what gets in their way. You like to think about systems, networks, and nodes. You lay out paths that speed up some kinds of changes and slow down others. You understand the roles of gatekeepers and know how to redesign those roles to improve access to what matters. You care about laws and forms of government. You believe rules matter in the lives of poor or vulnerable people. #catalyze4 #rules

Prepare for the game! How to Win Create Player

4 Lessons from Gaming in a Corporate Context

What can an engaged forecasting game do for my company? This is a question I've heard a lot over the past couple of years.  Based on aggregated lessons from the corporate games of which I've been a part, below are 4 key insights from engaging with games in a corporate context:

1.  Dipping a toe in gaming = liberating! Participants reported they appreciated dipping their toe in an online gaming platform.  Being given permission to engage with online scenarios, simulations, and ideation was liberating for some, especially if they were "closet gamers" in their current role and position in the organization.  At IFTF, we forecast that gaming will be a learning methodology and medium for the future, so future leaders need to find ways to grow in this capacity. 

1.2 Billion People Live in Extreme Poverty – 7 Billion Are Invited to Help Find the Solutions Around the world—from the dense urban settlements of Kibera and Dharavi to the precarious freeholds of small farmers everywhere—billions of people are looking for a way out of poverty. Everyday they face challenges ranging from shortages of water to shortages of jobs, from loss of their traditional lifestyles to loss of their voice in their communities. What if, together, we can identify thousands of new paths out of poverty around the world in just 48 hours? IFTF and the Rockefeller Foundation invite you to play Catalyze4Change: Register now at game.searchlightcatalysts.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 21, 2012