Dr. Jacob HabgoodHead of Serious Games

© 2009 Sumo Digital Limited

Wii Don’t do “Edutainment”!

Sumo Digital Limited:

“Work for hire” Console Developer• SEGA, Konami, Sony (Xbox, 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP).• Around 130 developers in Sheffield.• Heritage going back to Gremlin Graphics in the 80’s.

Foundation 9 Group• Around 800 developers worldwide.

Just who are Wii?

Personal BackgroundIndustry & Academia:Gremlin / Infogrames / Atari

• Hogs of War, MicroMachines, Actua Sports.• Programmer / Technical Lead (PSX, PS2, Xbox, GC)

.Ph.D. in Learning Sciences

• LSRI, University of Nottingham.• “The Effective Integration of Digital Games and

Learning Content” (www.zombiedivision.co.uk).Head of Serious Games

• “The Game Maker’s Apprentice”.• Game Development tools for Kids (Game Maker).• But no explicit “learning” products… yet.

Learning ShowcaseWork for Hire:Console-based Learning

• “Edutainment” products are trickling onto consoles.• Often developed by smaller developers to make

ends meet while chasing the big publishing deal.• Not necessarily any expertise or passion for

learning.Sumo: Serious about Learning

• Large console developer, great track-record : large publishers beat a path to our door.

• Passion and expertise for game-based learning.• Perfectly positioned to branch into learning-based

console products.Showcase Game

• Self-funded WiiWare title: “Outnumbered”.

Design PhilosophyAnti-Edutainment:Intrinsic Integration (Kafai, 2001)

• Extrinsic “chocolate-covered broccoli” approaches to integrating games and learning do not work.

• Modern example: Questionaut by Amanita Design (Award-winning web game designers).

• More integrated approaches could be more effective.

Research EvidenceZombie Division:Controlled Trials

Results• Intrinsic games are more motivating than

extrinsic games (as measured by time-on-task).

• Intrinsic games are more effective than extrinsic games (as measured by learning gains).

• Intrinsic Skeletons = Dividends Weapons = Divisors• Extrinsic Skeletons = Symbols + Extrinsic Q&A• Control Skeletons = Symbols

Design PhilosophyMaths-Based Game for WiiWare:Intrinsically Integrated

• Deliver learning content alongside, and in tandem with the flow experience of the game.

• Integrate the learning content within the structure of the gaming world and its core-mechanics.

Unpatronising and Unapologetic• Kids are aspirational: so design for big ones.• Safe is dull – zombies/monsters/explosions are fun.

Does Not Try to “Make Maths Fun”!• Maths is simply a medium.• All games are about learning something.• The fact that this happens to be maths should

be almost entirely irrelevant to the player.

PedagogyInterconnected Mathematics:Learning Content

• Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge

• Should be developed alongside each other (Rittle-Johnson, Siegler & Alibali, 2001).

Beyond Rote Learning• Embodies the meaningful relationships between

knowledge essential for understanding (Hiebert & Lefevre, 1986).

Anchored Instruction• Successful mathematics teaching needs to be

grounded in “real world” situations (Greer, 1992). • Real world “anchors” (Brandsford et al, 1990).

OutnumberedBasic Concept:Maths can be fatal – especially if you’re a monster! Attach your brain to your wand-arm and get ready to cause some serious mayhem as you defend your wizard’s home against an army of magical beasts…

OutnumberedScreen Layout

OutnumberedCore Mechanics:“Mechanism through which players make meaningful choices and arrive at a meaningful play experience” (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004).

Core Mechanic 1: “Playing with Goo”• Magical mana comes in two flavours.• Monsters are made of bad mana while

wizard’s towers attract good mana.• Bad mana can be neutralised with good.• Monsters die when you reduce their

bad mana exactly down to zero.• Overshooting makes all the good mana

fall off the monster.

OutnumberedCore Mechanics:Core Mechanic 2: “Monster Grow Bags”

• Create your own good monsters.• Drop mana onto a monster grow bag and it will

form its own “good” cloud.• Fill it up to the desired value of good mana.• Grab the cloud to pull the monster from the earth. • The good monster will defeat any bad monster

of equal value in its path AND take out anyother monsters standing behind it.

OutnumberedProgression:At the beginning of the game:

• Throwing Goo = Subtraction.• Growing Monsters = Addition.• Mixing colours of goo is fine.

Progressing to PURE EVIL:• Monsters which are pure evil can only be defeated

by pure good mana – i.e. a single colour of goo. Now :

• Throwing Goo = Division by repeated subtraction.• Growing Monsters = Multiplication by repeated

addition.

OutnumberedCore Mechanics:Core Mechanic 3: “Divide and Conquer”

• Repeated subtraction is a slow way to divide.• Magic can speed that up.• Any value of blob can be powered up

to become a divisor.• Magic blobs kill monsters instantly

(provided that they divide!)

Fire Ice Lightning

Core Mechanics:Divisor Relationships:

Core Mechanic 4: “Multiplying Monsters”

• Repeated addition is a slow way to multiply.

• Magic can speed that up.• The result is always “pure” good.

Outnumbered

2, 4 &8

3, 6 &9

5 & 10

7

OutnumberedEmergent Gameplay:Core Mechanics:

• Throwing Goo = (Repeated) Subtraction.• Growing Monsters = (Repeated) Addition.• Dividing Monsters = Division.• Multiplying Mana = Multiplication.

Mixing Mechanics:• Pure Evil / Pure Good.• Monster Immunity (Red, Blue, Yellow).• Subtract -> Divide / Multiply -> Add.• (23 – 2) / 3• “Smart Bombs”• End of Level Bosses – multiple clouds

OutnumberedDifficulty Level:Gameplay Difficulty:

• Standard gameplay progression: • Speed, quantity, strength, visual cues.• Same for every player.

Mathematical Difficulty:• Cognitive Model:

• Tracks use of key domain concepts.• Varies difficulty accordingly.• Different experience for every player.• Additional replay value.

OutnumberedWii DemoAround 50% Complete:

Any questions?

Release

Coming to WiiWare Summer 2009 500-1000 Wii Points (£3.50 - £7.00)

Outnumbered