Lessons from the Trenches of Learning Game Design

Bottom-Line Performance

Who I am

Game-lover, learner,

instructional designer,

product owner, game

designer, dog-lover and

owner, Mom, wife, cyclist.

Oh…and president,

Bottom-Line Performance.

Now…about you

What level of game design experience do you have?

A. I’m interested; I haven’t done it.B. I’ve done it a lot; want to compare my experiences

against yours.C. I’m just getting started; I’ve done a thing or two.

What type of gamer are you?

A. What’s a gamer? I don’t play games except under duress.

B. I play a game 2-3 times/year at holidays, gatherings.C. I play a lot – at least weekly.

Play games to make good games.

Evaluate what you play!

Playtest. A lot. Prototypes are power.

Choose game elements that support

learning goals.

Players need help figuring out how to

play.

Less is better re: complexity of design.

Scoring is harder to get right than you

think.


Lessons I’ll share…

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 - Play games.

The best way to learn game design is to play

games and evaluate their designs.

Let’s Play (and Evaluate) a Game!

I’m going to share out a link. Play the game. Then we’ll evaluate together. Max play time = 5 minutes.


http://bottomlineperformance.com/eLearningGuild/gameexample

http://bottomlineperformance.com/eLearningGuild/gameexample


Let’s evaluate. Via chat tell

me….1. What did you need to do to win? (That’s called

core dynamic BTW – see page 2 of handout)

2. Was it fun? Fun enough? Not fun at all?

3. What game elements did you notice? (See

page 3 of handout for a nifty list!)

4. How did you know how you were doing?

5. What game ideas could you pull into a learning

you create?

2 - Playtest. A lot.

Commercial games are playtested many, many

times. You won’t have it right after one or two

tries.

Version 1 – “Sort of like Clue”




Version 3 - Now we’re getting

somewhere!

Version 4 – Bam! We’ve got it!



Allow yourself multiple

rounds of playtesting and

iteration.

Multiple may mean 4; it may

mean 10. It may mean more.


Save yourself time and $$.

Prototype (and playtest) with

paper, then with a

prototyping tool, and finally

with programmed version.

Prototyping…what IS it?

Showing is

better than

telling:

http://www.yout

ube.com/watch

?v=k-

nfWQLmlMk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-nfWQLmlMk

Real-world…


We sketched.

But we never built a REAL prototype on paper here.

Digital prototype


We then created a “functional” prototype using an app called Marvel.

This is nice…but it doesn’t truly replicate functionality so we could see certain things….like what 30 seconds really feels like.

We ended up here:


Let’s play it – and you can share some thoughts on it.

HINT: This is a review of the what we’ve talked about so far.

http://theknowledgeguru.com/minigames/salesScramble

http://theknowledgeguru.com/minigames/salesScramble

Think. Pair. Share.


What might you learn from a TRUE

paper prototype?

With prototypes & playtests, ID

these things:1. Is the game idea fun?

2. Will it help people learn what you want them to learn?

3. Are you choosing good game elements? Are you missing opportunities to include others?

4. Are you rules clear? Is the game easy enough to learn?

5. Is the cognitive load on the learner too high, too low, just right?

6. How complex with the game be to make?


For paper, use these…


For digital, try these…



For digital, try these…


For digital, try these …


For digital, try these …

3 – Choose game

elements with care.

Elements should reinforce – or at least not

distract from – the learning goal you have.

You’re making a game on…

1) Time 2) Cooperation

4) Chance

3) Strategy

5) Levels

Identify some learning game play situations where you would want to use each of these elements. What

learning needs might drive you to use these elements? Let’s divide the room and brainstorm ideas.

4) Chance

1) Time

2) Cooperation

3) Strategy

5) Levels

• As a constraint that mirrors real-life constraint.• As a resource earned based on performance• Compress it to mimic real-life work cycle.

• If real-life TASK being taught requires cooperation with others, try to create game that is cooperative.

• As a way to illustrate interdependence of roles

• To force choices and require people to evaluation options and decisions – as they would in real-life.

• To simulate random events or actions that are part of a situation or job

• To help people learn the game by playing the game.

• To allow varying skill levels to play.

• To increase difficulty as people build skill.

More elements to consider: aesthetics

and theme influence desire to play. They

can also correlate to a workplace concept or

overarching theme.


This


Or this?



Players need help

figuring out to play.

But they never want it.

www.bottomlineperformance.com

Build help in via levels, resources, and

tutorials. Most of the time, don’t offer choice to

skip tutorial on first play through. They will

ALL skip – and then struggle.

www.bottomlineperformance.com

Early prototype – no tutorial Later iteration – tutorial, guided play


https://www.theknowledgeguru.com/minigame_archive/Elevator/

http://theknowledgeguru.com/c2_examples/GGB/archives/elevators_v2/

Less is more.

You have greater odds of achieving your

learning goal if you keep it narrow rather than

wide.

Decrease complexity. The #1 design mistake

novice designers make is making things too

complex.

Example: www.bottomlineperformance.com/passwordblaster

Consider a focus on ONE learning objective

Scoring is hard to do

well.

Match your scoring and rewards to job context

when you can.

Even when you can’t, make sure you are

rewarding for knowledge/skill acquisition.

Scoring

shown

here

matches

job

context

of

players.


Players

earn/lose

territory

sales based

on

knowledge

they can

apply to

sales

challenge .


As in the

real-world,

complaints

and

customer

satisfaction

influence

performance

and sales as

well.


Also as in

the real-

world, the

kinds of

questions

you pose to

a question

influence

how the sale

goes.

Design Tools & Templates


• Overview of common core dynamics and

game elements pp. 1 -2

• Reproducible game evaluation worksheet

– page 4

• Learning Game Design Checklist – pp 5

to 8

• Field Guide for Playtesting – p. 9

Development Tools

Oh yeah. I know. You want to know the tools to help you BUILD games.

Programming background NOT

required, though helpful.

Medium complexity to use; lots

of support available.

Amazing quality; no 3D, though.

Rapidly growing in usage;

strong user community.

Construct2 games CAN be

imported into authoring tools

such as Articulate Storyline or

Lectora.

Example: www.bottomlineperformance.com/passwor

dblaster

Construct2 HTML5 game creator

by Scirra

Unity

https://unity3d.com/unity

Complex to use

Typically used for highly

immersive experiences,

simulations. Very, very

powerful in terms of

what it can do.

Can be 2D or 3D

Users tend to have

programming

background or expertise

Unity

Of course I think it’s

great

SaaS – pricing

starts at $9,999 for

one-year

subscription.

Authors can export

SCORM packages

for upload onto LMS

or run on web.

Designed for

corporate learning

audiences.

http://www.theknowl

edgeguru.com

Knowledge Guru

http://www.theknowledgeguru.com

No experience with this

tool, but platform and

company look very

intriguing.

SaaS – pricing starts at

$5,500 US dollars for 1-

year subscription.

Designed specifically FOR

eLearning.

Genie Game-Based Authoring

Tool

Gamifies learning;

intended for virtual

ILT as well as face-

to-face ILT. Not for

asynchronous

elearning.

Instructor displays

questions or polls.

Learners respond

via mobile device.

FREE!!!!!

https://getkahoot.c

om/

Kahoot!

https://getkahoot.com/

IMO, suboptimal for a

bona-fide game but

absolutely can be used to

create nice gamified

experiences.

https://community.articulate

.com/articles/elearning-

games-recap

Articulate Storyline

https://community.articulate.com/articles/elearning-games-recap

This Storyline project

has several

gamification elements

in it: aesthetics,

challenges, time

constraints on some

activities,

Total time invested in

creating it was about 50

hours. Nothing other

than Storyline was

involved in its

creation.

Rapid authoring example -

gamification

0:30

Repeat after me….


1. ___________ games to _________ good games.

2. _______ a lot. _________ are power.

3. Choose______ elements that support _________ goals.

4. Players need help figuring out ___ __ ______.

5. _____ is better re: complexity of design.

6. Scoring is harder to get ______ than you think.

Repeat after me….


1. Play games to make good games.

2. _______ a lot. _________ are power.

3. Choose______ elements that support _________ goals.




Repeat after me….



2. Playtest a lot. Prototypes are power. Choose______ elements that support _________ goals.




Repeat after me….



2. Playtest a lot. Prototypes are power.

3. Choose game elements that support learning goals.




Repeat after me….




3. Choose game elements that support

learning goals.

4. Players need help figuring out how to play.


6. Scoring is harder to get ______ than you

think.

Repeat after me….





learning goals.


5. Less is better re: complexity of design.

6. Scoring is harder to get ______ than you

think.

Repeat after me….





learning goals.


5. Less is better re: complexity of design.

6. Scoring is harder to get right than you think.


Thank [email protected]

www.bottomlineperformance.com/lolblog

Twitter: @sharon_boller

(317) 861-5935 – office

Book available March 2017!!!

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/lolblog

Links to useful blog posts


Lessons from the trenches (includes two I didn’t share today!): http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/6-lessons-trenches-digital-game-design/

On scoring and rewards: http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/learning-game-design-series-rewards-and-scoring/

On thoughtful use of game elements

http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/using-game-elements-improve-learning-outcomes/

On the design of the learning side of the game:

http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/learning-game-design-series-part-7-thinking-about-learning-then-the-game/

On playtesting games:

http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/enough-playtest-custom-learning-games/

http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/6-lessons-trenches-digital-game-design/

http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/learning-game-design-series-rewards-and-scoring/

http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/using-game-elements-improve-learning-outcomes/

http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/learning-game-design-series-part-7-thinking-about-learning-then-the-game/

http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/enough-playtest-custom-learning-games/

Education

Lessons from the Trenches of Learning Game Design