Dr. Foo CY
Samuel
Wee You
Coburn
Ricky Fajar Adiputra
Aidah Isnin
Michael Garry
Been a hectic week. All the projects deadline coming up. Juz finished a major project for introduction to computer gaming (INCG). We were supposed to make form a group to create an educational board game. It may sound easy as you can just copy from another game but it is not as easy as that. The key thing for this project was the educational part. What i found challenging was to intergrate educational aspects into a game where the purpose is solely for fun. The theme for my group was global warming and the game that we chose to adapt our game from was monopoly. The most tedious part was the details to the game. Although my group had many meetings to discuss the game design and layout, we ended up doing the project up till the day before the submission date. yes, we started early but that does not necessarily mean that we can finish the project earlier.
Anyways, for those who are thinking that GET is all about playing games only, then they are definitely wrong. GET needs people who are willing to work hard. Yes, playing games is fun and all but developing them is no joke. I am already feeling the heat of the board game process and its only a minor project as compared to what is to come ahead. The most important thing that i have learnt from this project is that details are the most important thing. One can never try to do something without details and every little thing matters no matter how small it is.
Filed under: Studies
Been there, done that, your quite right that you are in for more…Challenging assignment. My advice for the board game’s educational aspect is to think of things outside of the typical education topic. As long as there’s value to it even history of weapons evolution was accepted. What’s really important is that the educational aspect must be integral to the gameplay. Anyway, hope you do well for your board game =)
It’s easy for Zi Hao to say that; because his group’s board game was an educational tactical wargame with incredible depth and replayability. They deserved, and got the highest mark for his cohort that year.
I’m interested in knowing how the educational aspect of your game was delivered and at which age group or demographic your game is targeted at. Do you promote the learning of facts or statistics? Or perhaps attempt to educate on lifestyle choices that reduce one’s carbon footprint? Or does the game reward those with prior knowledge on the subject? Is it a competitive or cooperative game?
I’m currently looking at various pedagogical theories for my own studies, so whenever somebody mentions educational something, I get a bit curious.
jatori asked a very good fundamental question in game design - knowing the target audience. This aspect is often almost forgotten when people start designing games, and this was also echoed by Mr Chris Thompson, the Vice-President of EA Asia when I last spoke to him.
Designers tend to think that their target audience are like themselves, hence designing something they think people will like but ending up having no one interested in playing the game.
What jatori can do is to go around the campus and present your game idea to people outside your usual circle of “gaming friends”. Ask people whether they like your game, whether they will play/buy it or how the gameplay can be improved. By simply talking to people, you can tell what age group and demographic your game will be targeted for. You can then modify the gameplay according.
More on this in the Game Design module in Level 2.1.
@ Jonathan: If I understand correctly, you’re suggesting that you first design the game and then find the demographic that suits it, rather than designing a game to suit a demographic.