GAME-BASED LEARNINGLoyola Marymount University Presentation

David Mullich

Game Production Instructor, Los Angeles Film School

March 11, 2014

Career Highlights

Elements of a Game

Theme Rules Resources Conflict Goals Game Loop

Theme

Setting Characters Story

Helps players become engaged Makes game easier to learn Tells a compelling story

Rules

Easily Understood Consistent with

Game Theme

Setup Progression Resolution

Rule Categories Rules Mechanics Systems

Rule Groupings

Complexity

The greater the complexity, the harder it is to learn how to play the game.

The number of rules or the number of elements with which the player interacts.

Depth

The greater the depth, the harder it is master the game.

The ability to find enjoyment in a game as one’s skill improves.

Depth

Tic-Tac-Toe has few decisions, but it also has few rules

Chess has more rules and elements, but it has many interesting decisions

Monopoly has even more rules and elements, but relatively few meaningful decisions

Depth is directly related to the number of interesting decisions the player can make.

Game Mechanics

Avoid unkillable objects Instant death Game repeats until you

die Remember an

increasing number of things

Repeat pattern Forced constant

movement Block puzzles Game keeps getting

harder until you die Uncountable number of

possible paths Big gains for you can be

big gains for your enemy Block path

Information Overload Disinformation Switch modes Push mole down, mole

pops up Cut off one head, two

grow back Bouncing object Gravity Mouse dexterity Spinning plates Teleports Squad Race Chase Collecting Interrupt Action

Squad Scarce Resource Jumping Hidden image/

Where’s Waldo? Timed Protect a target Undirected

exploration Bullet Hell Buy Low, Sell High Brawling Dialog Tree Building Crafting

Resources

Currency Building Materials Energy Health Combat Units Inventory Items

Time Turns Moves Territory Power-Ups Information

Anything the player must gather or protect to help in achieving the game’s goals.

Conflict

Anything that makes achieving the game’s goals difficult. Enemies Puzzles Time Limits Resource Management Hidden Resources or Obstacles Randomness

Difficulty

How easy or hard it is for a player to complete a game objective.

Games should be easy to learn, but hard to master.

Difficult vs. Punishing

Rules should be consistent Players need to be given enough

information to make decisions The player’s choices should be meaningful Players should be able to obtain enough

resources to meet goals

Goals

Achievement milestones that advance progress in a game. Elementary (Minor) Goals Intermediate (Level) Goals Primary (Win/Loss) Goals

Types of Goals

STRATEGIC(Mental)

REFLEX(Physical)

CHANCE(Random)

Examples of Goals

Score Capture/

Destroy Collection Solve Chase/Race/

Escape

Beat the Clock Spatial Alignment Build Explore Advance the Story

What Makes Goals Engaging

Worthy of Obtaining Challenging to Reach Obtainable New Goals Replace

Old Goals

Game Loop

The set of rules that a game follows during each game turn.

All game’s have turns, even if they appear to be continuously be running. This is because most modern video games don’t stop and wait for player input.

Ideas

All games start out as ideas. Some games come from one powerful idea, but most are formed by combining many ideas to create a unique whole. It’s very possible that initial ideas will be (or should be) abandoned, and lots of new ideas will be considered during the process.

Brainstorming

A group creativity technique to find a conclusion to a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In games, brainstorming is used to generate a large number of ideas about game's concept, mechanics, setting, characters, etc.

Brainstorming

Osborn’s method of brainstorming has four general rules: Focus on quantity Withhold criticism Welcome unusual ideas Combine and improve

ideasAlex F. Osborn

Break into groups. Receive 3 game mechanics from your speaker. Brainstorm a learning game using at least one of these

mechanics. Present your game concept, including:

Theme (or Learning Topic)ResourcesObstaclesGoals (Both Game Goals and Learning Goals)

Boy Scout Game Examples

Minecraft

Four ways to learn with Minecraft: Build writing skills by having writing a Minecraft blog Encourage reading by crating a structure or scene

from a book Teach Math Literacy by building structures to

demonstrate understanding of mathematical principals such as ratios, integers, quadrants, area and volume.

Practice Digital Citizenship and Online Social Skills Learn Javascript programming by having students

create mods

MinecraftEDU

The official version of the game specifically tailored for teachers and students. It features simplified technical issues such as setting up servers, managing account privileges, configuration scripts, and defining the limits of player space and options.

MinecraftEDU creator Joel Levin says sessions are most productive--and fun--when “teachers to talk to the kids about the meaning, purpose, rules, and how the world for the given project should operate.”

Minecraft Resources

The Minecraft Wiki: the definitive guide to all things Minecraft

Massively Minecraft: an online learning community for kids age 4-16 and their parents.

SimCityEdu

Six missions, all related to the theme of managing energy and environmental issues in an urban setting. Each mission consists of two types of activities: In-game: Modify a pre-built city to meet an objective; Concept maps: Complete a cause-and-effect flowchart that shows

how variables affect outcomes. (This is all done in a web browser; there is no gameplay.)

The developers say it covers 5 Common Core literacy standards for grades 6-8 around identifying and citing textual evidence to support analysis and conclusions, along with Next Generation Science Standards around “Human Impacts on Earth Systems” and “Systems Thinking.”

SimCity Resources

SimCityEdu Lesson Plans