How to Add or Edit Game Authors on an Existing Game Shell

System administrators in Knowledge Guru can add and remove game authors from a game shell at any time. Each Knowledge Guru game must have at least one, but up to 10, Game Author(s) associated with it.  

To create a game author: 

  1. Log into your Knowledge Guru account at:  theknowledgeguru.com/login/ 
  2. Select your company from the game list. If you have no games, you will automatically be logged into your system administrator account. 
  3. Select  GAME AUTHORS/CREATE GAME AUTHOR  from the left-hand menu. 
  4. Enter the game author information and click  CREATE GAME AUTHOR. 

Once you have the game author in your system, you can associate them to existing game shells. To add a Game Author to an existing game shell: 

  1. Select GAME SHELLS/EDIT GAME SHELL from the left-hand menu. 
  2. Select EDIT GAME SHELL for the game shell you wish to edit.  
  3. Enter names of additional game authors, up to 10, in the Additional Game Authors box. Names should appear as you type if you have already added the authors to your account.  
  4. Click the X for any additional game authors you want to remove, or use the dropdown to change the Primary Game Author. 
  5. Click SAVE. 

How to Add, Edit, Remove, and View Players in the System Admin Tool

When you are logged in as a system administrator in your Knowledge Guru account, you can add, edit and remove players from all your game shells. The Player Management tool also allows you to view reports on how well your players are doing in each of the games.

Manage Players Tool

Expand the Player Management option within left-hand navigation pane, and select Manage Players.

The Player Management tool allows you to do all of the following:

  • Sort players by First Name, Last Name or Email
  • Search by First Name, Last Name or Email
  • Display 10, 25, 50, 100 players at a time on screen
  • Add multiple players to different games
  • Remove players from different games
  • Remove multiple players from all game shells

How to Sort Players

You can sort players alphabetically by First Name, Last Name or Email. Click one of the three headers to sort players by that header.

How to Display More Players on the Screen

Click the drop-down menu between Show entries to select different numbers of players to be displayed on the screen at once.

How to Search for Players

Click on the Search input box to type in a first name, last name or email. It will dynamically search as you type.

How to Add Multiple Players to Multiple Games

After you select the players you want to add to a game, click the Action drop-down menu and select Add Selected to Games.

Click the drop-down menu that appears. This drop-down menu shows all the game shells in your company account. Click on a game name to select that game. (You can also search for a particular game by typing the game name.)

Click SAVE. After you save, the authoring tool will tell you how many players were added to the games and if there were any failures.

How to Remove Multiple Players from Multiple Games

After you select the players you want to remove from a game, click the Action drop-down menu and select Remove Selected from Games.

Click the drop-down menu that appears. This drop-down menu shows all the game shells you own. Click on a game name to select that game. (You can also search for a particular game by typing the game name.)

Click SAVE. After you save, the authoring tool will tell you how many players were removed from the games and if there were any failures.

How to View an Individual Player

Click on a person’s first or last name to view their individual status.

Here you get a comprehensive profile of the player. You can quickly see which games they are in, how far they have progressed, and when they were last active in the game.

If you want more details on how well they are doing in a game, click View under the Reports header.

To remove a player from a single game, click the Remove button that correlates with the game row.

To add a player to any game shell you have created, open the Select Game drop-down menu and click Add Player.

If you need to remove a player completely from all your game shells, click Remove from All Games. A prompt will appear to confirm this action as you will not be able to recover any of this player’s data after you remove them.

Add Player Tool

Expand the Player Management option within left-hand navigation pane, and select Add Player.

Type in the first name, last name and email address of the player you want to add. Check the boxes next the game shells you wish to add the player to, then click the green Add Player button.

Dashboard Overview

When you log in to a Quest or Legend game as a game author, you land on the main dashboard. This dashboard is your launching point for anywhere else you want to go within the authoring tool. It is also a source of summary information about your game and its players. Let’s look at how this dashboard is organized.

Menus/Navigation

The “hamburger” icon in the top left corner lets you expand and collapse the sidebar menu located on the left side of your screen. Your game’s name is located next to this menu icon. Once you expand the navigation, you will see options that help you:

  • Develop your game
  • Customize your game
  • Manage players
  • Access reports
  • Implement your game
  • Access Knowledge Base resources

Each of these menu options can also be expanded to reveal sub-menu choices within each main area of the authoring tool.

Summary Statistics

The top of your dashboard gives you a quick snapshot of your players and how they are doing. As the image shows, four icons are always visible. These icons let you see how many players you have, how many are active, how many have reached mastery, and the average mastery value.

Pre-launch Checklist

dashboard-3

If your game has not yet launched, a Knowledge Guru Checklist to Launch will be displayed. This checklist outlines the six steps you need to execute to get your game created. Clicking any of the six steps provides you with a detailed explanation of each one.

As you complete tasks, the checklist automatically marks the tasks off your list and changes the box from red to green. By clicking within a step, you can see a more detailed explanation of it.

Post-Launch Statistics and Recent Activity Log

Once you make your game live, your pre-launch checklist gets replaced with additional player statistics. These statistics are dynamic. You can click within them to access full reports. You can also hover over the bars in the graph or the pie pieces in the pie chart to see specific data points.

The bottom left portion of your screen will change to a timeline labeled KG Recent Activity. This activity log can help you see how long it took to create and put your game online as well as the most recent activities of the game’s players.

Your Profile and Logging Out

The drop-down menu at the far-most upper right corner of your screen contains links to your profile settings as well as a log out option. Your profile shows the date your Knowledge Guru subscription expires and allows you to change your email and password.

Knowledge Base Help and Support

The Knowledge Guru Knowledge Base is always available to you via Access Resources in your navigation pane. This menu option contains a link to the Knowledge Base as well as to Support.

Quest vs. Drive: When each is appropriate

Knowledge Guru has three game apps that offer different learner and gameplay experiences. Quest uses a question/answer format. Drive uses mini-games that are more robust in the gaming aspect and go beyond simple question/answer. This article explains the main differences between Quest and Drive in terms of instructional design, use cases, and player experience.

Want the short and sweet version? Here’s a summary chart.

Now, let’s break it down. When it comes to instructional design, all the Knowledge Guru apps share four core design elements, but there are a lot of differences as well. The chart below shows these differences.

Attribute Drive – Daily 3 minigame delivery Drive – Custom minigame delivery Quest
Uses some method of spacing/repetition to reinforce and enable remembering. X X X
Ties to scoring performance. X X X
Links content to learning objectives. X X X
Provides immediate feedback. X X X
Heavily emphasizes adaptive, personalized learning with app adjusting learning content based on user’s performance and confidence ratings. X  
Optimized for microlearning with a goal of 5 minutes/session and experiences that require about 2-3 weeks of effort to conclude. X  
Game spacing and order can be customized.   X  
Players work toward a mastery rating. Spaced repetition influenced by player’s performance and confidence. X X
Uses mini-games as means of practice; each mini-game focuses on a single learning objective for laser focus. X X
On any day of play, players will encounter a maximum of 3 learning objectives. X  
Integrates Bloom’s taxonomy into creation of objectives AND into association of specific mini-games with specific levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. X X
Repeats every topic in each World of game. Players get first iteration of content in World A, second iteration in World B, and final in World C.   X
Concludes each world with a “bonus gate” game. This game presents learners with questions they made errors on FIRST.   X
Allows authors to adjust game spacing. X X
Several Q-type choices including ability to incorporate URLs for videos and online resources into questions.   X
Includes option to have “performance challenges,” which are a means of providing Accounts for need to provide skill practice or job-related activities.   X
Every topic in game has learning objectives associated with it. Every learning objective has question sets or game content associated with it. X X X

Each Knowledge Guru app has a unique user experience and game design. The chart below describes their unique attributes.

Attribute Drive – Daily 3 minigame delivery Drive – Custom minigame delivery Quest
Optimized for phone, tablet, or desktop X X X
Game elements: mastery scoring, leaderboards, mini-games w/ mini-challenges, aesthetics, personalization, feedback. X X
Game elements: leaderboards, personalization options (character, Guru selection), feedback, levels, star ratings, power-ups, aesthetics, challenge.   X
Intended to mirror experience of casual mobile game with quick in/out. Most sophisticated look/feel with goal toward “minimalism.” X  
Larger area for questions and for images associated w/questions.   X
Most sophisticated use of learning games, going beyond simple Q&A. X X
Provides most robust player-facing analytics and ID of strengths/weaknesses. X X
Player-facing analytics that show scoring, rank, and performance plus player summary report given after each World of play.   X

The chart below shows the possible use cases for each Knowledge Guru app.

Use Case Drive – Daily 3 minigame delivery Drive – Custom minigame delivery Quest
Pre-work   X
Post-training reinforcement X X X
Targeted to sales reps/sales training reinforcement X X
Can be used to reinforce product positioning, industry knowledge, competitors, objection handling, etc. X   X
Play during a live event   X X
Product and process training   X
Compliance training   X

Here are some questions that might help you decide.
Not sure which app is right?

  1. Are you limited to IE8? If IE8 is an absolute requirement, then Legend is the game type you need to use.
  2. Do you want option of play on a smartphone? If yes, use Quest or Drive.
  3. Are you focused on micro-learning? If yes, Drive or Quest is best.
  4. Do you need learners to only be able to complete questions associated with ONE topic at a time? If controlling access to topics matters, then go with Legend or Drive with Custom minigame delivery.
  5. Would you like the game to include skill components – where players actually practice a skill or do something in addition to answering game questions? If yes, choose Quest.
  6. Do you want game play to continue across several days or weeks to maximize benefits of spaced repetition?If so, choose Quest or Drive Daily 3 minigame delivery.
  7. Does your game need more than 4 topics? If so, choose Quest or Drive.
  8. Are you looking for a one-time, quick-play experience? Choose Legend – you can set up a small game that only has 9 to 12 question sets. People can play in about 15 minutes/ time. Use it to reinforce 1-3 key concepts.
  9. Do you want to incorporate video?If so, choose Quest or Drive.
  10. Is your focus reinforcement and / or adaptive learning? Choose Drive.

How to Log In to Your Knowledge Guru Account

Quick Steps to Log in to Knowledge Guru

  1. Go to http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/login.
  2. Enter your email address and password and click Sign In.
  3. Don’t know your password? Enter your email address and click Forgot Password.
  4. You will receive an email shortly after your request. Simply create a new password and log in to Knowledge Guru.

If your email is not yet registered with Knowledge Guru, you can reach out to your contact at BLP and they can help you register.

You Logged in to Knowledge Guru… Now What?

Once you’re logged in to your Knowledge Guru account, you can:

5 Keys to Success with Legend and Quest

Want to make your first Knowledge Guru game roll-out a success? While the platform itself is easy to use, a bit of planning and preparation goes a long way. The following “keys to success” will help you make the right decisions before you start designing your Legend or Quest game… and help you make your game content instructionally sound.

1) Choose the right game “type” for your endeavor.

Knowledge Guru offers you three options: Drive, Quest or Legend. Each one can a give you an impactful learning experience, but this article focuses on Quest and Legend. Sometimes either option is equally good. Here’s a few of the major things to consider:

  • Do you HAVE to support IE8? If so, use Legend. Quest will not work within Internet Explorer 8.
  • Do you want people to play as part of a live event? Either game type can be used. Legend is the optimal choice if you want to break up game play throughout the day and have players focus on a single topic per play session. Quest is a strong option if you want the game to serve as an overall review of the day. You can have players complete a single world within the game, which would include all the day’s topics. They can then finish their games on their own – getting two additional repetitions of your content following your live event.
  • Do you have a theme? Legend gives you 8 different themes to select from; Quest gives you three. Some customers even opt for a custom-made theme. Which one is right for your event/learning experience?
  • Do you want to incorporate video? Use Quest. Legend does not support video within the questions.
  • Do you want to include “performance challenges” as well as the question/answer format? If so, choose Quest.

For more detailed comparisons, you can check out these Knowledge Base articles that do a detailed comparison of Legend and Quest.

2) Make your game smaller as opposed to bigger.

Both Legend and Quest are designed to maximize learner retention of content. However, if you overload your game with too much content, you will hurt your players’ ability to remember.  Novice authors can go a bit crazy on crafting questions and suddenly find themselves with 8, 9, 10 or even 11 question sets within a single topic. The result is player fatigue and overload on their brains. They end up remembering very little.

If you truly have lots and lots of content to cover, consider crafting several “mini-games” that can be spaced out. The Legend game type is particularly good for designing this type of solution. You can have a highly effective Legend game that has only three topics with three question sets in each topic.

3) Get good at writing question “sets”

The single biggest challenge novice game creators have is recognizing when they are not writing iterative questions. Our Knowledge Base has a great article on how to write iterative questions. We encourage you to read it before you create a game, or to evaluate a game you’ve already created. Here’s a terrific formula to think about when you craft a question iteration:

  • Make the  question on the “A” path (Legend) or “A” world (Quest) a recall of the fact. This can be done as a true/false or a multiple choice option.
    • Widget A has three benefits. Two of these are durability and low cost of operation. What’s the third?
  • Make the question on the “B” path or world a bit more difficult by crafting a fill-in-the-blank or having them reference.
    • When you sell Widget A to customers, you need to share three benefits: ______ , ___ _____ of operation, and _____ease of________.
  • Make the question on the “C” path or world scenario based. Have them incorporate the fact into a job situation they would typically encounter.
    • You are meeting with Joe at ACME construction. He is concerned about replacement costs of Widget A. Which of the three benefits below is the one you should communicate to Joe? (NOTE: The answer would be durability. The distractors would be the other two benefits.)

4) Make your questions contextual to the players’ jobs and personal to them.

We all care about what matters most to us. So make sure your questions place your players in their jobs whenever possible. Here’s a terrific “formula” to think about when you craft a question iteration:

  • You are in a lab….
  • Your manager wants you to….
  • Your customer asks….

5) Incorporate visuals and video.

People respond well to images and they like watching short videos—just think about the popularity of YouTube. If you can show them instead of tell them, do it! Here are things you can do with an image, even one made in PowerPoint:

  • Give the player a context or “setting” for a scenario or a visual of what a customer might look like.
  • Present data that a player needs to analyze before responding to a question.
  • Show the flow of a process or the steps in a process.
  • Present a vignette of a selling situation, a feedback session, a customer inquiry, etc.

How To Create a Game Author and a Game Shell

Every Knowledge Guru game must have at least one, but up to 10, Game Author(s) associated with it. A Game Author is the individual who creates the game content, customizes the game, and implements the game (e.g. makes it go live). The game author can also access and export game reports that detail player progress, player performance, etc.

You must be designated as a system administrator within Knowledge Guru to create a game author.

To create a game author:

  1. Log into your Knowledge Guru account at: theknowledgeguru.com/login/
  2. Select your company from the game list. If you have no games, you will automatically be logged into your system administrator account.
  3. Select GAME AUTHORS/CREATE GAME AUTHOR from the left-hand menu.
  4. Enter the game author information and click CREATE GAME AUTHOR.

After you have a game author in your system, you can create a game shell and associate the author(s) with the shell. Here is how:

  1. From the left-hand menu, select GAME SHELLS/CREATE GAME SHELL.
  2. On the screen that appears, choose the game type you want to create.
  3. Fill in the game name, and game URL.
  4. Select a primary author and up to nine secondary authors.
  5. Choose which game type you want in the drop-down menu (QUEST/LEGEND/DRIVE).
  6. Click ‘CREATE GAME SHELL.’

Click through the slide show below to see the steps in action.

Optimal uses for a Legend Game

Knowledge Guru has three game types that offer different gameplay experiences. Each game type uses a question/answer approach, but the game play within each one is different. This post focuses on the Legend game type and how it compares to the Quest game type. The slideshow below gives a walk-through of the basic game play experience:

 

Here’s a summary of reasons to choose Legend over Quest:

  • You need to support IE8 browser. IE8 is an outdated browser, but many corporations still want to use it. Quest requires a modern browser (IE9 or higher, Chrome 14 or higher, Firefox 3 or higher, Safari 4 or higher). Legend IS our answer to  the IE8 requirement some companies still have. It has less sophistication in its game play because IE8’s functionality won’t support many elements we take for granted when we see them in modern browsers. Quest will not work in IE8. Legend does.
  • You want people to play a short game in a single sitting.  Legend is great for making a short game if you limit the number of question sets you include. Quest’s entire game play experience is optimized for play over time. While people can – and do – play across multiple time periods in Legend, Legend is better than Quest for a very short game that doesn’t have a lot of content.
  • You only need a two-topic game. Quest requires at least 3 topics. With a Legend game you can have a one-topic game if you want (though we don’t recommend it).
  • You want players to be able to see game standings across all players. Legend includes a STANDINGS tab in the game so players can see how all players are doing and what all the scores are in Normal mode of play.
  • You like the idea of two rounds of play – normal mode and grab bag mode. We have lots of clients who will invite learners to play to “Knowledge Guru Mastery” before coming to an event. They then have a live Guru Bag competition at the event itself with the live leaderboard displaying while people play.
  • You want a wide array of theme choices. Legend lets you select between 8 different theme options, which can offer variety in the aesthetics.

If you want to compare/contrast against the Quest game type, check out this article on optimal uses for a Quest game.

How To Add, Edit, or Remove Game Shells

As a System Admin, you have the power to add, edit, or remove game shells. A game shell is a game that does not yet have content in it and hasn’t been made “live.” Every game starts out as an empty shell that an author has to populate and then convert from offline status to online status. The Game Author will determine if the game shell should be for a Quest game, or for a Legend game.

Follow these steps to add, edit, or remove game shells.

Steps for Creating a Game Shell:

  1. In the System Admin tool, locate the GAME MANAGEMENT area.
  2. Click Create New Game Shell.
  3. First, Select the game author from the drop-down menu.
  4. Create a game name and URL.
  5. Choose a game type: Legend or Quest.
  6. Lastly, click ‘CREATE GAME.’

Steps for Editing or Removing a Game Shell:

  1. In the System Admin tool, located the GAME MANAGEMENT area.
  2. Click Edit Game Shells.
  3. Click through the slide show below to see the steps in action.
  4. Choose which game to edit by selecting a game in the drop-down menu.
  5. In the Edit Game Shell section, change the game author, name, or URL.
  6. Click ‘UPDATE GAME.’
  7. To remove the game, locate the checkbox under Remove this game?
  8. Click ‘REMOVE GAME.’
  9. Click ‘YES I AM SURE.’

Click through the slide show below to see the steps in action.

Optimal uses for a Quest Game

This blog post describes features unique to Quest and identifies business cases where this game type will work well. Quest, Legend, and Drive game types are all suited to different training needs and situations. In some cases; the choice becomes one of personal preference.

Click through the slideshow to see a quick visual summary of the key features unique to a Quest player experience.

Here’s a bullet point list of the features unique to Quest:

  • A quicker entry into the game. Legend has a story associated with every theme. Drive has players complete a confidence assessment. Quest does neither of these things. The game goal is to unlock knowledge by completing a quest.
  • The ability for the player to select an avatar. We’ve created 12 different game pieces or avatars for players to choose from, depending on the theme you choose. Players get to select one of these characters or game pieces to represent them as they complete their quest.
  • The ability for the player to select a personal “Guru” to accompany the player on the quest. There are six Gurus to choose from.
  • The use of levels and star rankings to encourage replay of levels that a player did not do well on. There is no “grab bag” in a Quest game as there is in a Legend game. Instead, we encourage additional repetition through the star rankings. Most players will want to achieve 3-star performance. Few will want to settle for 1-star performance.
  • The inclusion of “Performance Challenges.” These extend the game play experience beyond recall of knowledge or application of knowledge to specific job scenarios. Performance Challenges can be a variety of things, but will often include some type of skill practice or skill demonstration the learner needs to do. You can get creative with what you include. These challenges do not HAVE to be included in a Quest game, but they are a feature unique to the Quest game type. For more information on these, check out the blog on how to create them.
  • Different game “spacing” of learning content. Both Legend and Quest (and to some extent, Drive) use the instructional techniques of spacing and repetition. Quest does it differently than Legend – increasing the spacing between repetitions of content.  In Quest, the “A,” “B” and “C” repetitions of each question associated with a topic are distributed across three Worlds in the game instead of being clustered together. Players go through the “A” version of all game questions in World A. They then progress to World B and respond to all the “B” questions. Finally, they traverse to World “C” for the final repetition. Spacing can be further extended if the game author selects “daily” or “weekly” spacing.
  • Option for you to control the game spacing. In Quest you can choose “no spacing” or you can choose one of these two options:
  • The inclusion of  a mini-game, a bonus gate, and power-ups. These elements are all designed to enhance player motivation and increase engagement during the learning experience.
  • More intensive feedback – feedback is provided after every question, every level, and every World in the game.
  • IE8 is NOT supported. Some companies still hang on to this old browser version, but it prevents us from using higher-quality graphics and slicker interactions. Quest requires IE9 or higher. The benefits are visually very evident if you play through a Legend game and a Quest game, though Legend still looks lovely.

So what are strong “use cases” for Quest?

These are scenarios where we recommend a Quest game type instead of a Legend game type or a Drive game type. There are other use cases where all three game types are a good option.

  • As a cornerstone of an employee onboarding  program focused on helping specific employee groups ramp up. Both Quest and Drive would work well in this use case. A Quest game can incorporate a broad range of topics (up to 7 topics instead of the limit of 4 topics in Legend). It can also allow you to include performance challenges that can help a new employee ramp up to a specific job. For example, a big box retailer might create a Quest employee onboarding game for new sales associates who will work in specific areas of the store. A bank might create a Quest game to support ramp-up of personal bankers. An accounting firm might want a Quest game for new associates. A pharma or medical device company might incorporate a Quest game as part of onboarding new sales associates.
  • As a component of a multi-day or multi-week training initiative. If you provide multi-day training, a Quest game can be a terrific supplement that reinforces content and pushes people to execute skill practice activities.
  • As a steady reinforcement that allows for small “chunks” to be presented on a daily or weekly basis as opposed to a need to do a single “dump” of content. Great examples include call centers, bank personnel, retail personnel, etc. who have very limited amounts of time available for training, but who need constant reinforcement on product information, safety information, policies, etc. A single level in a Quest game can be completed in only a few minutes a day. Drive is also ideal in this scenario.

When Should You Use Legend instead of Quest (or Drive)?

Quest can be used in many of the same situations as a Legend game. Here are four instances, where Legend is a better game type to use:

  • You don’t have a lot of content. Quest games are designed for 4 to 7 topics. If you have 2 or 3 game topics, you may prefer a Legend game format.
  • You want a single-event game play experience. Quest and Drive are both designed for multi-day or week game play with its inclusion of performance challenges that players execute in addition to responding to game questions. It is set up to provide more “macro” spacing of the repetitions of content. If you want players to complete the game in a single day, Legend is going to be a better game choice.
  • You must support IE8. Quest does not.

Check out this article to learn more about optimal uses for a Legend game, or this article for optimal uses of a Drive game.