How to Link Game Mechanics to the Learning Experience

If you want to design a learning game, you need to know about game mechanics and game elements. This post is about mechanics.

Game mechanics are the rules players follow… and rules the game follows. In the board game Ticket to Ride, you can choose between four possible actions but only perform one of them on every turn. In Settlers of Catan, you have to move the Robber if you roll a seven. These are all game mechanics.

It takes tons of hard work and play testing to make game mechanics balanced and fun in commercial games… and learning games are even tougher. That’s because the game mechanics need to carefully link to the learning experience, and help learners achieve the learning objectives in your design. You have to think like a game designer and an instructional designer at the same time.

“The best mechanics link to the learning experience, or at a minimum, don’t distract from it,” says Sharon Boller in her new white paper on Learning Game Mechanics and Game Elements. The secret is to have players complete the same mental tasks they will do in the real world. This does NOT mean your game has to be hyper realistic!

Example

You’re designing a game for a sit-down pizza restaurant to teach the wait staff customer service basics. Your learners are mostly college-aged. Before you start designing the game, think about the context learners will need to apply skills on the job: waiting tables is time-based, involves multitasking and requires teamwork. Your game mechanics should imitate this by including rules such as timed turns, chaining multiple activities together quickly and measuring success or failure based on how the group performs.

While the game mechanics need to link carefully to the way learners need to think on the job, this does NOT mean your game’s setting must be hyper realistic! What if the game involves serving up finger foods in an underwater resort? What if it was mob-themed? This is where creative use of game elements come in… and I’ll talk about that more in another post.

Bottom line: make your game mechanics match up with how people will need to think on the job, but get creative with everything else to fit your audience.

Learn More in Our White Paper

Learning Game Design White Paper - free downloadI’m really just scratching the surface here. Sharon Boller, BLP president and creator of Knowledge Guru®, has written a white paper on Using Game Mechanics and Game Elements in Learning Games. The white paper is full of case studies taken from real learning games we’ve designed for corporate clients. It’s a great starting point if you (or the people you manage) are ready to implement a game-based learning solution. Download it now.

 

 

4 Must-Have Books for Learning Game Designers

4 Must-Have Books for Game Design

Looking for a more updated list? Here’s our most recent article on top learning game design books.


This post focuses on the “old school” information resource: books. The Knowledge Guru team is always reading up on games and gamification. So we thought we’d curate some of the best books for anyone interested in learning game design.

So without further ado, below are 4 must-have books for learning game designers:

Play to Learn: Everything You Need to Know About Designing Effective Learning Games

As a trainer interested in game design, you know that games are more effective than lectures. You’ve seen firsthand how immersive games hold learners’ interest, helping them explore new skills and experience different points of view. But how do you become the Milton Bradley of learning games? Play to Learn is here to help.

This book bridges the gap between instructional design and game design; it’s written to grow your game literacy and strengthen crucial game design skills. Bottom-Line Performance president Sharon Boller and Dr. Karl Kapp share real examples of in-person and online games, and offer an online game for you to try as you read. They walk you through evaluating entertainment and learning games, so you can apply the best to your own designs. You can order Play to Learn here.

Challenges for Game Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers

“Finally! A book that talks about HOW to become a good game designer instead of merely addressing WHAT game design is.” — Amazon Reviewer

That’s only one of a myriad of reasons this book is a must-have for current or aspiring game designers. Beyond being one of the only books to address how to become a good game designer, Challenges for Game Designers stands out by offering hands-on challenges. None of the challenges in the book require any programming or a computer. However, many of the topics in the book feature challenges that can be made into fully functioning games. So if you’re a professional game designer, aspiring designer, or instructor who teaches game design courses, then you should definitely get this book. You can order a copy here.

Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games

If you liked the idea of challenges from the previous book, then you’ll love Game Design Workshop by Tracy Fullerton. This book puts you to work in prototyping, playtesting and redesigning your own games. It includes exercises that teach essential design skills. The description even states: “Workshop exercises require no background in programming or artwork, releasing you from the intricacies of electronic game production, so you can develop a working understanding of the essentials of game design.” It’s the perfect book for taking a deep dive into game design and truly learning how to be a great game designer. You can pick up a copy of Game Design Workshop here.

The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education

Another great read from the co-author of the first book on our list, Dr. Karl Kapp. In this book, Kapp introduces, defines, and describes the concept of gamification and then dissects several examples of games to determine the elements that provide the most positive results for the players. He explains why these elements are critical to the success of learning. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction is based on solid research and the author includes peer-reviewed results from dozens of studies that offer insights into why game-based thinking and mechanics makes for vigorous learning tools.

Kapp gets practical in this book, too. He discusses how to create a successful game design document and includes a model for managing the entire game and gamification design process. This is definitely a book you want on your bookshelf if you have any interest in learning games or gamification. You can get a copy here.

Games and Gamification: Research from the eLearning Guild

Recently, the elearning Guild published a report by Brenda Enders discussing games and gamification for learning. It includes numerous case studies and examples of games being used in the workplace today, and summarizes recent research on games for learning.

eLearning Guild Gamification Report

I’ll attempt the summarize my key takeaways from the report, but I encourage you to download the full report and read it yourself. My takeaways are intentionally broad and high-level, so as not to ruin the “punch” of the report itself.

Research Support Games and Gamification for Learning

The report heavily cites Dr. Karl Kapp’s book, The Gamification of Learning and Instruction. Most of us at BLP have this book on our desks, so the content was not unfamiliar to us. Karl’s book includes an entire chapter reviewing meta-analysis studies on games. The research indicates an advantage for game-based learning over traditional forms of instruction.

Four more research studies are cited in the report, featuring researchers like Traci Sitzmann, Robert Hays, James Paul Gee, and Jane McGonigal. These studies support the use of game-based learning in a variety of disciplines. Out of respect for the Guild and the work they have done compiling their report, I encourage you to read the full report if you would like to see the specific studies.

My takeaway? Game-based learning is proven to be effective for learning. There are many case studies of gamification working well, too… but less specific research has been done on gamification at this point.

A reminder: Game-based learning and gamification are different

This is a common misconception we encounter in our work with clients, so it is worth mentioning here. Many a blog post and article have been written about the difference between games and gamification. Here’s the definition for games Sharon Boller includes in her presentations:

A game is an activity with a defined goal or challenge, rules that guide achievement of the goal, interactivity with either other players or the game environment (or both), and feedback mechanisms that give clear cues as to how well or poorly you are performing. Playing results in a quantifiable outcome (you win/you lose, you hit the target, etc). Usually generates an emotional reaction in players.

Gamification, on the other hand, is the inclusion of various game mechanics and game elements in a non-game context. A simplistic example of gamification for learning would be adding points, badges, and a leaderboard to your eLearning course. Not the best example, mind you, but simple.

I was pleased that Enders made this distinction quite clear in the eLearning Guild report.

Organizations are starting to invest major $$ into games

The most powerful case study found in the report tells the story of McDonalds Japan, which invested $2.2 million USD to develop a Nintendo DS game for front-line staff. McDonalds gave two devices to each store and had new hires train on basic food prep and service tasks as part of their orientation training.

The result? Training time was cut in half, and that adds up to major savings for a company with high employee turnover.

And while it is exciting to read real case studies of games being used for learning with real success, stories like this worry me, too. Most organizations do NOT have $2.2 million to invest in a learning game… and they also do not have game designers on staff with the skills to design an effective game. A well-designed game will deliver the type of results mentioned in this report, but a poorly-designed game will just waste time and money.

Many examples of gamification are available

The eLearning Guild report has several pages of real-world gamification platforms… and explains how organizations are using these platforms. This type of information is highly useful to organizations trying to evaluate the best place to start with games and gamification.

Some case studies of game-based learning are included, too, but there are fewer of these in the report. Gamification has been the initial focus for most organizations, simply because they can “gamify” existing non-game elements and platforms they may already have. Creating an all-new, self-contained learning game is more challenging.

Summary

While I’ve tried to avoid spoiling all of the “punch” of the actual report itself, I hope my takeaways convey the general themes found in Brenda Enders’ report. The eLearning Guild does an excellent job of gathering research for the community to put to practical use, and I highly recommend reading the report itself for a more detailed analysis.

It’s exciting to see such an extensive report on games and gamification available to the broader eLearning community… and even more exciting to see so much research supporting the use of games for learning.

Final Step in Learning Game Design: Playtest, playtest, playtest

Previous posts in this learning game design series have focused on sexy stuff such as game goals and core dynamics, game mechanics, game elements, or scoring and rewards. This final post is about the critical importance of playtesting your game as you move through development.

Playtest Playtest Playtest

Designing  a game is different than designing an eLearning solution. There is a totally new term that comes into the process: playtesting. Playtesting is NOT usability testing, focus group testing, quality assurance testing, or internal design review. Playtesting is what you do to evaluate whether your game is really playable and that it  functions the way you intended for it to function – as a game and as a learning solution.

Playtesting helps you answer these questions: Is it fun? Is it balanced (e.g. not too hard and not too easy)? Is it complete? Did people learn what you intended for them to learn? Playtesting is not something you do once or twice. You do it several times, each time further refining your game play experience and the learning experience. For mega-games like Halo or The Sims, designers may have done up to 3,000 hours of playtesting to verify that their game worked. For a learning game you craft yourself – or with a small team – you should assume at least 30-40 hours of play testing. Gulp – that’s right. 30-40 hours of testing time.

Phases of Playtesting

Playtesting_OLC13

Your first playtest is with the very first version of the learning game you create, which should be a paper prototype. The image above is a paper prototype participants created in the Play to Learn workshop that Karl Kapp and I do together.  It’s rudimentary, but it gets the job done. The game designers and learning designers very quickly discover what works and where the holes are – and there will be holes. They’ll also come up with new ideas or ways to tackle problems. Here’s an overview of the three major phases of playtesting you should plan to go through. You may do multiple rounds of playtesting within each phase.

Phase 1 –  Self-test. You and your design team play the initial prototype and evaluate it. It’s okay to do a lot of discussing while you’re playing – and modifying rules and ideas on the fly as you go. You should keep game materials very basic for this test. Paper is best. If the paper test goes well, you can shift to online formats. If it doesn’t, re-do the game on paper and playtest it again as a paper version before going online.

Phase 2 –  Play test with friends and colleagues. Once you go through initial playtests with your design team and refine your game a few times, you’re ready to pull in some outside perspectives. Ideally you will include someone from your target audience.  Your team’s job  is to sit back and observes (quietly!) while others come in and play the game. At this point, you want there to be some legitimate game assets – artwork, programmed interactions, real content, scoring, and rules to follow.  You’ll debrief the experience and then decide what changes to make.

Phase 3 –  Play test with (gulp) strangers. Ideally all these strangers represent your target audience. These folks will be 100% objective, which friends and colleagues are not. I’ve learned the hard way (by going too far with internal playtesting and getting “great” results) that you need to loop in people who do not care about your feelings or the amount of time you’ve spent on the game. However, they SHOULD reflect people who really need to learn the stuff in your game. Otherwise, they can rate it lower simply because it’s not of interest to them.

6 Tips For a Good Learning Game Play Test

  1. Don’t share the background of the game before people play. That’s part of the playtest. Can your players “get it” without you explaining what the game is about?
  2. Do tell them what to expect: 15-20 minutes of game play followed by Q&A.
  3. Emphasize the need for playtesters to “think out loud” as they play. You want to hear their internal thoughts spoken aloud. Things such as “This is really confusing.” “I don’t understand the rules.” “I wonder what would happen if I make this choice? ” are all good things to say aloud.
  4. Keep your own mouth closed as much as you can. Do help players if they get truly stuck, but try to limit your interactions with players during the game.
  5. Stop play after about 20 minutes and conclude with debrief questions. Take copious notes.
  6. Keep a playtesting journal or log that documents the results of each playtest you do and chronicles the decisions you make about game changes.

Post-play debrief questions

We used to have a pretty big list of questions we asked. We’ve distilled the list down to five:

  1. What did you learn? Compare responses to what people were supposed to learn. Rationale: if people didn’t learn, the game doesn’t work – no matter how fun people think it was. It’s critical you get people to tell you what they learned in their own words so you can compare it against the learning goal and learning objectives of the game.
  2. On a scale of 1 – 5, with 1 being low and 5 being high, what was your engagement level in the game play experience? Rationale: if people weren’t engaged, then they aren’t having fun – and games should be fun. They should intrigue or interest the player. Otherwise, the player will mentally check out pretty quickly and not learn much of anything.
  3. Did your engagement level change at any point during play (going up, down)? Rationale: There could be a confusing game element, a rule that needs to be changed or enhanced, or some other game element that requires adjustment to maximize the experience. Conversely, the game could start slow and really build for players. You want to assess all of this and determine if and how the game goal, the core dynamic, the game mechanics, or the game elements need to be tweaked. Careful listening can help you decide if you need to adjust a game element, a rule, or even the game’s goal or core dynamic.
  4. If it did change, why did it change?
  5. What, if anything did you find confusing or hard to understand as you played? Get people to explain their responses. Don’t accept a “Yes. The rules were confusing.” Rationale: even on a good game, there can be some confusion about how to play. Your job is to figure out whether the player’s confusion warrants action on your part. Did their confusion affect their learning or the engagement factor? If not, you may decide to do nothing. Was confusion limited to a single player or did many players report the same confusion?

Learning Game Design: Game Mechanics

learning-game-design-mechanics

In my last post, I talked about getting familiar with game elements. Specifically, I focused on game goals and game dynamics. Now we’re going to shift our focus to game mechanics.

A game’s mechanics are the rules and procedures that guide the player and the game response to the player’s moves or actions. Through the mechanics you create, you define how the game is going to work for the people who play it. So just to be clear, the mechanics describe rules the player follows and the rules the game itself follows.

Examples of explicit rules or mechanics that players follow

These kinds of rules are examples of what you might find in a written set of rules the players read before playing a game:

  • At the end of each month, players have to roll a die to see if they can stay in the homeless shelter. If they get a one or a six, they stay. Otherwise, they have to leave. (This rule is one we created as part of A Paycheck Away tabletop game.)
  • When players pass Go, they collect $200. (Most of you will recognize this as a rule in Monopoly.)
  • If you are the Pilot, you can fly to any location on the island. (This rule is from the game, Forbidden Island. It’s available in the App Store as a digital game for the iPad or as a tabletop game.)

Examples of mechanics or rules that games follow

The mechanics listed below are all from digital games I’ve helped develop—they are coded into the game. None of these mechanics are explicitly stated for the player. But players can often figure out what the mechanic is as they play the game.

  • A level remains locked until a player successfully completes the previous level. (A publicly available sample would be The Knowledge Guru game. The next two mechanics also apply to this game.)
  • When players respond incorrectly to a question they get immediate feedback on what a correct response should be. This is followed by an opportunity to re-try answering the question.
  • Correct responses to Path A questions earn players 50 points. Correct responses to Path B questions earn players 250 points. And correct responses to Path C questions earn players 1000 points. The scoring algorithm is a great example of game mechanics that the game itself follows.
  • Once the first level is completed, all subsequent levels are unlocked and available for completion in any order the player chooses. (We applied this rule, and the one below, to a sales game we created. A description of the game is available here.)
  • A player earns sales dollars for each appropriate, relevant question they ask the customer. A player loses sales dollars if he chooses an irrelevant question to ask.  If a player chooses to ask a “neutral” question, he doesn’t gain or lose any dollars.

The link between game mechanics and the learning experience

Game mechanics contribute to the fun of the game, but they also are a significant part of the learning experience. Here’s some examples of how game mechanics I’ve described link to the learning experience:

  • In the sales game, the dollars earned or lost by asking the customer questions directly links to the real-world responsibility of sales reps to ask meaningful questions of their customers when issues arise. Sales reps who know their stuff and can ask relevant questions are going to find it easier to meet sales goals. Reps who do not know how to ask good questions may not. This game mechanic supported and encouraged the real-world behavior the company wanted to see.
  • In the Knowledge Guru game, the mechanic is to provide immediate feedback to players who miss a question and then let them immediately try again. This game mechanic supports the learning principles that repetition helps cement memory and that feedback helps people learn. Immediate feedback, coupled with an immediate opportunity to re-try, further cements memory and the ability to recall the information later.
  • In the game A Paycheck Away, we wanted to simulate the real-world experience of being homeless. This includes the difficult choices, the unexpected events that throw a person off course, the challenges of securing housing. Our game mechanics were critical to mirroring these real-world challenges. One example is the roll of the die at the end of each month. This equated to the real-world question of whether someone would be allowed to remain inside a homeless shelter once 30 days elapsed. In the real-world, shelters often have a rule that requires people to leave after 30 days, but they will make exceptions if the shelter doesn’t have a waiting list.

Game mechanics and fun

Game mechanics can also make gameplay more, or less, fun. Don’t assume you can define the mechanics at the start of your game design journey and then never touch them again. It’s critical to test and tweak game mechanics. You may think a game mechanic will be great, only to find out via play-testing that it is hindering the players’ perception of your game’s “fun factor.” Or worse, actually hindering the learning experience. Conversely, you may discover you need to add a game mechanic that you hadn’t considered until you watched people play your game.

Example: In early renditions of The Knowledge Guru, game play occurred in timed rounds. Players got a round of 10 questions with two minutes to answer all 10 questions. They were penalized for failing to answer questions in the two-minute time period. Those who were wildly competitive (and fast readers) liked this mechanic. However, the majority of players did not like this mechanic, and it actually demotivated them. They felt their ability to read fast was a factor in doing well—and fast reading wasn’t the learning point of the game. We eliminated the time element, which improved the learning experience and didn’t detract from the play experience as we feared it might. Of course, we also tweaked other mechanics in the process. It took us numerous variations on scoring to get it to a place we, and the players, were happy with it.

Summary

You want your game mechanics to be clear, enhance the game play experience, support your game goal, and contribute to the learning experience.  They are not an afterthought. They are a critical component of a good game design. You will not get them perfect on your first design attempt. You’ll want to test and tweak—but this is all part of the game design process.

Game based learning and serious game

Getting Started in Learning Game Design

If the sign-ups for our learning game design workshops and Primer on Play workshops are any indicator, learning and development professionals are clamoring for solid guidance on how to get started in learning game design or “game-based learning.” I love designing learning games, and I also love helping others design learning games. But because not everyone is going to be able to come to our workshops—or wait for one—I’ve decided to do a blog series to help folks get started.

Here is the 5- step process we cover in the workshops and webinars we offer:

Learning Games Flowchart

This post offers a brief summary of each step while my subsequent posts in this learning game design series will drill down into each one separately.

Pre-series disclaimer: I’m going to write about these steps individually, but they are actually quite iterative. Steps 1 and 2 work together—playing games without learning game design terminology makes it difficult to evaluate them well.  Steps 4 and 5 also go together because dumping ADDIE means you are play testing a lot as you design and develop. Step 3 (think about the learning) happens by itself as an initial analysis and design task, and then continues throughout Steps 4 and 5. As you iterate your design, you constantly have to reconsider how well you are achieving the learning goals. I will introduce the steps separately and describe them, but it’s up to you to integrate them and make them work together for you as you design your learning games.  That’s part of your mission!

A quick overview of the steps…

Step 1: Play games; evaluate what works and what doesn’t work in terms of “fun.”

If you don’t like playing games then you probably shouldn’t try to design one—unless you want to be miserable. Although most people do like games, there are people out there who simply do not like game playing. These people will NOT make good game designers. If you do like playing games, then you are at a good starting point for designing one. Game design is a bit like writing a book; you would never attempt to write a book if you first hadn’t spent time reading and evaluating several books.

So we’re clear that you need to play games, and you need to play a lot of different types of games. Even if you think of yourself as a card player, but not a videogame player, you still have to be willing to expand your horizons and explore different genres and game forms. You need to evaluate whether the games are fun, why they are or aren’t fun, and what elements might be usable in a learning game.

Step 2: Get familiar with game elements and how to use them.

I told you the steps were iterative. As you play games, know what you’re looking at and what you’re doing. Get a good book (or two or three) on game design and learn the terminology used in the industry. Elements to know include game dynamics, game mechanics (fancy word for rules), resources, levels, reward structures, etc.

Once you know these elements/words and what they mean, then you can think about how you might use them in a learning game. You’d be able to say, for example: “I’d like to create a game that uses a collection dynamic. I want to have at least three levels of play within it to accommodate different levels of player skill, and I think we need a reward structure that encourages repeat play over time, rewarding for time in game as well as performance on tasks.”

Step 3: Think about the learning first—and then the game.

This is a blog series about creating learning games. The part of ADDIE that you definitely don’t want to dump is the “A”— analyzing what your learners need to know or be able to do, and what they already know and can do. Your game will fit into those gaps. Your instructional objectives should drive the game’s design. The game design should NOT drive the learning design. The biggest mistake novice learning game designers make is to insert too many game mechanics into the game simply because they are fun. Example: it can be really fun to go to an in-game store and purchase supplies with currency you earn. However, if there is absolutely no learning point to this game activity, then you shouldn’t do it.

Step 4: Dump ADDIE. Go agile instead.

Creating a game is different than creating a workshop or a traditional “click NEXT to continue” eLearning course. You want to start with very rough/quick paper prototypes, play them, refine them, and then build another, more robust version. You keep refining as you go. In ADDIE, there is some room for “formative evaluation,” but it is limited. The assumption is that things will progress in an orderly fashion from analysis through final evaluation—with limited re-work between steps. With a game, you iterate fairly quickly and add layers of complexity and sophistication to the aesthetics as you go. You add and subtract game mechanics based on what you see as you have people play. You need to be okay doing this and not feel like you failed if you dump a design idea after you are three iterations into it.

Step 5: Play test. Play test. Did I say play test?

It is not enough for you and your buddies to like the game you design. Having a group of subject matter experts play your game, and pronounce it good, is not enough. You have to have actual target players play your game, and you need to do a solid debrief with them to inquire about what made the learning experience good or bad (and what made the play experience good or bad). When I blog on this topic, I’ll share a detailed process on how to play test well.

So fasten your seat belts, my mission is set to take off. YOUR mission—should you choose to accept it—is to read the blogs, execute the steps, and start designing learning games.

ASTD ICE learning game design workshop resources

Play to Learn: Designing Effective Learning Games

Karl Kapp and I had a fantastic workshop last week at ASTD ICE. We did a one-day pre-conference workshop on getting started with learning game design – and had participants creating some amazing game prototypes by day’s end. We promised to share a list of the resources we referenced from that workshop. I also wanted to post some pics of the game prototypes. So here we go:

Games to Play and Evaluate

The first step in becoming a game designer is to play games. We played several during the day; here’s the list of what we played – and what to evaluate by playing them. Every game I picked for game play was picked with a purpose – because it showcased something positive or negative about game design.

Settlers of Catan – This is one of my all-time favorite games. It is a board game, though the App Store does have an iPad version of it that you can play as a single player or do pass-and-play format. Caveat – I think it is easier to learn Catan using a traditional board game first before venturing to the iPad version.  Catan does several things well:

  • Allows for several different win strategies. I’ve leveraged ports, focused on acquisition of Development Cards, pushed to build the longest road and acquire points that way, or focused on building cities as quickly as I could. I’ve won – and lost – with all strategies, depending on what my opponent chooses to do. I do not get tired of playing this game.
  • Uses chance (in the form of a non-playing character called The Robber) to even out the playing experience – or to force the use of an alternate win strategy. A player who has been doing well can have the Robber placed on one of his resources, cutting off the flow. This forces the player to consider an alternate tactic. Conversely, a player who has been doing poorly can roll a 7, and get a chance to derail another player.
  • Has a board design that allows for a  variety of different play experiences and allows for different skill levels. There is a board set up for beginners and different setups for advanced players.
  • Requires collaboration and competition. It’s difficult to win without collaborating at some point in the game.

Forbidden Island – Okay, this is another favorite game of mine. It, too, is a board game that is also available as an app via the App Store. Forbidden Island has these neat elements:

  • Collaborative focus. There is NO competition in this game. All players have to work together to steal treasure and escape from the island before it sinks. As the game gets tougher, it’s neat to see how people get more and more focused on working together to achieve the goal.
  • Levels of difficulty. Through the use of a simple “water level” slider, players can adjust the game’s difficulty, going from novice to master level.
  • Use of distinct roles. Each player gets a unique role in the game – with each role able to do something that no other player can do. This is a simple way to get people thinking about how to leverage each other’s strengths – and eliminates any focus on weaknesses.
  • An ever-changing game board. Like Catan, Forbidden Island can be set up in a myriad of different ways, ensuring different play experiences each time.

Machinarium – This game is available for the desktop as well as the iPad. I’ve only played the iPad version. Things to note about it while playing:

  • The complete lack of any achievements or rewards in this game. One of Karl’s “rules” for achievements and rewards in his book The Gamification of Learning and Instruction, is that you don’t need to reward people for interesting tasks – only boring ones. Machinarium is an old-style adventure game. Your goal is to move your robot through a series of obstacles. To get across each one, you have to figure out what resources to access and how to use them to cross the obstacle. The reward is in the problem-solving and strategizing. You don’t need badges or point tallies to motivate you. The sense of satisfaction you get is reward enough (if you like strategy games).
  • The aesthetics. The landscapes you cross are super cool and fun to simply look at.
  • The focus on exploration to discover “how to play.” There are no game directions. Traditional elearning wants to tell you what you are going to learn, give you explanations and orientation to the course, and basically hand-hold you through the experience. This game dumps you into the first landscape. You figure everything else out from trial and error. There is one hint available for each landscape…which you also have to figure out.

The Grading Game – This is a learning game designed to help build people’s skill in proof-reading.  It’s available for the desktop or as an iPad app. It builds knowledge of grammar rules as you “grade” papers for Professor Snerpus. It is snarky, mean, and funny to play. And…you will learn grammar. Things to play attention to from a design perspective:

  • The use of time. Everything you do is timed – and each time you are successful, the difficulty level ratchets up with you getting LESS time for your next grading task.
  • The use of negative feedback. Traditional wisdom dictates that feedback should be positive and reinforcing. Professor Snerpus constantly berates you – and you keep playing to see what new snarky comments he will direct your way.
  • The use of story. There is a nice backstory to this game revolving around your voluminous student loan debt and your need for indentured servitude to Professor Snerpus to help pay down the loan.
  • The aesthetics. They are super-simple but captivating. The use of Facebook posts to offer scathing commentary from Professor Snerpus’s students is humorous.
  • The scoring mechanism. The use of a loan that needs to be paid down to show your game progress is clever and different. The target audience – college students – can relate.
  • The use of levels – there are a variety of levels of play and types of play, keeping the game interesting.

On the negative side, there isn’t a strong enough correlation between the “teach” moments in the game and the activity. Professor Snerpus delivers periodic lessons on grammar rules. These lessons don’t necessarily line up with your next grading activity, which is a weakness that could easily be overcome with a design adjustment.

DragonBox – this digital game teaches algebra, but I will bet that none of you would realize this if I hadn’t shared this fact. Things to note:

  • Measurement achievements coupled with completion achievements. DragonBox does what several games do. It gives you a star rating based on how well you solve the problem. One star indicates you did solve it – but not very efficiently. Three stars indicates you solved the problem with as few steps as possible. Another rule given in Kapp’s book is to focus on the use of measurement achievements instead of completion achievements when designing learning games. This game offers a great example of this. A single star does indicate completion – but the goal is to get three stars, not just one.
  • Simplicity. This game uses a simple technique for teaching and requires no upfront explanation on how to play. A tutorial round at the start of the game helps guide you to how to play. After that, you are off and running.
  • Aesthetics. The dragons are really, really cute.

On the negative side, there is NO explanation of algebraic principles – just illustration via the game play. I’m not sure how well a student would “learn” algebra simply from playing the game. I think it would be a terrific complement to a teaching experience where concepts were explained (solve for X, isolate X, etc. ) and then students were allowed to play.

Rise of the Blobs – this is an example of what NOT to do with rewards and achievements. You get some sort of reward or achievement for practically anything you do – and they are so numerous as to become confusing. Play this game for an example of what not to do when designing a learning game.

Mystery Math Town – this iPad game lets you evaluate how well they establish levels in a game, aesthetics to draw you in, compelling nature of game play, use of levels, and repeatability of game play. I think the game is well-designed. I think it appeals quite a bit to a narrow segment of players – elementary school students learning basic arithmetic. A couple of things to evaluate via play:

  • The game goal – does it appeal to a wide or narrow audience? I’ll let you decicde whether you think the goal of capturing fire flies will appeal to a broad segment of the target learners/players – kids in elementary school.
  • The use of resources – players acquire numbers or symbols that they use to solve problems. They can only keep a certain amount of them in their bank at any one time. I thought this incorporated some strategy in game play. What do you think?

Knowledge Guru- I used the Knowledge Guru game engine to create the “Game Design Guru” game we played to reinforce game design lingo and techniques. The game goal and mechanics are explained throughout this site, so feel free to explore if you are interested.

Other Resources

  • The Forgetting Curve is a phenomena I discussed where people “forget” what they’ve learned within specific amounts of time. It’s explained in this Wikipedia article. Will Thalheimer questions its exactness in one of his Will At Work blog posts. Regardless of specific percentages, people do forget – and it can be a ton that they forget very quickly. Well-designed games can help people retain content and retrieve things from memory.
  • The Gamification of Learning and Instruction. This is Karl Kapp’s book. It has a wealth of information. Chapter 4 is devoted to research on games.

 

Prototypes from the Workshop

Every group successfully created and play tested a prototype at the conclusion of the workshop. We snapped photos of a few of the boards, and the are displayed in the gallery below:

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Our Next Workshop

We will be delivering “Play to learn” again August 28th in Indianapolis, Indiana. The session will be held downtown. If you have a colleague who would benefit from this workshop, pass the link on.

Learn more and register

Less Tell; More Games and Gamification

100 Great Game Based Learning and Gamification Resources

100-great-gbl-resources
Lots people want to get started with game based learning, gamification and serious games in their training. We’ve been curating game related content for several years while conducting our own research and case studies. Here are 100 articles related to games and learning. Some of them are research-based, while others just offer an interesting perspective to spark discussion. Take what you need and share this with a colleague.

Game Based Learning

  1. Mobile Games for Adult Learning: What’s the Appeal?
  2. 10 Things We Know About Video Games for Learning
  3. How Game-Based Learning Can Save the Humanities
  4. Game Design: The Key to Education?
  5. Game Based Learning – Why Does it Work?
  6. Mobile Game Get Water Teaches About Water Scarcity with Good Gameplay and Narrative
  7. The Quest for the Holy Grail of Serious Games
  8. How to Invest in Game Based Learning
  9. Why Games & Learning
  10. Why Learning Games Succeed Where Traditional Training Fails 
  11. Weekend Reads: Taking Games to Work, Governance in the Cloud
  12. Motivation and #Games: Motivational Theories for Instructional Games
  13. 6 Board Games That Ruined It for Everyone
  14. 3 Ways to Use Game Based Learning in Corporate Training
  15. One Game Fits All? 
  16. Three Questions to Ask Before You Create a Learning #Game
  17. Learn to Play and Play to Learn: The Secret to Games That Teach – State of Play
  18. The game changer: Gaming in healthcare
  19. A Primer on Play: How to Use Games for Learning (Free Webinar) 
  20. Pass it On! Game  #gbl
  21. How to be a Better Game Designer
  22. Traditional eLearning Versus Online Game-based eLearning — The Dialogue Continues
  23. 5 stages of Games Based Learning
  24. Why Adults Should Love Game-Based Learning
  25. Addiction vs. Reflection: Unlocking the Potential of Games
  26. Pushy business: The world of mobile gaming engagement
  27. A Counterpoint to Ruth Clark’s “Why Games Don’t Teach” 
  28. Mario Kart in the classroom: the rise of games-based learning
  29. Are Online Games Going To Be The New Apprenticeship?
  30. User Interface Considerations for Learning Games
  31. 10 Design Considerations when Developing a Learning Game
  32. Game Mechanics and Learning Theory
  33. Using Games and Avatars to Change Learner Behavior
  34. Designing Learning Games for Multiple Devices
  35. Games: More than Just Reward Systems
  36. Mediocrity versus Mastery: The Case for Game-Based Learning
  37. Video Games in the Brain: Study Shows How Gaming Impacts Brain Function to Inspire Healthy Behavior
  38. Games Teach!
  39. #Gamification vs. Game Based Learning in Education
  40. Brenda Brathwaite: Gaming for understanding TED talk
  41. 7 reasons for Games Based Learning
  42. What’s the Benefit of “Fun” in Games?
  43. The 20 Best Blogs About Game-Based Learning
  44. ROI of Learning Games: Knowledge Guru and ExactTarget [Infographic]
  45. Game-Based vs Traditional Learning – What’s the Difference?
  46. 10 reasons game based learning isn’t so hard
  47. The Big Five: Five Reasons Why Educational Games Work
  48. An In-Depth Look at Game-Based Learning
  49. Ruth Clark Claims “Games Don’t Teach”
  50. Using Fantasy in Instructional #Games
  51. Gaming in the Classroom Is Becoming the Norm
  52. Cognitive Flow: The Psychology of Great Game Design
  53. Thiagi: Which are more effective – training games or lectures?
  54. Creating “Mind-Blowing” Learning Games for Social Impact and Business Results
  55. Educator’s Checklist for Game-Based Learning (#GBL) 
  56. The technique LucasArts used to design its classic adventure games
  57. Understanding and applying the in-game compulsion loop
  58. Mistakes and (Games Based) Learning
  59. 10 Findings About Game-Based Learning (#GBL)
  60. Mobile Learning and Games: 3 Ways They Mix
  61. Knowledge Guru Sharon Boller On Games, Learning, and MOOCS
  62. Collaborative Learning Game Design Environment

 

Gamification

  1. #Gamification in the Realm of Employee Training
  2. The #gamification revolution here to stay
  3. Why #gamification is serious business
  4. Understanding and applying the in-game compulsion loop
  5. #Gamification in the Workplace [INFOGRAPHIC] 
  6. Gamification Myths: The Difference Between Game Design and #Gamification
  7. 4 Ways #Gamification Drives Business Results 
  8. Real games for health and the trouble with #gamification 
  9. #Gamification may be the next trend in municipal government 
  10. Demand for #Gamification Skills Are Up 293% From 2011 
  11. How gamification can save the disengaged workforce
  12. The Gamification of Business
  13. #Gamification: How Siemens got 23,000 engineers to learn about its brand 
  14. #Gamification: The Engagement Success Mantra 
  15. Motivating Your Reps To Learn
  16. Two Types of #Gamification 
  17. #Gamification works but let’s be reasonable, it’s not “perfect”! 
  18. Implementing Gamification? Consider These Tips
  19. Driving KM behaviors and adoption through #gamification
  20. Games Grow Up: Colleges Recognize the Power of #Gamification 
  21.  Game Mechanics and #Gamification
  22. How #Gamification Can Impact Employee Engagement [Infographic] 
  23. 10 Best Practices for Implementing Gamification
  24. Blitz Brainstorming #Gamification Tool Fosters Organizational Creativity and Innovation
  25. Gartner #Gamification Report Offers Good and Not-So-Good Points
  26. Does #Gamification Have Advantages Over Traditionally Designed Instruction?
  27. What’s the Difference Between #Gamification and Serious Games?
  28. Why #gamification is serious business 
  29. Can “Green #Gamification” Save the World? 
  30. eLearning & #Gamification: The Octalysis Framework 
  31. How Deloitte Made Learning a Game
  32. How to Gamify: 15 ways to introduce gaming concepts into eLearning 
  33. 3 More Ways #Gamification in Healthcare is Making a Difference
  34. #Gamification Isn’t About “Slapping Badges on Everything” 
  35. 5 Things to Consider in Gamification Design
  36. 7 Steps to an Effective Serious Game or Gamification Implementation
  37. 2016 Reflections on Games and Gamification for Learning
  38. Is Gamification Important in 2017?

 

Knowledge Guru can help with product knowledge, sales training, processes and procedures, and more.

Get the Facts on Game-Based Learning (Infographic)

We know how effective serious games and game-based learning are. That’s why we’ve developed an entire game-based learning platform focused on making game-based learning easier to implement. But some people are still on the fence about using games for learning. Compliance training isn’t supposed to be entertaining, right?


Are you interested in learning more about this topic and want hands-on experience designing your own game? Sharon Boller and Karl Kapp’s new book, “Play to Learn,” is a great place to start. You can order the book on Amazon or ATD’s website.


We know that if everyone had the information we have, they’d realize the true efficacy of game-based learning. If only they could see our successful case studies and hear what those learners had to say. That’s why we created this detailed infographic to break down the facts on game-based learning and serious games, and why they should be your next learning solution.
game-based-learning-infographic-small

Want more information?

We strive to educate the instructional design community on serious games and game-based learning in fun ways. If you’d like more detailed information on implementing game-based learning at your organization, please contact us. We would love to hear from you.

Introducing the Learning Game Design Blog

Introducing the Learning Game Design Blog

Ladies and gents, welcome. We’re happy you have found your way to TheKnowledgeGuru.com… home of our Knowledge Guru™ suite of products.

This is the Learning Game Design Blog.

Some of you may read our weekly posts on the Lessons On Learning blog. We use that blog to discuss all things learning design, and games are a frequent topic on that blog. By adding this blog to the mix, we’ll be able to get even more hands-on with game based learning and increase the amount of content we share every week.

It’s an exciting time to be in the learning and development field. We’ve come a long way from the Click Next days of yesteryear… or so we say. Game based learning, gamification, mobile learning, and The Experience API (Tin Can) have opened the door wide open for new, innovative learning solutions… but a big chunk of the learning we see produced is still not what we all consider ideal. It’s up to those of us who truly believe learning can be fun and engaging to pave the way forward.

The body of research supporting game based learning keeps growing larger, but lots of organizations are still at the starting line, trying to chart their course. We’re here to help.

The Best Free Game Based Learning Resources Online

A Primer On Play: How to Use Games For Learning (Free Webinar)

Obviously, we will use this blog as a place to announce updates and expansions to Knowledge Guru. We’re launching the new Game Creation Wizard at ASTD ICE in just a couple of weeks… and it lowers the barrier of entry for game based learning practicioners considerably. We’ll be offering a 30 day trial of Knowledge Guru, which means you’ll have an opportunity to see how game based learning works at no cost.

But we’re also on a mission to educate the L&D community about the efficacy of game based learning and show the way forward. Our series of free webinars, white papers and low cost workshops are geared towards learning game designers of all experience levels.

Two free webinars are coming up fast:

A Primer On Play: How to Use Games for Learning 5/30 8 am EDT – Register

A Primer On Play: How to Use Games for Learning 5/30 11 am EDT – Register

Real Learning Game Design Stories

Sharon Boller - game based learning practicionerSharon Boller, President of BLP and lead designer of Knowledge Guru, will be a regular contributor on this blog. She’ll be kicking things off with a Game Based Learning blog series inspired by her experience designing digital and tabletop learning games for our clients.

We will also use this blog as a home for the game based learning content we curate from around the web. Our GBLPicks blogs will put the spotlight on a handful of articles on game based learning and gamification we’ve found valuable.

Check back often and follow The Knowledge Guru on twitter to see the latest posts. You can also subscribe to our Game Based Learning Newsletter to get the best content delivered to your inbox every month. The sign-up box is to your right.