First blog post for a while…

I started working in e-learning and games in the 90’s. During this time we have seen some amazing technical advantages and also seen some interesting advances within e-learning. In recent years games based learning or GBL has been a trend subject.

Game Based Learning does not only mean using games and hardware, game theory can be applied to e-learning design and your own resource development. Games are hugely popular across the world, the design of games does involve a development methodology and some of the elements may interest you.

For many people game based learning makes them think about brain train on their Nintendo DSi or something that is not serious. However there is another element of games and games design that is often missed – game theory. Within the development of computer games a whole range of skills are involved from creative writers, graphics designers, script writers, level designers and programmers. Here is a brief look at 4 elements of game theory that I consider when developing an e-learning or game based learning resource.

Reward

Nintendo has been using rewards within its games for several years. It you have played anyone of the super Mario titles you will be familiar with collecting golden coins as you move around the level or game. Even at the most basic skill level you can collate huge numbers of coins and you coins are freely available within the level.
As you collect coins these are converted into points or can be used within the game economy. The use of reward can also encourage the user to explore the level further in the quest for rewards. The placement of the coins can encourage exploration to areas that the user may previously have not thought of. This allows you as a designer to introduce other games elements, skills and content for those who have found them.

Within reward systems and game design Operant Conditioning is widely discussed and its principles influence many designers. This quote from gamedev.net describes it neatly

“Operant conditioning is the psychological principle that states that a person is motivated to do or not do an action based on whether they have been rewarded or punished for that action in the past. Operant conditioning principles also explain how to schedule rewards in order to maximize motivation to perform the action.”

Economy
At an end of a level users are often rewarded with their performance in terms of score. Some games also use the concept of the game economy. This allows users to ‘spend’ the reward points that they have collected. Depending on the game or resources this might be opened other levels, improving character performance or changing their appearance.

The use of an economy connects the user back to their achievements gradually, allowing them to be reward for smaller achievements and being able to receive benefit from them. In a recent e-learning course each time the learner completed the activity within each section they received a credit. Once they had completed the resource if they had the right number of credits we allowed them to play a ‘hidden’ game. This generated a buzz within the learner community who discussed how you accessed the end game. The only way to access the end game was if you had collected all of the credits. Learners were pleased about their reward at the end of the game and it generated a buzz around the learner community who also wanted to play the end game.

Recuperation
In many of the early arcade games you had 3 lives (attempts) to complete the game. For anyone of you who have played games like pitfall, nemisis, pac world or donkey kong you will remember what a challenge it was to move along the levels with only 3 lives! Recent games design has moved on, introducing the concept of health, allowing the user to continue their journey across the level even if they have made a mistake. The use of health does make the experience more realistic, increasing the game experience and encourages gamers to consider their actions in game.

Whilst it is still possible to lose all of your health, you may also have the opportunity to get additional health points back, often by completing a challenge. This allows the user to continue their game experience, stay engaged and learn about how their actions will affect their experience.
The game Gauntlet was one of the first games to use the concept of health to allow games to lose health and remain in game. It also allowed gamers to create health points as they moved through the level. This is a an interesting game to review as it was a game that could be played with up to 4 people sharing skill and health points to complete the level.

Problem Solving
The games industry has created games such as tetris and brain training that have all been involved around problem solving. However problem solving is a key element of all games from sports titles to simulations. The problem solving is gradual to allow the learner to develop their skills and then be presented with larger challenges as the game develops.

From my perspective I have been interested to see how internet based games have brought people together to play online games together and solve problems.  Users will come across a rule or problem which is stopping progress, with other gamers then can create a strategy or discuss tactics. From this then can then develop a solution that allows them to more forward.

I have reviewed and studied many games to see how they have encourage groups of users to come together to solve problems and I’ve used many of these techniques in my own work. One of the early multi-player  arcade game was called Gauntlet and it needed players to work together to reach the end of the stage. The game could be played on your own but it was a much rich and immersive experience when you added other users.

There is so much to game based learning and games design, you might have a different view. For me it involves taking elements of game design, game theory and development to enrich any e-learning resource, not just a ’serious’ game.

It has been a while since the last blog post,  sorry!

Many people will know that we have a set up an innovative project with the computer games art degree at Norwich University College of the Arts. In the current academic year we have decided to build on the success of the first year and run a series of student workshops.

In November we held the first workshop called building a game in a day. We are currently developing a series of lone worker protection courses and decided to use a real-life brief with the students. They had to develop the story, narrative, learning objectives and decide upon the audience for their resource before spending the afternoon building a sample module.

At the end of the day each of the student groups has to present their finished game module and also their documentation. I was hugely impressed with the manner in which the students took to the challenge. Some of the game ideas and concepts that were presented were excellent and could easily be used in a commercial project.

To support the students I enlisted the help of Sam, George and Shaun (last year’s work placement students) who provided expert software and also offered a critical eye. Anthony and I provided commercial and project management advice and an insight into what potential clients might be looking for.

The workshop was a great success with 10 excellent game modules being developed, with one group producing 4 example games. From my perspective it was interesting to see how the games design students pushed the software and also came up with new concepts and ideas that we might not have thought of. We are continuing to use computer games designers on our elearning projects and this workshop only helped to re-inforce my belief that they make an excellent addition to our team.

It was interesting to view the different creative processes that each of the groups had. We provided some rough timings and ideas but it was largely left to the students to organise themselves and their time. It was interesting to see how they all started to sketch out design ideas and process flow maps for how the game might work. It is clear to me that game design and instructional design share many principles and once we had introduced the students to the concept of learning objectives they were able to incorporate them into their design.

In December I was able to share my thoughts on the workshop with members of the Association of Learning Technology and the eLearning network during a webinar on serious games that I was presenting.

For more information on the workshop you can read an article that was featured in the Norwich evening news.

Scott

Real Projects are delighted to announce that Russell Prue is going to be the keynote speaker for Game Based Learning Event on May13th.

Russell Prue said “I am delighted to have been asked to come and support the Real Projects Games Based Learning event on 13th May. There has never been a better time to take a closer look at this kind of technology and with plenty of evidence and case studies that confirm the learning benefits of games based learning this has to be at the top of your agenda. I will be showing a new concept in PE and Dance Exercise education with a Virtual PE Teacher system, pulling a “Bollywood” or “Salsa” instructor out of thin-air is something that technology can do in the C21st. There are plenty of competitive dancing competitions that really get you moving and with the ability for over 30 users to compete simultaneously on wireless dance mats this is a winner. More information from www.virtualpeteacher.co.uk

I am also planning to demonstrate the Kinaesthetic Interactive Teaching System (KIT), a 30 multi- users playstation style gaming system that develops cognitive and higher level thinking skills through the use of competitive game play. The camel race is my favourite and I am sure that you will get a chance to experience this amazing gaming system. More information from http://www.kinesthetic.co.uk I am also including a “how to use a Nintendo Wii Fit” to improve your concentration skills guide – this event simply cannot be missed.”

Russell Prue is an Award Winning ICT Evangelist and has presented to HM The Queen, members of the Royal Family, Heads of State and Ministers from the UK. He is well reported and enjoys a high profile as the best known ICT Evangelist in the UK. There is time in Russell’s session for some hands-on experience of these new uses of technologies and colleagues are urged to engage, dance, and explore. More information from www.andertontiger.com.

The Games Based Learning event is invitation only. For more information about the event please call Real Projects on 01603 762772

May 13th 2009 - Norwich

We are going to be holding the next e-learning forum event on Games Based Learning. After posting on the blog about our PSP trials and other games based development we decided it would be a good idea to make it the next topic for the e-learning forum.

The response to the event has been really positive, we are planning to have a number of speakers over a few hours making it a little longer than normall events. We’ll have a games area where people will be able to try all types of consoles and devices.  We have some speakers in mind but are interested in talking to anyone who might have something interesting to talk about during the event.

The event will be free and we will be hoping to see some new faces amongst the regular people who attend. I’ve been talking to lots of businesses and educators about games based learning and the possibilities. Last week the Games Based Learning conference (Tom Watson Speech) took place and futurelab have announced the are running a research project on games and learning. As some readers might know we have a link with the NUCA Computer Games Degree and it is interesting to see how games design, learning and learning technologies are becoming ever closer.

Last week I saw a superb session by Russell Prue on how games are being used in the Classroom. You can take a look at some of the resources http://www.andertontiger.com/norfolk/

We have been looking at the PSP for a few weeks and today we’ve had some success! Sam, Ed and Jonny have managed to get a number of our own games and activities working, albeit with a few tweaks here and there. It was great to see the content and designs working on a new device and our next step is to move some existing content over to the PSP and to see how that looks.

It’s clear that we are going to have to look at how content is developed for the PSP and we’ve already talked about the need for a set of PSP e-learning guidelines. From our research it only supports Flash 6 but that still allows us to do lots of pretty cool stuff.

we’ll keep you updated on how things work out with the PSP.

Norfolk e-learning forum

The next forum event is on the 18th March in Norwich. If you are reading this and want to come along send us an email at info@realprojects.co.uk to book. It is a free event and if you are interested in e-learning and learning technology you are going to meet other like minded people! The event is interactive and you’ll get the chance to interact using the AlphaSmart Neo 2.

If you are still not sure about whether to attend give the office a call on 01603 762772 to find out more.

In the latest Naace newsletter there is an article about Futurelab coordinating a games and learning research project.

“Futurelab has been appointed as the UK National Coordinator for a pan-European study of the use of computer and video games in schools. Our Games and Learning project is a programme of research, events and planned publications intended to stimulate discussion and the development of new intelligence.

The overall aim is to demonstrate what challenges and opportunities have emerged from debates and developments in this field to date, and to identify practical actions and interventions to be taken forwards.”

We’ve been in touch with Futurelab as this is something that Real Projects would like to be involved in. At the moment we don’t have much more information than what we have posted on the blog! We’ll be letting futurelab know about the games degree link up and also our work with games based learning. As we find out more we will let you know.

p.s. I still can’t get twitter to work via my mobile phone…anyone got any ideas?

News reached me this week that Ryan (Games Degree Graduate) has got his dream job! Ryan worked with the Real Projects on a e-learning project in August. his input and new ideas were a huge help and everyone at RP is really pleased for him.

Ryan produced a great model of the forum using the Unreal engine for his final year project. A stunning piece of work.

Everyone wishes Ryan good luck as he starts his career in the games industry.

Last week we had a great few days where Ryan joined us in the office. Ryan has just completed his computer games degree and came in to work on a new project. We were interested to see whether we could apply any of the techniques from games design to elearning design.

The result? Excellent, we were all really pleased at how things went. Some of the ideas were superb, ways of presenting information that we had not thought of before. Ryan also found the experience worthwhile as we could share our experience of building learning models. The end result was a great set of ideas that we have presented to our client. We are hoping to build on this experience and develop closer links with the Norwich School of Art and Design Games Degree.