1. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
Foundations of Serious Games
Professor Carrie Heeter

2. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
GAME FOR CHANGE
 Daniel
 The McDonalds Game
GAMES FOR LEARNING
 Kari
 Wolfquest
 Kristy
 Do I Have a Right
INNOVATIVE INDIE GAME
 Derek
 Spectre
NEXT WEEK:
Mete
Greg
Kristine
John

3. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Kristy, 91 points
 Kari, 51 points
 Daniel, 48 points
 Ted, 46 points
 Derek, 43 points
 Carolyn, 34 points
 Greg, 34 points
 Alan, 34 points
 Kristine, 30 points
 Steve, 25 points
Example of poorly
designed
gamification…

4. © Carrie Heeter, 2010

5. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Finals
10/27 11/3 11/10 11/17 11/24 12/1 12/5 12/15
playtest final game
Meaningful Play
report due
Playtest
report due
Final project web
site, game due
Graded on quality of RESEARCH.
A successful playtest informs important
design CHANGES. (Confirming that your
game was perfect would be a failed
Playtest.)
(no LIVE
class)

6. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Missing Link
 History
 Ctrl Alt Del

7. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Week 9
 Brainstorm again with a renewed, deeper
understanding of your audience, the need, the
content. Decide on a core game mechanic and
direction
 Weeks 9 & 10
 Continue research on all fronts
 Develop rough paper prototype of some aspect of
your game, with a clear idea of the questions you
want to answer.
 Your prototype is your hypothesis!

8. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Game Design Workshop
 Games for Change Toolkit
 Conduct and watch game analyses of ~30 games
 Indoctrinate to culture of iteration
 Practice envisioning and revising game ideas
 Assign you to fill yourselves with content and user
knowledge

9. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Known domain, goals, player
 Brainstorm again, thinking freely about the
game mechanic
 Notice how different brainstorming feels when
you understand the problem space better and
have a general direction.

10. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Try it out!
 (Remember our play acting exercise?)
 Central starting point:
 Is your game playable?
 Then you can tweak content and fun and
values.
PITFALL: making it too complicated

11. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Some experts even change them DURING a
playtest, or between playtests
 A great prototype is one you can make quickly
and change easily
PITFALL: making it to polished

12. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 Do what you say you will, on time.
 Everything takes longer than you think – allow
time
 Communicate clearly. Call for help if you run
into trouble.
PITFALL: not being ready

13. © Carrie Heeter, 2010
 I’m happy to meet with any team or individual.
Just let me know.