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Creating Serious Games with the Game Design Matrix

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Games and Learning Alliance (GALA 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 11899))

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Abstract

Serious Games can be a powerful tool for educators to boost the level of student engagement in academic environments, but the level of game expertise and knowledge required in order to design a game with playable mechanics and well integrated learning objectives can be overwhelming. This high barrier to entry for inexperienced designers attempting to employ serious games has not been addressed in a commonly available or recognized step-by-step game design framework. This paper creates a framework which uses the Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) design process as the cornerstone of a step-by-step design matrix targeted at new game designers. It empowers someone with a minimal background in game design to have a much greater level of effectiveness. This is accomplished by using learning objectives and environmental constraints to map ideal game dynamics and game mechanics. A static analysis of existing games is used to assess the effectiveness of the game dynamic and game mechanics mapping matrix. A dynamic analysis of the framework is conducted by creating a cyber education focused serious game using the learning objectives and environmental constraints from an active classroom.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Air Force Institute of Technology, Dayton, OH, 45433, USA

    Aaron Pendleton & James Okolica

Authors
  1. Aaron Pendleton
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  2. James Okolica
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron Pendleton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Antonios Liapis

  2. University of Malta, Msida, Malta

    Georgios N. Yannakakis

  3. National Research Council of Italy, Palermo, Italy

    Manuel Gentile

  4. Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany

    Manuel Ninaus

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© 2019 This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply

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Pendleton, A., Okolica, J. (2019). Creating Serious Games with the Game Design Matrix. In: Liapis, A., Yannakakis, G., Gentile, M., Ninaus, M. (eds) Games and Learning Alliance. GALA 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11899. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34350-7_51

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34350-7_51

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34349-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34350-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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