Abstract

What should we look for in a game? How well do existing games embody good instructional and gaming design principles? How do we put those design principles into practice? The following chapters will review several games of different genres and domains. For each game, there are two chapters. The first is an impartial review of the game and the second is a description of the methods and lessons learned from the game developer’s perspective. In this chapter, we introduce each game briefly, discuss the criteria used to review the games, and summarize some of the key points you should look for in these and other games.

Introduction

Now that we’ve introduced a number of key issues and approaches to consider when designing a learning game, let’s put it all in context. The following chapters review seven different games, each focused on a different approach to training or a different training use.