Hello Again!

This is going to be my second post on my blog. Here I will be discussing the information from Week 2 of my Game Systems Design class. If you follow this blog, I would appreciate any feedback you may have critiquing the design of my game.

To start this post I will continue to go over Module I, It's in the Game: Essentials of Systems Design & Player Behavior from where I left off in my previous post. This week we learned about behaviorism and information processing. During this module my professor asked us this in class:

What is the relationship between learning theory and game design? And why do we care about that relationship? - Professor Slota

Before understanding the quote you must first understand what learning theory actually is first. Wikipedia defines learning theory as:

Learning theory describes how students receive, process, and retain knowledge during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or changed and knowledge and skills retained.

So why do we care about learning theory in terms of game design?

Learning theory works within the game design process.

1. Analyze:
   1. Figure out who your audience is
   2. What game mechanics do you want to incorporate
   3. What are your learning objectives
   4. Collecting feedback
   5. How will you teach people to play
2. Design:
   1. Take all that information and pack it all together
   2. Which systems do we include/exclude
3. Develop:
   1. The analysis is already complete so its easy to implement the mechanics
   2. Debug
4. Implement:
   1. Fine-tuning
   2. Evaluating

Learning theory is important in regard to game design because it is the foundation for your digital product. Having a transparent sequence of goals is important to give the player an achievable yet motivating learning journey. Difficulty should be progression based, based on the players' tasks and responsibilities. Good games pace learners, allowing them to grow their skills through challenges. When going through the design process it is important to remember to keep playing your game enjoyable. The goals of the game should have clear objectives and are challenging but not too overwhelming for the player. Threading the line between challenging but not too challenging is extremely important and very hard to do. Players feel rewarded for overcoming hard problems that they face, however, if it is too challenging the player can get frustrated and end up giving up. When designing the challenges in my game I have to keep this in mind in order to make sure players are still having fun. The game should also have a series of metaphorical “guardrails” in place to drive the player in the correct direction, but not too structured where it takes away creativity from the player. The player should still have to make decisions for themselves instead of just following the instructions of the game to a tee. The game should also flow very well. This means reducing distractions for the player and making the next steps clear they need to take. I cannot tell you how many times I have given up on games because they did not have a clear set of steps for me to take. One practical approach to incorporating difficulty progression is gradually removing learner dependencies throughout the game. Implementing flow means making it easy for learners to understand where to go and what to do next. For learning theory to succeed, players must be able to retrieve specific information in the flow of work, with easy navigation of resources and responsibilities. The game should be designed in a way that encourages learners to use their own creativity when performing tasks.

In my previous post, I said that “I hope to discuss more specifics about the game would like to build as I dive deeper into the module." I have spent a good deal of time trying to come up with the main concept of the game I wish to design. However, after a lot of brainstorming, I have finally decided on the game which I hope to one day create. I have had a problem in the past with getting too over ambitious and always want to design a game that is way too out of my depth. I have a very high standard for video games and end up wanting to try and create a triple-A quality game by myself and always get way too in over my head. So, for this game, I intend to go about this differently because I am more conscious of my weakness. In order to handle this properly, I do not plan to make any promises on mechanics that I do not know if will work or not. I have a very rough idea that can get increasingly more complex later on. For example, I am not going to say that there will be 4 different characters that you can play with all different abilities, however, it is not something I want to close the door to. If later on in my development adding multiple characters to play seems to fit the game well I will implement it. But for right now I do not want to promise any mechanics but the basic ones.

The type of game that I have in mind is 2D platormer-style game where the focus is on jumping to navigate increasingly challenging terrain. In my next post, I will discuss the different approaches my game will follow ie. Behavioral Gamification, Gamification for Memorization, and Gamification in Character. I will also talk about specifics in the design process for my game as well as which approach I am going to use along with the learning objectives of the game.

Thank you for reading my second post on my blog. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!