Commercial Resource Repurposing

There have been several places I've read concern for the learning market being commercialized to death. Fears and concerns that have a history of coming true. So, I'm wondering if we can suggest ideas that would work for the commercial interests and help guide them in the right direction.

At the moment there are many franchises and resources that could be used to create games of a more educational nature. There are a few I see that I'll discus here.

Repurposing Resources

With all those resources at their disposal, it makes sense to me to allow indies to experiment with potentially commercial projects. What do I mean by that? Simply put, there are a lot of people who want to learn and a lot of people who want to do. Those people could be offered non-paid positions with access to resources, to make prototypes, work samples and gain experience. These people would also be easy to screen for potential employees. So, it is beneficial for everybody and would likely cost very little for the potential gains to the company.

The important thing to realize here is that there are tons of old resources that pretty much aren't useful to the current commercial products. It's likely there are organizations willing to run some of thee programs. Some of these resources are available on the internet, so why not take that and make it official? It's been done before and has resulted in popular Mods. Some are simpler, but others have been rather impressive stand alone games.

Then there is the potential for educational use of those resources. Done properly, it could be both a plug for the franchises and useful in education. (If anybody reading this has an opening I would be happy to be a part of such a project. Okay, my plug is done. Back to the scheduled blog post.)

Concerned Combat

Star Wars, Halo and other similar franchises can be used for a more realistic resource management game. The idea is to take the FPS (first person shooter) gameplay, RTS (real time strategy) and resource management game mechanics and combine them. Truth is that many franchises could use this idea to do really cool things.

So let's get to the details of the idea. The player is in charge of a military force with a standing order requiring several missions. These missions are not separated like usual. Instead you maintain your resources through till you've achieved your goal, or failed. So if there is a native village, you can help them to gain more support and resources. This isn't a battle game. This isn't a simple combat game. It's a complicated game forcing the player to deal with the aftermath of battle to win the next.

I think it would be a great challenge to those who are masters of the RTS and FPS games. Can you command your troops, make snap decisions and maintain your resources in such a way that you can win the next battle? What do your superiors think of your performance? In the Star Wars franchise I envision the Jedi frowning on harming the villagers and the Sith frowning on wasting opportunities. Whether you are selfish or unselfish, it makes sense to build up your resources and use them responsibly. Considering the times, I think this would not only get gamers excited about the depth of gameplay and challenge, but get accolades from society about games encouraging the player to think about the realities of combat and have such a focus on community organizing.

Hidden Help

Harvest Moon is a game franchise that I've both played and watched people play. In it you maintain a farm and help the village to prosper. To me it would make for a great economy game. By playing as a person sent in to help some small towns become prosperous again, you have the potential to practice business and economy lessons, without the risk to your bank account. Three towns make up my envisioned game, a ranch town, a farm town and a crafting/artisan town.

The potential learning for this game goes far beyond that mentioned above. If you stick to the usual elements of a Harvest Moon game, and add some more, you can give a lot of information in small pieces. However the key to this is NOT taking care of your own farm. Instead you do odd jobs and help out the people in the different towns. With a little business sense you can turn a profit by supplying people with what they need. However, sometimes you should be willing to sacrifice immediate profits for potential future profits. Donating to businesses in trouble, or selling to them at a discount could be what keeps them operating. If it was an animal you owned and it got sick, you'd take care of it. Why, because it's beneficial. There's also the moral views on this, but I'm talking business and economy here.

You might be wondering what's so great about that particular game franchise for this. Well, here are some of the reasons I see. Animal products are obtained through purchasing or ranching. Produce is obtained through purchasing or farming. There is crafting and cooking in the game franchise. Shipping certain kinds of products brings related people into town, like any place known for a certain kind of industry or trade. Befriending people earns you benefits. All in all, it has most of what I see as needed for this idea. Though there is a lot of adjusting to make it work.

While there are more possibilities, I think this is a good place to stop for now. For something a little different, but similar, take a look at "Public Pedagogy through Video Games". It's a good article that was mentioned in OLDaily.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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Commercial Resource Repurposing

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Logical Content Breakdown

I was just discussing something with some of the P2PU guys when I realized that it would make a good blog post. Breaking up 10-12 week courses into 6 week courses could have a positive effect on some topics. My inspiration for the idea is skill tree design in games. A skill is only required to be at a certain proficiency.

Two ways come to mind to logically break up content. The first is general and specific skills, like general programming and programming languages. The second is conceptual and applied concepts in courses like calculus.

General & Specific

Let's say a person is learning a sword style. First they need to learn about safety and moving the sword. That's a general skill for the type of sword. The style comes afterward as a set of specific skills. While this can be broader, or narrower, it still holds.

In programming I've found that the first class on a language spends a bunch of time on the general and pre-requisite skills. If you are trying to learn about several languages this comes up several times.

I bring this up because this kind of content can hinder the recipient. In game design this is avoided, or used as, a means of lessening difficulty. Balancing the tension and difficulty is how it is addressed in game design. There are times where it helps, and times where it hinders.

Let's take a look at when repeating the general skill lessons might help. The new player/student is a great example for helping because they might need to learn about the skills, or they might just need to learn how you deal with them. Sometimes the general/basic skills need to be reviewed so they aren't forgotten, or to solve a deficiency. Other times they need to be brought to mind to mix with other ideas.

Then there are times where it doesn't help. Experienced individuals who have been using the skills might have trouble maintaining focus and critical thinking when there is little to nothing new. In other words they have mastery of the general skills and need to work on the specific skills.

To deal with this in games there are a few practices widely used. Repeatable practice and references are used to allow the player to fix their own deficiencies. The other one I see fairly often is feedback and tips that help the player understand their deficiencies and failures.

The first of those is basically the same as a practice ground. Shooting ranges, batting cages, pitching machines and more are used in everyday life for the same purpose. While this isn't always as easy to do in real life, well made simulations can be a lot of help. Just ask pilots and astronauts.

The second is seeing how well you did. As a batter, did you hit the ball? Was it a foul? How far did it go? Would somebody easily get to the ball to catch it? This information is the same as the basic corrections on a piece of homework, test or results after a mission.

The third is guidance. A reliable source informs you how you can improve. I'm not talking about the places where you could improve, results show that. No this is how you can achieve improvement. If you aren't hitting the ball, you need to find the problem to fix it. Somebody watching could tell you that your form looks like it's causing you to miss. That's the kind of help I'm talking about. To increase your chances of hitting the ball you should correct your stance. That tells you what to focus on to improve. Good teachers will usually give feedback like this, when they can figure out what went wrong. It's also why students are asked to show their work.

Conceptual & Applied

In calculus classes derivatives are usually called easier, but rarely easy. While you learn about the rules and when to apply what in what order, you are also mixing those skills with algebra. If you are having trouble with when a rule is to be used, mixing in more complication rarely helps. Then you are told to switch back and forth between algebra and calculus.

So, I think derivatives is a great example of when to split up conceptual and applied. Show me what the rules are and how they work to start with. This will fill out my understanding of derivatives. Once I understand the rules and what a derivative is, I am then better prepared to mix derivation and algebra. That's when the applied calculus starts.

It the same as learning to ride a bike. First thing you do is learn about the bike. Peddles, handle bars and the other parts of the bike are observed and understood. Then you experience some of the aspects of riding a bike like balancing, steering, moving forward and using the breaks. Lastly you try to do it together, with or without training wheels.

Learning about the parts of the bike is the same as learning about the rules and definition of derivatives. It serves as your basic understanding to build other ideas. To expand my understanding of the pieces, using some of them individually, or a couple at a time, gives experiences to work with. At that point I can understand what I'm working with.

Once I understand the bike, or derivatives, I'm ready for a test drive out in the world. Experiencing the real thing is different, and takes some getting used to for most people. More than the one set of concepts is used. Navigation, planning and using the knowledge of surroundings all work together with the newly learned set of concepts to become applied in a real world setting.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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Logical Content Breakdown

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Lessons From Winning

Recently I participated in the comment contest at GameProducer.net. Better yet, I won a game. What game doesn't really matter, because the point of this post is what I learned and intend to share. So, sit back and enjoy the read.

Lesson 1: You can't win if you don't enter.

When I came across it, there was the usual doubt of ever winning. Then I realized there were possibilities. First, I'm known for my determination. Second, I'm known to be exceedingly verbose. (That means I talk a lot.) Plus it might just be fun to come up with reasons I should be given a game.

Lesson 2: Keep at it.

My plan was simple. Flood the comment section of the post with my "Dear Santa" letters. Do enough good ones and I might just win, and what do you know, it worked. If I hadn't taken the time to write a single letter, I wouldn't have gotten to the winning letter. Plus the title of the e-mail was, "Please stop writing, I'll give you the game! ;)".

Lesson 3: Think of others.

This has two parts. First is thinking about the audience. Second is thinking about your friends and family, well anybody in your social networks is better. Thinking of my little sister helped me win. I could go on for a while about the reasons thinking of others helps, but that's not the focus of this post.

Lesson 4: Have a back-up plan, or at least flexible.

The game I won is not the first game I asked for. In many efforts the first plan, goal vision or other such thing isn't quite what you'll get. Having a flexible goal, or several to choose from increases your odds to reach a positive end.

Lesson 5: Learn from previous efforts.

Usually it works best to have results to learn from. Without the results, you can sometimes learn from your experience to improve the process you are using.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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Lessons From Winning

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What Educational Games Offer

Today I came across one of Stephen Downes posts via another Steve's post. In it Downes said not to build educational games. I find that interesting, since that is one of the things I intend to do, and Downes is often right, or pretty close. So, since this is the heart of this blog and my efforts, I'll explore this right here for you all to read and give response.

"Don't build an educational game

This bit of advice is pretty specific and probably does not apply to most people (since most people would not dream of doing this in the first place). But the question to ask yourself is, what is a game doing for you that a straight-forward presentation of the information is not? If it is specifically an *educational* game, the answer is, "nothing." You're not getting new users, you're not presenting material in any way that's easier to understand, you're not adding to motivation. You're simply disguising the old 'teach and test' methodology as a game. Nobody will be fooled well, except maybe purchasers of fad educational products." - Steven Downes (Link)

I think the key to this is the phrase, "If it is specifically an *educational* game, the answer is, 'nothing.'" The reason I believe that is the many examples of games made to teach, compared to games that draw on curriculum for game mechanics. It's a subtle, but profound difference in game design. For example a flight simulator draws on real facts and behaviors to make the game more fun, compared to a flight simulator made to give pilots experience.

The rest of the quote is based on the game being made specifically to teach curriculum. Since they are not games with educational value, but games to teach, I can understand the description. That doesn't mean I agree. First I'll cover why I don't think the games he refers to should be made as games. Then I'll come back to the his description of those games.

Why those games shouldn't be made, as games:

There are certain things that make an interactive model a game. These can be the hardest parts of making a game from an idea. Fine tuning the timing, balance, subtle guidance and more are a part of fine tuning the gameplay. This is time consuming and costly for a lot of games. Yet there is another way for the interactive models to be used for educational purposes while still being fun.

Allow people to play with the models, like a toy. Poke it. Prod it. See what happens. It's only a bit of code and data, so mistakes and normally bad events become something to watch. The fun is seeing what you can do with it. Examples and tips to get interesting results can help a lot. Hmmmm, sounds like low cost experiments. Make them freely accessible and you've got something truly useful.

When presented as something students can freely play with to help their comprehension, they aren't expecting quality gameplay. Yet, the principles of good gameplay can make these models better than the boring ones I've seen. While they are helpful, they aren't interesting. Worse, most don't provoke much thought.

The potential for games from these models:

"You're not getting new users, you're not presenting material in any way that's easier to understand, you're not adding to motivation. You're simply disguising the old 'teach and test' methodology as a game. Nobody will be fooled well, except maybe purchasers of fad educational products." - Steven Downes (Link)

That's what he said. I think there are several things that are not accurate in this quote, if designers approach their projects correctly. That's a BIG "if", as game industry history shows. No new users? Not easier to understand? Not adding motivation? Simply disguising an old method? Well, I'm not so sure. I'd say that this video of James Gee answers this well, but I have some additional things to say.

No new users?
Depends on what this means. Some would say that every person that plays the game that have not played is a new user. Others might say something about new users not being as important as returning users and people who spread the word. My guess is that if a teacher shows the game to their students and gets a good response from the students, more people will use the game.

Not easier to understand?
I'm an oddball. Telling me the rules to a game like Pinochle, I can grasp and apply the rules immediately, most people can't. While the text book may be boring, people do sometimes read them. Yet through school I've found most students find the textbooks are lacking, as is the standard lecture.

Not adding motivation?
Interactive, engaging private practice sounds like the kind of homework, or self learning tool, that fits the descriptions of good education. Having fun practicing skills, applying knowledge and solving problems really helps me want to do things that help me learn. Why? Games that reward deeper understanding is one example, where I learn to do better in relevant application of knowledge.

There is an immediate understanding of potential value inherent in games that use realistic application of knowledge. Just think about the success of shows like MacGyver and Myth Busters. They had/have an avid following of fans, who had examples of science in action.

Simply disguising an old method?
If I am playing through simulations of building bridges using calculus, physics and engineering, I can try it, test, learn and try again if I want. To me that sounds like iterative design in action. When I try that in, and out of, school I find I learn more than just memorizing facts or doing a one time through. It's also easy to make open to the public.

Plus there is the interesting memory result. Ask somebody about fun times and games they've played, then ask them about what they learned in their classes. I find that personally I remember far more about the games I've enjoyed playing than the classes I enjoyed. With that comes the facts and understanding.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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What Educational Games Offer

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