Games, Play, Inspiration Around the World: Part V

Recently, I had the opportunity to examine the role of games and game playing in six counties for a five-week period. During that time, I traveled to diverse countries and studied the role of game playing. I wanted to understand the history of games and the modern playing and development of games to gain first-hand insights into how games can be better leveraged for learning. I traveled to England, Scotland, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and The United Arab Emirates to study, play, learn, and have fun with games. Here’s my impressions, thoughts and take-a-ways. This is the fourth in a multi-part series that investigates the meaning of games, gamification and play around the world. In case you missed part one, see it here and you can see part two here and part three here and part four here.

I just don't like whiskey. Whenever I drink it straight up (once or twice in my life) it gives me that involuntary shiver down my back. "It's an acquired taste", I've been told but I haven't acquired it. Although, many folks love it and cherish a good whisky.

Yet, here I was at the end of the tour of the Glenkinchie distillery being invited to taste a fine Scotch single malt whisky distilled in East Lothian, Scotland.

It was obvious that there were a number of whisky connoisseurs on the tour but my wife and I were not among those folks.

We were the last one's to take our sample. We had half-hoped that since we were at the source of the whisky creation process that it would somehow taste good to us. Still, it was not to our liking. The other folks on the tour, loved it and raved about how good it was. If you knew and liked whisky, this was the place to be. I was a fish out of water.

The Process

So the obvious question is "why do two people who don't like whisky, go on such a tour?" Why subject yourself to something you don't like? The answer is the process. Until a few years ago, I never gave any thought to how alcohol was made. It was always kind of a black box to me. But then I became curious, how do you make alcohol? How do they make craft beers or rum or vodka?

Now that I've learned about it, it's interesting how alcohol is made. It's the process that holds the fascination. I used to just think of alcohol as only something to drink but the process of making alcohol is precise and consistent. The conditions need to be just right to develop the necessary flavor, look and aroma. If an ingredient like water is off or has too many impurities, the flavor suffers. Small things have big impact in the alcohol making process.

If you follow a careful and well defined process, you can create learning games that help the learners...learn and that is the most important aspect of a well designed learning game.

It's so interesting how the raw materials of malted barley (or other grains), water and yeast come together with some coaxing to create the whisky spirit (It's "Whisky" in Canada and Scotland, add the "e" everywhere else). The process has been honed over the ages but it remains basically the same. The need for malting, mashing, fomentation, distillation and passing through the "spirit safe" remain the same. Our tour of Glenkinchie started with a neat miniature distillery which illustrated the entire process and then we got to go see the real thing. It was not disappointing as the step-by-step explanation was given and the attention to detail in the process is exacting. The process is a science.

The process of cooking is a little less scientific but is still an exacting and careful process. I am by no means a cook. I can make things on the gas grill but you probably wouldn't want me cooking you a meal on a regular basis. So when we decided to partake in a cooking class in Thailand, I knew it would be interesting. I wondered if it was even possible for me to make something edible with ingredients from Thailand. Then, I learn we were going to be making my favorite soup Tom Kha Gai--would I ruin my favorite soup forever?

The first thing we did in our cooking class was travel to a local market to pick out the ingredients for what we would be cooking. It was a vibrant and energetic market (like most markets we saw as we traveled). We quickly located the main ingredients of the soup. It is so popular the local market bundles the fresh ingredients together for easy purchase.

The fresh ingredients are Galangal, Lemon Grass and Kaffir Lime Leaves. We picked up the bundle and we were ready to go.

We returned to the hotel's cooking kitchen and were carefully guided through the process of preparing the soup. How to cut the ingredients, prepare the broth and make the soup.

I was able to properly prepare the ingredients, start the gas stove and carefully add the coconut milk. I cooked the items and then poured the finished product into a bowl. The moment of truth. I think I followed the process correctly, I hoped I had measured right.

I took a spoon and dipped it into the bowl and...it actually tasted good. Maybe not great but definitely good. I had done it. I followed the process (with much guidance) and created a really good soup. The process of preparation and planning payed off--my favorite soup was no longer a black box--I knew how to make it.

Game Design Process

To some the game design process is a black box. Learning games are fun and instructional but there is a mystery about how they are created. However, mysteries can be overcome.Part of understanding any so called "black box" is to map the process through experience as with a cooking class or distillery tour.

The Victoria and Albert museum had a great display on the process of game design and it was strategic that we visited there first on the trip because it set the stage for many of the insights encountered along the way.

When we looked at the game at the exhibit, most of those games were entertainment games but looking at the process the designers and developers undertook was enlightening. The process has both unstructured elements such as where to find inspiration or brainstorming problems to solutions but the process also includes rigid and precise elements such as time tables, design goals, and mapping of desired sequences.

For several of the games, the exhibit displayed notebooks that were used for sketching ideas and developing concepts and game flow. It was interesting to see the early sketches and ideas --in some cases just scribbles--morph fully into functional game elements or artwork. The process is iterative and fascinating to observe as you can see ideas unfolding on the pages and in the displays in the exhibit.

Onboarding

One important thing any game designer needs to do is map the flow of the game. Create a flow chart or some kind of visual diagram that shows the sequence of games steps the player/learner takes while playing the game. The initial steps in playing a game are often called the on-boarding process because you are helping the player/learner get onboard with the game. If the process is smooth, most likely, they'll stay with the game, if the process causes some friction or frustration by the player/learner, they will most likely abandon the game never to return.

Here is an image of the sequence of a game broken down by days. As you can see, the designer simply used a pad of paper to paper prototype the onboarding and design of the game.

When I conduct game design workshops, I often emphasis the need to paper prototype and it was great to see this reinforced by these commercial games that all showed early iterations as paper prototypes.

Paper is great because changes are easy to make and the individual sheets of paper are easy to move around and re-arrange. Plus you can see the big picture as you design the solution.

As elements of your learning game become more formalized, you'll want to make your onboarding and your sequencing of steps a little more formal so that everyone is working from the same information.

You can then plot out development, mechanics of the game and environment in which different elements of the game take place.

Conclusion

Perhaps the best insight from looking at and attempting to understand processes as they relate to serious learning game (SLG) design is to know two things. The first is that there is a process for designing a learning game. It's not a haphazard, wild, untamed process. There are discreet, measurable steps you can take to go from concept to full implementation. Here is the process Sharon Boller and I put together for our book Play to Learn.

It's a well mapped out process and, if you follow the process, step-by-step you'll have created an effective learning game.

The second thing to know is that game design requires iteration and trial and error. Just like distilling whisky, one mis-aligned or impure ingredient and the entire game can be off. Like cooking, the right ingredients are important for success but they have to be mixed the right way.

If you follow a careful and well defined process, you can create learning games that help the learners...learn and that is the most important aspect of a well designed learning game.

Learn the Game Design and Creativity Process

If you’d like to explore the process of creativity, innovation and game design, then I have an event for you. It’s called “Step Away.” Register for more information at https://www.stepaway.design/. The event runs from Sept 5-10th, 2019 in Florida in a game house. You won’t want to miss it. You'll be immersed in the creative process with like minded individuals and you'll discover how to create learning games, visual comics and other innovative instructional techniques.

Step Away is a five-day experience of living in a game house and focusing on creativity, working with Lego, crafting a game, tapping into your drawing ability, pretend playing as a leader and making concrete linkages between the creative and the productive.

Sign up today, spaces are filling quickly (limit 20 people).

Bio

Karl Kapp is a professor at Bloomsburg University and he literally “wrote the book” on the "The Gamification of Learning and Instruction" and he recently co-authored the game-based learning book Play to Learn with Sharon Boller where the entire instructional game-design process is shown and de-mystified--they open the black box of instructional game design so everyone can understand the process.

Karl is a researcher, analyst, speaker, professor, consultant and designer of instructional games, gamification and engaging learning experiences. He is a learning experience designer who works around the global helping organizations create engaging and meaningful learning experiences using an evidence-based approach.

He is founder of The Wisdom Learning Group, LLC, a global partnership that helps organizations implement game-thinking and game-based learning to achieve success. He is author/co-author of seven books on the convergence of learning and technology. He is the creator several LinkedIn Learning courses including "The Gamification of Learning" as well as "Gamification for Interactive Learning"

Follow Karl on Twitter @kkapp.