Prototyping in Educational Game Design - CiteSeerX

Prototyping in Educational Game Design University of Jyväskylä P.O. Box 35 40014 Univ. of Jyväskylä, Finland Tel. + 358 14 260 4671

Tuula Nousiainen University of Jyväskylä P.O. Box 35 40014 Univ. of Jyväskylä, Finland Tel. + 358 14 260 4652

Marja Kankaanranta University of Jyväskylä P.O. Box 35 40014 Univ. of Jyväskylä, Finland Tel. + 358 14 260 4652

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Antti Kirjavainen

ABSTRACT This is a position paper for the player-centred game design workshop at CHI2006 Conference. The aim is to explore the use of prototypes in educational game design. Prototyping is discussed as both a method of player-centred design and software engineering. The methods of prototyping cover evolutionary prototyping and the use of low-technology prototypes and mockups in collaboration with players in game and software design. The paper discusses results from two educational game software development projects, namely Talarius 1.0 and Gameli.

Categories and Subject Descriptors D.2.2 [Design Tools and Techniques]: Evolutionary prototyping – software engineering and game design, low-tech prototypes, interface mock-ups and working prototypes.

General Terms Design, Experimentation, Human Factors.

Keywords Educational games, game development, game evolutionary process, prototyping, software engineering.

design,

engineering [1, 2, 9, 14] and game design [13]. In software engineering, a lot of research has been done on how prototyping can be used for requirements specification [9] and in evolutionary development of software [2]. In game design there is not yet rigorous research but there are experiences that indicate that using prototypes to evaluate early designs is very important in game design [13]. As different methods of prototyping have not been researched in game design and especially educational game design, the usefulness of these methods must be explored in more detail. In this paper two educational game design projects, namely Talarius 1.0 and Gameli, will be used as cases to discuss and analyze different methods of using prototyping in educational game design. The research consists of developing the prototypes and examining and developing the design process of educational games. This paper covers the uses of prototypes in educational game design from the point of views of player-centred design and software engineering. The research on educational game design is multidisciplinary in its nature. This study is part of the research group “Humancentred design of game-based learning environments”. The expertise of the research group comes from various disciplines: especially computer science, educational science, humancomputer interaction and natural sciences.

1. INTRODUCTION Games have a lot of elements that are essential for learning. Especially the intertwining of the game-play and story elements creates a framework for the game experience for both learning and entertainment [4, 6]. Games have been seen as motivating and they support collaboration in learning [3]. Designing good educational games is a complex task. The learning goals and selected learning content have to be strictly defined [15]. The game-play elements have to support the learning goals and still be enjoyable and challenging in their own right [10]. The game software has to provide all the necessary features to enable playing and learning. Prototyping is a set of methods used in both software

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2. PROTOTYPING IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND GAME DESIGN A prototype can be defined as a preliminary version or model of all or a part of a system before full commitment is made to develop it [14]. Prototypes are products that are developed before the final product will be constructed and fully implemented [11]. A prototype may be continually refined and evolve towards a final deliverable. This is called evolutionary prototyping [14]. The main advantage of the evolutionary prototyping is that each increment gives the project group insights about the application they are creating and its use context as well as their work process and the design methods used [2]. Developers may also design throw-away prototypes which are used in some stages of the design projects, usually in collaboration with users [11]. These prototypes may be of different types: they can be low-technology prototypes made of paper, user interface mock-ups made with a software tool or preliminary versions of the software product with some features implemented [11].

In software development prototypes are most commonly used when software requirements cannot be specified on the basis on use context research [9]. Prototyping is also associated with evolutionary and iterative development process. In software design one main area where prototypes and mock-ups are frequently used is user interface design [1]. In game development prototypes or mock-ups are used to test game designs in practice. As game design is a practical discipline there are no other good ways to test game designs than testing with early versions or prototypes. Game design literature suggests using low technology prototypes to test game mechanics and game play at an early stage of the design process [13]. The main advantage of prototypes is that they offer a way of discussing and refining requirements in co-operation with the end users [9]. This applies both to the functional requirements of the educational game software and the requirements of the game from both the game-play and educational points of view.

3. THE USES OF PROTOTYPES IN EDUCATIONAL GAME PROJECTS In this chapter the different methods to use prototypes as parts of educational game design projects will be described. The design projects of two educational game software applications, Talarius 1.0 and Gameli, will be discussed. Talarius 1.0 is a board game design and playing application intended for use in primary schools. Gameli is an educational simulation game which covers ecological topics such as animal populations, food chains and food networks. Gameli is intended for children of ages 11 to 13. One of the main points in educational game design (and to some point game design in general) is the twofold task of designing both technology and content. The Talarius 1.0 project was concentrating more on the technology side whereas in the Gameli project the emphasis was more on the game content. Both projects followed the same general project model which consisted of six phases: research, requirements, design, implementation in two incremental phases and finally the deployment phase. Both projects lasted for about 20 weeks. The projects were analyzed by examining the project documentation and evaluating the outcomes. This documentation included project plans, plans for each phase, reports for each phase and weekly reports made by project managers. The project processes were analyzed by using historical mapping [7]. Mapping is used to describe situations in software projects. Historical maps describe the internal and external conditions as well as important actions and events during the course of the whole project.

3.1 The Talarius 1.0 Project The goal of the Talarius 1.0 project was to develop first version of the Talarius board game design and playing application [12]. The original idea for the application came from paper board games designed by a class of primary school children. The project group collaborated with the class and a teacher during the project. Majority of the project was devoted to specifying and designing the functionality and the user interface of the application. The emphasis was on innovation and the functionality of the end product rather than on the process.

It can be said that the whole design project started with prototypes as the paper board games designed by the school class where the basis of the whole project. First time the project group used prototyping was during the fifth week of the project. In addition to doing user interviews and observing the use contexts they used some user-centred design methods. One of those methods was letting the school children design and draw a paper prototype of the user interface of Talarius. The paper prototypes were used by the project group when designing their own prototypes or mock-ups of the user interface during the next week. After that they went back to the class with those prototypes to evaluate them and asked the children to have their input on the design. In addition to that the project group measured the children’s motivation in using the prototype. After each implementation increment the project group had a new version, an evolutionary prototype, of the application. They tested the new prototype of the application in school after each increment to get feedback from the children. In those tests the main aim was to verify that the project was in the right track and the product had the features that the future users needed.

3.2 The Gameli Project The Gameli project was based on a simulation software WorldMaker [8] developed at the Centre for Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kong. The aim was to integrate game-like features in the simulation software in order to improve its motivational potential, and thereby create an educational game that aids learners in developing a profound understanding of scientific phenomena (e.g. ecosystem). Also this project had a partner class from a school in Jyväskylä. The project was more like a game development project than the Talarius project. It concentrated on designing game-play and game contents so the project group adopted a game development project-like project model. That meant that in addition to requirements specification they produced a game concept document during the Requirements phase and a game design document during the Design phase. They also designed and implemented the levels of the game during the implementation phases. The project group did not use preliminary prototypes or mock-ups during Requirements or Design phases. The only prototypes they produced during the project were the two evolutionary prototypes of the game during each iteration of implementation. The function of those prototypes was similar to the corresponding prototypes in the Talarius project. The difference was that in this project, being more of a game project with content creation involved, they received feedback both from the application standpoint and the game-play standpoint.

4. THE RESULTS The use of different types of prototyping approaches in the two projects discussed can be categorized by the phase they were used and the purpose they served. Evolutionary prototyping was used in both projects during the incremental implementation phases. With both groups the advantages of evolutionary prototyping were evident. Members of the Talarius project group commented especially about the insight they got about the application’s software architecture and

experience about programming together whereas the Gameli group learned most about the essential features of the game and game level design. The Talarius group used the method of designing paper prototypes of the user interface with the partner class during the Requirements phase. This was seen as a beneficial way of involving the users in the design process in a very early stage and it motivated and committed the users to the project. The Gameli group could not come up with a similar playercentred design method at their Concepting/Requirements phase and later on this was seen as a problem as prototyping was found to be the key to get all the stakeholders involved and committed to the project. The problem in the Gameli project in coming up with good ways of using mock-ups or prototypes during the Concepting or Design phase of the project was the nature of the project. Being more like a game development project the project had to come up with a coherent game concept and design that would also support the educational requirements. At that point of the project the project group did not feel confident enough to test and further develop their concept with the users. This was one of the reasons why the Gameli project didn’t get vital information about their game design’s weaknesses until during later phases in the project. The game design was good, but the project group members commented that it could have been better if they had the collaboration with the players they had between the iterations at an earlier point in their project.

5. CONCLUSIONS

6. REFERENCES [1] Ambler, S. The Object Primer: Agile Modeling-Driven Development with UML 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004. [2] Cockburn, A. Using "V-W" Staging to Clarify Spiral Development. In OOPSLA'97 Practitioner's Report, Humans and Technology technical report. Atlanta (GA), 1997. [3] Dawes, L and Dumbleton, D. Computer games in Education Project. British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, England, 2001. [4] Egenfeld-Nielsen, S. Practical barriers in using educational computer games. In D. Davidson (Ed.) Second generation elearning: serious games. Emerald Group Publishing, Bradford, England, 2004. [5] Ermi, L. and Mäyrä, F. Player-Centred Game Design: Experiences in Using Scenario Study to Inform Mobile Game Design. In Game Studies – The International Journal of Computer Game Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2005. [6] Kirjavainen, A. Oppimispelien käsikirjoittaminen – Monen pelaajan 3d-oppimispeliympäristöt. Jyväskylä, University of Jyväskylä, 2004. [7] Lanzara, G. F. and Mathiassen, L. Mapping Situations Within a Systems Development Project. In Information and Management, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1985.

The results gained from evolutionary prototyping in educational game design projects discussed in this paper have been very good. The keys to successful use of evolutionary prototyping are to allocate enough resources to testing and analyzing the test results and also to allocate enough resources for the later implementation increments. During projects this also means that if one increment is going to overuse its resources its better to cut features from that increments prototype than to reallocate more resources from later increments.

[8] Law, N., Li, S.C., Li, R. and Tang, P. WorldMaker: Making Collaborative Exploration of Complex Systems Accessible to Children, Paper presented at Fourth Global Chinese Conference on Computers in Education, Singapore, May 2031, 2000.

Other important observation is the difference between game software projects that concentrate on technology and those that concentrate on game content. There are good user-centred methods of using prototypes and mock-ups to design technology [1, 2, 8, 11, 14] but regarding game content there are not specific methods. The use of prototypes to enable the testing of game concept ideas and game designs from both game-play and educational perspectives has been seen as crucial when analyzing the Gameli project. Thus, the crucial challenge is in the development of quality methods There is a recent study of using scenarios to test early game concept designs in player-centred entertainment game design [5], but more varied ways of using prototypes in educational game design are needed.

[10] McFarlane, A., Sparrowhawk A. and Heald Y. Report on the educational use of games, Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia, Cambridge, 2002.

One way of doing that is designing low-technology prototypes of the game that portray the game mechanics and have an example of the future game content. These could be used with users to test game design ideas and to form a basis for usercentred design workshops. For the game design project that would be very valuable and could save a lot of resources in the incremental implementation stages as less modification to original designs would have to be made at that point.

[9] Mathiassen, L, Seewald, T. and Stage, J. Prototyping and Specifying: Principles and Practices of a Mixed Approach. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1995.

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