Serious game is a concept which emerged in 1970s. A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment.This primary purpose mostly centers around training the players on a specific aspect of learning whether it is a knowledge or skill.
Here in this blog I would like to share 5 quick tips for creating serious games.
1.Serious games to focus on the primary goal i.e. learning
It is important to keep the learning objectives in perspective while designing serious games. For example if the purpose of the serious game is to impart training to retail employees on how to help the customers select the right merchandise, then the serious game should focus on this particular learning objective by bringing in elements of decision making and communication in the game.
2.The magic of engaging story line in serious games
A good story line always adds to the strength of a serious game and can ensure a smooth and immersive experience to the learners.Here care should be taken to choose the appropriate story line for the target audience. A story line built around a scene of a bank branch or a service office of an insurance company can be created for the audience consists of banking or financial services employees. Remember story line shouldn’t be overstretched in a corporate learning environment .
3.The fun and fear with serious game mechanics
Game mechanics are an integral part of any game and same is true for the serious games as well.Plan game mechanics as per the audience analysis, learning objectives and the story line. Do not use game mechanics for the sake of it rather weave them as a part of the total learning experience to motivate as well as penalize the learners. Some common game mechanics are points, badges and leader boards.
4.Enable rules for the serious game
Rules provide the framework that defines a game.It should be very clearly defined and instructed to the players.
Even in our real life, we tend to remember the lessons learned from failures the most, the same principle is adopted in the construction of rules for the games as breaking the rules defined for the game gives the user a penalty which makes the user learn and understand.
5. Serious games must have inbuilt Challenges/competition
All serious games must involve at least a single element of challenge which need to be overcome. Another way to design serious games is to throw smaller challenges at some definite intervals, which are aligned to the learning objective . These unforeseen challenges keep the engagement quotient high besides leading to some healthy competition.The outcome of such challenges can be displayed on virtual leader board, which allow easy integration with social media sites and forums.
Well this was a snapshot of the important tips to be considered while designing serious games for your learners. I hope these tips will be valuable to you when you design your next serious game.For more details, you can always contact me on arjun@playxlpro.com
