Design and implement a “serious” learning game

Overview

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Goals

The activity encourages students to design and develop a digital game, preferably one with an educational focus. During the activity students introduce a game concept, which is then built into a full game design document that includes information on game objectives, target audience, player's role, core mechanics, story, game world, characters, user interface, technical parameters, and marketing considerations. Learners then develop the game in the UNITY digital development environment in groups. The goal of this activity is to expose students to the design and implementation of digital applications that address the needs of a specific target sector in a specific context. In this activity, the target sector is open and can range from primary to secondary, higher, or professional education and training. The goal is to build knowledge and skills through a digital game in a thematic area of the students' choice, such as STEM or humanities, or to develop among the target audience transversal skills, such as analytical thinking.

Learning Objectives

- To understand the concept of "serious" learning games and their benefits - To understand concepts and methods of designing and implementing digital games and digital learning games - To apply in practice methods and procedures related to the conception, design, implementation, and evaluation of digital games and digital learning games - To become familiar with the usability of game development environments

Context

The context is design and development of digital applications for educational purposes. The activity takes place in the context of a game design and development course. Students must apply classic software engineering methods, including understanding the needs of the target users, designing for addressing specific needs, implementing software code effectively, and evaluation whether the final result addresses user needs as these are documented at the beginning of the activity. The implementation can take place in iterations until the final outcome the final outcome addresses as close as possible user expectations.