About Cognitive Apprenticeship and Games

"When you play the Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception game on the PlayStation 3, you don't tell Nathan Drake what to shoot, you don't direct him where to go, and you don't give him commands to follow. No, you don't control Nathan Drake because you ARE Nathan Drake. By operating the character in the game, you learn the implicit rules of the world you inhabit".

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REFERENCE:

KAPP, Karl. The Gamification of learning and instruction: game-based methods and strategies for training and education. San Francisco: Pfeifer, 2012. (pages 69 and 70)

Quote of the day

“Games lubricate the body and mind.” - Benjamin Franklin

The Valve handbook for new employees

Amazing document about the working methodology of Valve. Click on the image below to download the full content.



About the company: Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996. In addition to creating several of the world’s most award-winning games like Portal and Half-Life, Valve is also a developer of leading-edge technologies including the Source® game engine and Steam®, the premier online gaming platform. Valve also is the creator of Steam, the pioneering game platform that distributes and manages over 1,800 games directly to a community of more than 40 million players around the world.

Official site http://www.valvesoftware.com/.

Off Book: Video Games

by PBS Arts

Video games are more important than they seem. They are a storytelling medium, a place for self-expression. The age-old tradition of gaming teaches us strategy, maneuvering, and the importance of making choices. From the cinematic experiences of mainstream gaming, to the hyper-personal environments of indie games, gaming activity defines the way we live and interact with information, and each other.



Featuring:
Eric Zimmerman, Game Designer
Jesper Juul, Game Studies Scholar
Leigh Alexander, Game Journalist
Syed Salahuddin, Game Designer and Curator

Follow Off Book:
Twitter: @pbsoffbook
Tumblr: pbsarts.tumblr.com/
Produced by Kornhaber Brown: kornhaberbrown.com

Game interface

Here comes some good quotes from the book Game Interface Design. I believe they are essential ideas to assist the process of creating games. Let's check these points.



Even more important than the visual aspect of interface design is the funcionality. A poor interface can ruin the entire video game experience. The game experience will be negative if the user is confused and can't figure out how to navigate the front-end menu or if he can't understand where to find information while playing the game. (page 2)

Interface planning helps game design. A detailed plan for a video game interface can really help drive game design. Fleshing out all of the details in the menus and the HUD (heads-up display) will force many game-lay decisions to be made early. (page 10)

Simplicity and organization should still be your design goal. The user will enjoy being able to look at a screen and instantly know what to do. Keep your design simple. (page 69)

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REFERENCE:

FOX, Brent. Game interface design. Boston: Thomson Course Technology, 2005.

What is Gamification?

Some definitions from the book "Gamification of learning and instruction":

"Process of using game thinking and mechanics to engage audiences and solve problens." - Gabe Zichermann, author of Game-based Marketing

"Using game tecniques to make activities more engaging and fun." - Amy Jo Kim, author of Community building on the web

"The broad trend of employing game mechanics to non-game environments such as innovation, marketing, training, employee performance, health and social change." - The Gartner Group

"Is the use of game play mechanics for non-game applications (also know as 'funware')." - Wikipedia

Combining elements from these definitions and getting rid of the emphasis of getting people todo things they ordinarily consider boring, results in defining the term gamification as:

"Gamification is using game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems." - Karl Kapp

What Gamification is not

Only badges, points and rewards; trivialization of learning; new ( the military has been using "war games" simulations, and goal-driven experiences to train personnel for centuries).

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REFERENCE:

KAPP, Karl. The gamification of learning and instruction: game-based methods and strategies for training and education. Pfeiffer: San Francisco, 2012. pages 10 & 12

Essential books about game design & gaming concepts - EPISODE IV

Another two good books from my particular game design library to complement the first, the second and the third posts of this subject. In the end of each topic of this post there´s a link to Google Books with previews.



•The gamification of learning and instruction by Karl M. Kapp (link)

•The Grasshooper by Bernard Suits (link)