Bill MacKenty

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COTS game design that works

Posted in Games in education on 10 - February 2006 at 11:29 PM (18 years ago). 205 views.

How COTS games can work.

Leave it to Firaxis to articulate some great design points in Games in Education.

From the horses mouth:

Design Value:  Rewards: Early and Often
Player Impact:  Feel smart and believe you can succeed and achieve!

Design Value:  Immersive Flow
Player Impact:  Forget time and place. Get lost in an engaging process!

Design Value:  Progression
Player Impact:  This is all leading somewhere…just one more turn!

Design Value:  Surprise
Player Impact:  Expect the unexpected and learning is even more fun!

Design Value:  Re-Playability
Player Impact:  Try again. Just one more turn. New surprises.

Design Value:  Stealthy Education
Player Impact:  The more you know, the better the flow

I think one of the most interesting quotes from this site: Again, it cannot be overstated that Firaxis has never set out to make an educational game, however, it turns out that the company’s basic design tenets tend to create games that work quite well for these purposes.