Lessons from the Trenches of Learning Game Design

Who I am
Game-lover, learner,
instructional designer,
product owner, game
designer, dog-lover and
owner, Mom, wife, cyclist.
Oh…and president,
Bottom-Line Performance.

Now…about you
What level of game design experience do you have?
A. I’m interested; I haven’t done it.
B. I’ve done it a lot; want to compare my experiences
against yours.
C. I’m just getting started; I’ve done a thing or two.
What type of gamer are you?
A. What’s a gamer? I don’t play games except under
duress.
B. I play a game 2-3 times/year at holidays, gatherings.
C. I play a lot – at least weekly.

Play games to make good games.
Evaluate what you play!
Playtest. A lot. Prototypes are power.
Choose game elements that support
learning goals.
Players need help figuring out how to
play.
Less is better re: complexity of design.
Scoring is harder to get right than you
think.
Bottom-Line Performance
Lessons I’ll share…
1
2
3
4
5
6

1 - Play games.
The best way to learn game design is to play
games and evaluate their designs.

Let’s Play (and Evaluate) a Game!
I’m going to share out a link. Play the game. Then we’ll
evaluate together. Max play time = 5 minutes.
http://bottomlineperformance.com/eLearningGuild/gameexample

Let’s evaluate. Via chat tell
me….
1. What did you need to do to win? (That’s called
core dynamic BTW – see page 2 of handout)
2. Was it fun? Fun enough? Not fun at all?
3. What game elements did you notice? (See
page 3 of handout for a nifty list!)
4. How did you know how you were doing?
5. What game ideas could you pull into a learning
you create?

2 - Playtest. A lot.
Commercial games are playtested many, many
times. You won’t have it right after one or two
tries.

Version 1 – “Sort of like Clue”

Version 3 - Now we’re getting
somewhere!

Version 4 – Bam! We’ve got it!

Allow yourself multiple
rounds of playtesting and
iteration.
Multiple may mean 4; it may
mean 10. It may mean more.

Save yourself time and $$.
Prototype (and playtest) with
paper, then with a
prototyping tool, and finally
with programmed version.

Prototyping…what IS it?
Showing is
better than
telling:
http://www.yout
ube.com/watch
?v=k-
nfWQLmlMk

Real-world…
We sketched.
But we never
built a REAL
prototype on
paper here.

Digital prototype
We then created a
“functional” prototype
using an app called
Marvel.
This is nice…but it
doesn’t truly replicate
functionality so we
could see certain
things….like what 30
seconds really feels
like.

We ended up here:
Let’s play it – and you can
share some thoughts on it.
HINT: This is a review of the
what we’ve talked about so
far.
http://theknowledgeguru.com/minigames/salesScramble

Think. Pair. Share.
What might you learn from a TRUE
paper prototype?

With prototypes & playtests, ID
these things:
1. Is the game idea fun?
2. Will it help people learn what you want them
to learn?
3. Are you choosing good game elements? Are
you missing opportunities to include others?
4. Are you rules clear? Is the game easy
enough to learn?
5. Is the cognitive load on the learner too high,
too low, just right?
6. How complex with the game be to make?

For paper, use these…

For digital, try these…

For digital, try these …

3 – Choose game
elements with care.
Elements should reinforce – or at least not
distract from – the learning goal you have.

You’re making a game on…
1) Time 2) Cooperation
4) Chance
3) Strategy
5) Levels
Identify some learning game play situations where you
would want to use each of these elements. What
learning needs might drive you to use these elements?
Let’s divide the room and brainstorm ideas.

4) Chance
1) Time
2) Cooperation
3) Strategy
5) Levels
• As a constraint that mirrors real-life constraint.
• As a resource earned based on performance
• Compress it to mimic real-life work cycle.
• If real-life TASK being taught requires
cooperation with others, try to create game that
is cooperative.
• As a way to illustrate interdependence of roles
• To force choices and require people to evaluation
options and decisions – as they would in real-
life.
• To simulate random
events or actions that are
part of a situation or job
• To help people learn the
game by playing the
game.
• To allow varying skill
levels to play.
• To increase difficulty as
people build skill.

More elements to consider: aesthetics
and theme influence desire to play. They
can also correlate to a workplace concept or
overarching theme.

Or this?

Players need help
figuring out to play.
But they never want it.
www.bottomlineperformance.com

Build help in via levels, resources, and
tutorials. Most of the time, don’t offer choice to
skip tutorial on first play through. They will
ALL skip – and then struggle.
www.bottomlineperformance.com
Early prototype – no tutorial Later iteration – tutorial, guided play

Less is more.
You have greater odds of achieving your
learning goal if you keep it narrow rather than
wide.

Decrease complexity. The #1 design mistake
novice designers make is making things too
complex.
Example: www.bottomlineperformance.com/passwordblaster
Consider a focus on ONE
learning objective

Scoring is hard to do
well.
Match your scoring and rewards to job context
when you can.
Even when you can’t, make sure you are
rewarding for knowledge/skill acquisition.

Scoring
shown
here
matches
job
context
of
players.

Players
earn/lose
territory
sales based
on
knowledge
they can
apply to
sales
challenge .

As in the
real-world,
complaints
and
customer
satisfaction
influence
performance
and sales as
well.

Also as in
the real-
world, the
kinds of
questions
you pose to
a question
influence
how the sale
goes.

Design Tools & Templates
• Overview of common core dynamics and
game elements pp. 1 -2
• Reproducible game evaluation worksheet
– page 4
• Learning Game Design Checklist – pp 5
to 8
• Field Guide for Playtesting – p. 9

Development Tools
Oh yeah. I know. You want to know the tools to help you
BUILD games.

Programming background NOT
required, though helpful.
Medium complexity to use; lots
of support available.
Amazing quality; no 3D, though.
Rapidly growing in usage;
strong user community.
Construct2 games CAN be
imported into authoring tools
such as Articulate Storyline or
Lectora.
Example:
www.bottomlineperformance.com/passwor
dblaster
Construct2 HTML5 game creator
by Scirra

Unity
https://unity3d.com/unity
Complex to use
Typically used for highly
immersive experiences,
simulations. Very, very
powerful in terms of
what it can do.
Can be 2D or 3D
Users tend to have
programming
background or expertise
Unity

Of course I think it’s
great
SaaS – pricing
starts at $9,999 for
one-year
subscription.
Authors can export
SCORM packages
for upload onto LMS
or run on web.
Designed for
corporate learning
audiences.
http://www.theknowl
edgeguru.com
Knowledge Guru

No experience with this
tool, but platform and
company look very
intriguing.
SaaS – pricing starts at
$5,500 US dollars for 1-
year subscription.
Designed specifically FOR
eLearning.
Genie Game-Based Authoring
Tool

Gamifies learning;
intended for virtual
ILT as well as face-
to-face ILT. Not for
asynchronous
elearning.
Instructor displays
questions or polls.
Learners respond
via mobile device.
FREE!!!!!
https://getkahoot.c
om/
Kahoot!

IMO, suboptimal for a
bona-fide game but
absolutely can be used to
create nice gamified
experiences.
https://community.articulate
.com/articles/elearning-
games-recap
Articulate Storyline

This Storyline project
has several
gamification elements
in it: aesthetics,
challenges, time
constraints on some
activities,
Total time invested in
creating it was about 50
hours. Nothing other
than Storyline was
involved in its
creation.
Rapid authoring example -
gamification

Repeat after me….
1. ___________ games to _________ good
games.
2. _______ a lot. _________ are power.
3. Choose______ elements that support
_________ goals.
4. Players need help figuring out ___ __
______.
5. _____ is better re: complexity of design.
6. Scoring is harder to get ______ than you
think.

Repeat after me….
1. Play games to make good games.
2. _______ a lot. _________ are power.
3. Choose______ elements that support
_________ goals.
______.
think.

Repeat after me….
2. Playtest a lot. Prototypes are power.
Choose______ elements that support
_________ goals.
______.
think.

Repeat after me….
3. Choose game elements that support
learning goals.
______.
think.

Repeat after me….
learning goals.
4. Players need help figuring out how to play.
think.

Repeat after me….
learning goals.
5. Less is better re: complexity of design.
think.

Repeat after me….
learning goals.
5. Less is better re: complexity of design.
6. Scoring is harder to get right than you think.

Thank You
sharon@bottomlineperformance.com
www.bottomlineperformance.com/lolblog
Twitter: @sharon_boller
(317) 861-5935 – office
Book available March
2017!!!

Links to useful blog posts
Lessons from the trenches (includes two I didn’t share today!):
http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/6-lessons-trenches-digital-game-design/
On scoring and rewards: http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/learning-game-design-
series-rewards-and-scoring/
On thoughtful use of game elements
http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/using-game-elements-improve-learning-
outcomes/
On the design of the learning side of the game:
http://www.theknowledgeguru.com/learning-game-design-series-part-7-thinking-
about-learning-then-the-game/
On playtesting games:
http://www.bottomlineperformance.com/enough-playtest-custom-learning-games/

Lessons from the Trenches of Learning Game Design

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