Ideas
Building Soft Skills in Games
Games are capable of helping students learn any number of different skills more intuitively than they would from traditional classroom instruction. […]
Competition
Ideas
Core Loops in Games
The core loop is the primary game system or mechanic which defines your game – the element of the game that players remember most or engage with most often. […]
Ideas
What is Kingmaking?
Kingmaking in game theory concerns the end game scenario where a player is able to make a winning move for another player – when they cannot themselves win. […]
Ideas
Playing your Cards Right – Walkman Lab
As soon as you are introduced to a game and its storyline, your resources and characters, the meeples, the boards, are literally and figuratively in your hands. […]
Ideas
People as Pieces – Social Mechanics in Games
What are ‘Social’ mechanics which use players themselves as ‘pieces’ in the game, manipulate player dynamics and relationships, or otherwise ‘play with’ people? […]
design process
Win States in Games to Keep Players Playing
For some, it is about winning, yet for others, it is the zeal to learn the process and ponder over the experience and mistakes and the takeaways from it. […]
Ideas
Die Trying – Learning through Failure in Games
In other words, learners have to feel secure and brave enough to lose. What’s the best way to create flexible, emotional resilience to making mistakes? […]
design process
How victory conditions frame play
What we can learn from games that go beyond racing for points or position There are two ways to win most games (AKA Victory conditions). Either reach a certain goal first (get a number of […]
Ideas
Winning is Overrated (in Educational Games)
Do educational games need winners? You probably know about the benefits of educational games, but may feel strongly about the need for winning outcomes. […]
Ideas
Fired Up Fiero
Fiero is highly addictive and highly engaging. Often that feeling comes after we’re completely engrossed in the game. That’s called being a state of “flow.” […]
Ideas
Beyond Engagement: Competition and Exploration in Serious Games Using Digital Narrative
The following is a chapter from an upcoming book by David Chandross, whom many of you will know from his fascinating posts on LinkedIn, and others from his academic publications. David is a big-hitter in […]
learning topics
Musings on Developing Games Featuring Teamwork
For as long as games have been played, having to work with others as part of a team in order to winhas been a well-established norm when it comes to games and as someone who […]
how to
Motivating learning through meaningful choice
Nearly all the business learning games I have come across have involved teams competing by doing exactly the same thing as each other. By that I mean that they start in the same position and […]
Ideas
Hunger gamification
What gets you out of bed in the morning? Screaming toddlers don’t count, I’m talking about the essential you. What’s the intrinsic need, the raison d’etre, that moves you to get up, get out and […]
Ideas
Killers in the Classroom
Picture the scene. You have spent weeks, creating beautifully crafted, engaging training for onboarding / hi-po fast tracking / leadership and strategy (delete as applicable). Here you are on the first day of delivery and […]