Exercise: Definition of Game

What is a game? The metaphysics of games.

What is a game?

When is a game?

Why is a game?

Who is etc.

Open Jamboard

https://jamboard.google.com/d/1kUmJWNE53ieg6QUgi4j6K2fS_WVMO52xH8_wK-Zab5A/viewer

(Google Jamboard - access via @ucdconnect account)

(in breakout room)

Scroll to the Jamboard for your breakout room number

Brainstorm definitions and characteristics of games.

This exercise starts the process of game thinking and leads into the project of devising a game concept.

Use the basic shared whiteboard (Google Jamboard).

Respond to the prompts and add information to the Jamboard - this is a time limited activity.

10' introduction

15' breakout room activity

5' debrief

Lecturer points: If needed can seed topics for student concept maps:

Initial conditions; rules; rewards; goals; end-game states; win/lose states; voluntary; cooperative; competitive; constructive; destructive; payouts; motivation-intrinsic; motivation-extrinsic; the Magic Circle; puzzle; joy; fun.

Conclude by filling in the following survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/ Game Thinking Questions

Exercise: Four Games I will Play Again

"Four games I will play again"

This task builds on the process of thinking about games, about what they are, what makes them different from other parts of life, what they add to life, their role in society, socially, in our personal lives and relationships.

Take turns to read out your speech script (as if you were delivering a talk for a podcast or talking to a friend directly). The speech is inspired by the title "Four games I will play again" in which you describe and explain why you will play these four games again:

1. a card or board game
2. a video game
3. a physical sports game
4. and a business gamification

10' introduction

15' breakout room activity (up to 5' per person)

5' debrief

Lecturer points: Drop in to each breakout room. Ensure turn taking. Encourage peer comments.

Notes:

What is a gamification?  A gamification is the application of a Game concept to A Business context. Think of examples like a coffee loyalty card scheme, or collecting refunds for recycling, or the in-car fuel consumption dashboard panel in a hybrid-electric car, or air miles rewards.

Exercise: Talk about "Indie Game: The Movie" (2012)

The Business of Games

Indie Game: The Movie (2012) - 1h 43min (a short intermission at 50:38)

After watching the documentary you might find yourself inspired to seek out and play some of the most influential indie and commercial computer games of the last decades referenced in the film: ICO, Limbo, Zelda (all platforms, all versions), World of Goo, Portal, Slender, etc.

Indie Game: The Movie by Merge Games, shares the background stories of three video games and their developers:

Braid: a level building platform puzzle game designed by Jonathan Blow.

Super Meat Boy: a fast fire platform game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. The game is notoriously difficult with an edgy thematic and stark graphic mood with a strong emotional dynamic and atmospheric feel.

Fez​​​​​​​: a collecting/puzzle game focused level exploration designed by Phil Fish. The game employs a distinctive 2D/3D spatial twist mechanic that reveals novel possibilities for traversing the game world.

Improv exercise: game + industry pairs

(A game properties improv exercise)

Pair game types with industry types as prompts for new game ideas. Working with external constraints can be extremely creative/productive.

Button artwork

Individually or in small groups.

1. Eyes closed, pick a button from the game types box
2. Eyes closed, pick a button from the industry types box
3. Come up with ideas inspired by the pair of buttons.
4. Capture your idea in a "working title".

Examples:

"Pirates and Underwriters - The Insurance Industry Action Game"

"Energy Roulette - Gamification of Customer Incentives for Electricity Meter Reading"

Resources:

"games_industries.pdf"
"gamesindustry.xlsx"

Use a whiteboard or jamboard

Exercise: Game Café

Game Café - Quick-Learn-Play Some Casual Games

Use the following casual games as combination icebreakers to get teams to gel and as research and reflection objects for players to discuss and form opinions on the Essence of Games and Play.

Games for two people.

https://papergames.io/

Games for groups.

Arrange three tables (breakout rooms).

Play games for 5+ people each.

Skull.games. (3-6) Just enter room, no sign up involved.

https://skull.games/ (and add a room name, something like "GameThinkingGroup1" etc.)

Tips for the host:

Enter a unique room name to generate a url and share the url with the other players.

It is not necessary to have visual connections with your players but you will need either a group video or audio call to synchronise and interact, and you will need a shared message board to announce the urls.

This is an 'orthodox' version of Skull, no house rules are really possible when the card selection mechanic is controlled by software.

Codenames. Share link, no sign up involved. No cheating possible (can’t peak at key card).

https://codenamesgame.com/

Dixit. (3-16) Register and sign up, then share room code.

https://isolant.games/en/ 

Hidden identity games - Resistance, Cluedo, Coup, Bang, Love Letter

Simplest site for Resistance, share room code. No extra roles featured, and mission leaders are randomly assigned.

https://snakeout.tannerkrewson.com/how-to-play

Netgames.i0 is a simple site, no sign up involved. Share game code or link. Has 6 deduction games. Easy mobile access.

https://netgames.io/games/

After one or two plays, mix the groups up: half stay, half move table.

Games for larger groups of people at-a-distance online

Scatagories is available at ScattergoriesOnline.net. (can host from 2-34 players). Share link. Sign up for extra categories.

Quiplash at QwiqWit.com. (3-12) Virtually just Quiplash from Jackbox. It’s free, and can have more players than Quiplash. Share room code.

Kahoot if you want to create your own pub-quiz style game. The host signs up on Kahoot.com and streams screen, others connect with their devices to Kahoot.it. Can create your own
quizzes. Used a lot for education, but does feature general trivia. Usually multiple choice.

If you have a little money to spend you could try QuizWitz. Need to pay
$44 to play with more than 6.  Host signs up and streams screen, players simply connect
with their devices to catlab.tv. Can create your own quizzes. Various question types.

MultiplayerTrivia.com . Some setup needed in advance, players need to sign up. Share link
to join private game room. Type in written answers. Simply laid out, but as of the release
of this list the site is still in beta and lacks features such as choice of categories.

There are countless  multiplayer quiz/trivia sites and mobile apps, including QuizUp,
Trivia Crack and Sporcle.com.

Sources

These games and more were catalogued courtesy of Evan Leed at @Evandeel on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2425525/list-options-online-board-games 

And the poster on Drive...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NO-05LM-SakbwqNajBXgIO4HuCSkBd6n/view

Notes:

Debriefing - good questions:

How easy was it to learn?

Did you have an experienced player?
How did you feel at the end of the first game?
How did you feel at the end of the second game?
How did you feel at the end of the third game?
How quick was each to learn? 1 try? 2 tries? Didn't learn?
Describe the atmosphere?
Was the game fun?

Exercise: The GV Sprint Process

Practical Skills for Intensive Problem Solving Exploration

The Sprint process involves a progressive shift of attention, from learning about a challenge defined by people, to learning how people respond to a design prototype that tries to re-solve that challenge. The process is bracketed into 5 workshop sessions. The suggested structure and techniques are focused on how to manage time, space and people over the duration; techniques for decisions, organising, coordinating.

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• Session 1: Imagine the goal (sprint) - Make a map and choose a target
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Set the long-term goal
• List sprint questions
• Map the As-Is Customer Journey
• Ask the Experts
• HMW How Might We...
• Organising Notes
• Why Why Why?
• ABC Always Be Capturing
• Pick a Target Decide
• Session 2: Explore many possibilities (sprint) - Sketch competing solutions
• Lightning demos (three minute demos)
• Work Alone Together Research
• Divide, Swarm
• The Four-Step Sketch
• Crazy 8s
• Session 3: Decide the design (sprint) - Decide on the best
• Art Museum
• Speed Critique
• Heat Map Dots to Focus on Interesting
• Straw Poll Dots for Voting
• Supervote Dots
• Rumble or All-in-One
• Note-and-Vote
• Storyboard
• Session 4: Build, make, tinker, learn (sprint) - Build a realistic prototype
• Fake It
• Paper Prototype
• Wizard of Oz
• Trial Run
• Interview Script
• Session 5: Test, observe, evaluate our prototype (sprint)- test with target customers
• Makeshift Research Lab
• Magic 5
• The Five-Act Interview
• Watch Together Learn Together

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Where did the GV Sprint come from?

The shift to agile - typically cast as scrum, lean, kanban and others - started in fact at the end of the 90s when extreme programming lit up software engineering discussions with the provocative mix of passion and principles presented by its creator, Kent Beck. Extreme programming provoked diverse and intense responses in its audience. From radical fervour to cynical skeptism it ignited discussions about how software is and should be designed, how programmers were and should be treated, how to treat each other and others more indirectly involved in digital production.

The GV Sprint method [Knapp et al., 2016] represents how far agile has spread beyond software engineering. The agile sprint has become a staple of venture capital driven product incubators. Organisations are experimenting with sprint style workshops for accelerated product ideation and prototyping in a 5 day workshop format. Teams generate and select ideas to further create and develop, from concepts to prototype level using storyboards, mock‐ups, paper prototyping or using digital platforms of their choice.

It is apparent that design management, product engineering, software engineering and management more broadly are mutually informing and intricately interrelated. We have observed the business world appropriate software engineering's shift to practice emphasis and experiential management. We have seen software engineering borrow design paradigms from architecture [Alexander, 1964] and product design [Kelley and Kelley, 2013]. The mutual connections between design sprints, agile software sprints and venturing sprints [Knapp et al., 2016] is obvious. More so now that digital has become integral to so much of the designed physical material world.

Tips on InVision App and the infinite whiteboard https://www.invisionapp.com/blog/design-sprints-agile-dev/

Tips on "The Design Sprint - GV" at https://www.gv.com/sprint/

Tips on design thinking shortcuts in Mural.co https://www.mural.co/blog/design-thinking-shortcuts

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Source: [Knapp et al., 2016]

Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Harvard University Press, Cam- bridge, Massachusetts.

Kelley, D. and Kelley, T. (2013). Creative Confidence : Unleashing the Creative Potential within Us All. HarperCollins Publishers.

Knapp, J., Zeratsky, J., and Kowitz, B. (2016). Sprint : How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days. Simon and Schuster.