Study on enhancing learnability of a serious game by implementing a pedagogical agent

Abstract

This paper elaborates on a study on the implementation of a pedagogical agent. The agent is meant to improve and enhance the learnability of the serious game Lost Earth 2307. The game is analyzed in order to find the aspects that need to be improved (i.e. problems players might have with learning how to use and handle the game). Based on these findings the implementation of the pedagogical agent and the methods used are presented and elaborated. Furthermore, the question whether a pedagogical agent can improve the learnability of game mechanics in serious games compared to the “Standard form contract”style tutorials used in Lost Earth 2307, is discussed. A study about the evaluation of the implemented pedagogical agent, its research question and the metrics used, is presented. The paper depicts the setup of the user study using SUS and NASA TLX questionnaires and report in detail about the results and discusses the outcomes.