Creating serious games with the game design matrix

Abstract

Serious Games can be a powerful tool for educators to boost the level of student engagement in academic environments, but the level of game expertise and knowledge required in order to design a game with playable mechanics and well integrated learning objectives can be overwhelming. This high barrier to entry for inexperienced designers attempting to employ serious games has not been addressed in a commonly available or recognized step-by-step game design framework. This paper creates a framework which uses the Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) design process as the cornerstone of a step-by-step design matrix targeted at new game designers. It empowers someone with a minimal background in game design to have a much greater level of effectiveness. This is accomplished by using learning objectives and environmental constraints to map ideal game dynamics and game mechanics. A static analysis of existing games is used to assess the effectiveness of the game dynamic and game mechanics mapping matrix. A dynamic analysis of the framework is conducted by creating a cyber education focused serious game using the learning objectives and environmental constraints from an active classroom.