Dr. Magy Seif El-Nasr Simon Fraser University, Canada Dr. Tony Maygoli New Media Research and Education, Canada, Canada 1

Website is Delivered Workshops since 2004 for High School and Middle School kids (11 total workshops) Taught 13 courses on game design at College Level 2

Managed by NMRAE: New Media Research and Education Delivered Workshops since 2004 for High School and Middle School kids ▫ Penn State University (US) ▫ 3 Schools Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) ▫ Simon Fraser University (Canada) ▫ Vancouver, BC (Canada) ▫ Laguna College of Art and Design (US) ▫ Willamette University, Oregon (US) 3

In this talk ▫ Scientific thinking through workshops ▫ Scientific Game Design ▫ Workshops 4

Science Starts With Critical Thinking

Learning by doing By building games they learn: ▫ Science of game design ▫ Psychology ▫ Mathematics ▫ Art ▫ Physics 6

Play Fostering Creative and Collaborative Skills 7

Concept Design 8

Concept Development and Critique Game Design and Programming Process 9

Critique 10

Few courses that I have been teaching: Math Finance Physics Business Chemistry Real Estate Critical thinking Stocks Guitar Forex Bass guitar Kung fu Piano Karate Keyboard Budo Music theory Judo Painting Kendo Poetry Swimming Calligraphy Chess Cooking Badminton Renovation Game design ESL Early retirement 11

Few Important Facts and Conclusions: 12 Teacher Knowledge System Student

Few Important Facts: Science is NOT tangible for students We (teachers) have no LEVERAGE 13

What do we teach them? Critical Thinking Math Geometry Physics Programming Storytelling Art 14

Mathematical Thinking: Math, Geometry, Animation x -y X=0,y=464 ROOM X=0,y=0 X=624,y=464 X=624,y=0 -x y 15

ROOM X=0 y=464 X=0 y=0 X=624 y=464 X=624 y=0 0,464 16

ROOM X=0 y=464 X=0 y=0 X=624 y=464 X=624 y=0 ?,?300,464 17

ROOM X=0 y=464 X=0 y=0 X=624 y=464 X=624 y=0 0,464 18

ROOM X=0 y=464 X=0 y=0 X=624 y=464 X=624 y=0 ? x1x1 y1y1 d=√(x y 1 2 ) Move the dog step by step in the game for the distance (d) a b 19

ROOM X=0 y=464 X=0 y=0 X=624 y=464 X=624 y=0 20

ROOM X=0 y=464 X=0 y=0 X=624 y=464 X=624 y=0 v = g * t velocity v of a falling object from the falling time point 21

The tools and Programming: In 400-level college classes: Wildtangent (1) WarCraft III (2) Unreal Tournament 2003/4 (10) For high/middle-school Workshops: WarCraft III (4) Game Maker (5) RPG Maker (1) 22

Computer Science: Programming Statements Variables Conditionals Functions Loops Events 23

Computer Science: Parallel processing, event programming, Object Oriented Programming 24

Arts: Architecture design, map design, visual composition, lighting, camera movement, etc. 25

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Scientific Principles of Game Design 5 Principles 27

Game Mechanics: ▫Operant conditioning ▫Creating drama ▫Directing attention ▫Navigation ▫Preparing the users for interaction 28

Skinner (Operant Conditioning): The process of learning behaviors from the environment through consequences.  Positive reinforcement  Negative reinforcement  Punishment  Chaining and shaping  Reward schedule systems reinforcement is the chances of increasing probability of behavior occurrence. 29

C. Fabricatore Gameplay and Game mechanics design: a key to quality in video games. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. 30

Game Designers use the same techniques to teach the player what to do in game environments Game Level Designers use Variable Ratio for rewards 31

At the beginning: things are easy, “you make level 2 in about 5 kills.” By the time you make level 3 half an hour later, you understand the system Gradually, it takes longer and longer to get to the next level. It is the rewards that motivate you to continue “trivial tasks are no longer rewarded. The one-click reward disappears, and is gradually replaced by rewards that take more and more clicks to get. And suddenly, some of us find ourselves clicking away for hours in front of a forge or jewellery kit.” 32

Uses random ratio schedule. “Both melee and trade skill points increase after a random number of attempts. You know you won’t get skill points unless you practice the skill, but you don’t know how many attempts it will take to get another skill point.” “A completely transparent experience points system would be a fixed ratio schedule because you have a very good grasp of how many more solo kills it takes to gain a level.” – would that work? 33

Creating Drama in Games (Le Blanc): Drama is tension, created through conflict Conflict in games is created: ▫Uncertainty of outcome: you don’t know if you are going to win or who is going to win ▫Inevitability of resolution: you know there is an end 34

Systems for producing Uncertainty Feedback systems ▫Negative: make score between players closer to zero ▫Positive: make score between players as large as possible 35

Systems for producing Uncertainty Escalation: more points towards the end (e.g., Jeopardy) Hidden energy Fog of War (not everything is revealed) Decelerator: an obstacle that slows player down late in the game Cashing out: reset to zero, e.g. rounds in fighting games 36

Systems for producing Inevitability Ticking clock 37

Industry Involvement Increase Motivation and Knowledge Seeking 38

For Camps hosted in cities away from Vancouver, we bring professionals to talk to kids through skype 39

“making the experience immersive, sounds lighting, everything. I also have a much greater respect for the difficult process of game design/creation” “Coding and style of coding because nothing works if you can't code correctly” “How to program and produce something in a group” “Game design concepts in general” 40

Science Ends With HUMANITY

Questions? Dr. Magy Seif El-Nasr: Dr. Tony Maygoli: 42