Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Step One: Planning your Goals and Understanding Your Audience

What knowledge do you want your players / learners to share, challenge, or build on?

What skills do you want the learners to strengthen?
o Personal understanding / discovery

o
Team collaboration
o
Technical knowledge
o
Communication
o
Problem solving
o
Critical thinking
What are your learners’ experiences with games or stories? What game-like elements from their
profession or scenarios can you harness for your fiction?
1
Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Portrait of your Player-Learner: Experience / Interests / Motivation
2
Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Step Two: Building the Rabbit Hole
Exercise: Generating Story Ideas with Story Cubes
3
Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Blurring the Lines of an Alternate Reality Game

What story supports your learning objectives?

How can you use your existing learning environment? List your available resources:

How will players find their way down the rabbit hole?
4
Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Step Three: The Bread Crumb Trail (or, Making Puzzles!)

How will you communicate with and respond to the learners?

What information do the learners need to understand the puzzles?

Where will clues be placed in physical or virtual environments?

How will the actions and choices of learners change your story?
5
Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Step Four: The Final Obstacle (or, the Climax!)

How will you communicate with and respond to the learners?

How do the previous puzzles combine to create the final challenge?

How can you provide feedback and responsiveness to their solution?

What will provide the players with completion and satisfaction? (How does the story end?)
6
Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Step Five: Reflection and Transference of Skills

What follow-up activities can you plan to clarify the outcome and debrief?

How will you assess transference of learned skills?
7
Altering Reality through Play
NASAGA 2013 Workshop
Anastasia Salter
Full examples from Prezi



Games Invasion — http://thatcampgames.org/invasion/
THATCamp Quest — http://quest.thatcampgames.org/
THATCamp Games 2013 - http://writer.inklestudios.com/stories/d6q9
Other Example Games













A.I. - http://bangaloreworldu-in.co.cloudmakers.org/salla/default.html /
Cloudmakers - http://cloudmakers.org/
Perplex City - http://wayback.perplexcitystories.com/
Arcane Gallery of Gadgetry - http://www.arcanegalleryofgadgetry.org/
Body Mind Change - http://www.bodymindchange.ca/welcome/
The Optimist - http://optimist.disney.com/
Lizzie Bennet Diaries http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KisuGP2lcPs
I Love Bees - http://ilovebees.com/
The Institute - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnJIA7oqqcM
WhySoSerious http://whysoserious.com/
Joker's Phone Number http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB4luSNxHl8
Joker pictures http://www.rorysdeathkiss.com/display.aspx?cat=1&set=2&list=2483
Zombies, Run https://www.zombiesrungame.com/
Design Resources






Alternate Reality Gaming Network – http://www.argn.com/
Think Transmedia – http://www.thinktransmedia.org/
Types of ARGs http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/01/03/alternate_reality_games_genres_and.htm
ARG Puzzle Design - http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AdamFoster/20130617/194321/
Designing the Puzzle - http://www.scottkim.com/thinkinggames/GDC00/bates.html
On The Optimist - http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/20/4639110/the-optimist-disneyimagineerings-push-to-bring-alternate-reality
8