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Dr. Magy Seif El-Nasr
Simon Fraser University, Canada
Dr. Tony Maygoli
New Media Research and Education, Canada,
Canada
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Website is
http://www.gamedevcamp.com
• Delivered Workshops since 2004 for High School
and Middle School kids (11 total workshops)
• Taught 13 courses on game design at College Level
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• Managed by NMRAE: New Media Research and
Education
• Delivered Workshops since 2004 for High School and
Middle School kids
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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)
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• In this talk
▫ Scientific thinking through workshops
▫ Scientific Game Design
▫ Workshops
Science Starts With Critical Thinking
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• Learning by doing
• By building games they learn:
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Science of game design
Psychology
Mathematics
Art
Physics
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Play
Fostering Creative and Collaborative Skills
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Concept Design
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Concept Development and Critique
Game Design and Programming Process
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Critique
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 Few courses that I have been teaching:
 Math
 Physics
 Chemistry
 Critical thinking
 Guitar
 Bass guitar
 Piano
 Keyboard
 Music theory
 Painting
 Poetry
 Calligraphy
 Cooking
 Renovation
 ESL
Finance
Business
Real Estate
Stocks
Forex
Kung fu
Karate
Budo
Judo
Kendo
Swimming
Chess
Badminton
Game design
Early retirement
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Few Important Facts and Conclusions:
Teacher
Knowledge
System
Student
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Few Important Facts:
 Science is NOT tangible for students
 We (teachers) have no LEVERAGE
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What do we teach them?
• Critical Thinking
• Math
• Geometry
• Physics
• Programming
• Storytelling
• Art
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 Mathematical Thinking: Math, Geometry, Animation
X=0,y=0
-y
X=624,y=0
ROOM
X=0,y=464
X=624,y=464
-x
x
y
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X=624
y=0
X=0
y=0
ROOM
0,464
X=0
y=464
X=624
y=464
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X=624
y=0
X=0
y=0
ROOM
300,464
?,?
X=0
y=464
X=624
y=464
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X=624
y=0
X=0
y=0
ROOM
0,464
X=0
y=464
X=624
y=464
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X=624
y=0
X=0
y=0
d=√(x12 + y12 )
?
b
ROOM
y1
X=0
y=464
a
x1
Move the dog step by step in the game for the distance (d)
X=624
y=464
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X=624
y=0
X=0
y=0
ROOM
X=0
y=464
X=624
y=464
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X=624
y=0
X=0
y=0
ROOM
v=g*t
X=0
y=464
X=624
y=464
velocity v of a falling object from the falling time point
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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)
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 Computer Science: Programming
 Statements
 Variables
 Conditionals
 Functions
 Loops
 Events
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 Computer Science: Parallel processing, event
programming, Object Oriented Programming
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 Arts: Architecture design, map design, visual
composition, lighting, camera movement, etc.
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Scientific Principles of Game
Design
5 Principles
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• Game Mechanics:
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Operant conditioning
Creating drama
Directing attention
Navigation
Preparing the users for interaction
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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.
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C. Fabricatore. 2007 . Gameplay and Game mechanics design: a key to quality in video games.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
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 Game Designers use the same techniques to teach
the player what to do in game environments
 Game Level Designers use Variable Ratio for
rewards
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• 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.”
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• 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?
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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
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Systems for producing Uncertainty
• Feedback systems
▫ Negative: make score between players closer to
zero
▫ Positive: make score between players as large as
possible
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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
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Systems for producing Inevitability
• Ticking clock
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Industry Involvement
Increase Motivation and
Knowledge Seeking
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For Camps hosted in cities away from Vancouver,
we bring professionals to talk to kids through skype
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“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”
Science Ends With HUMANITY
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Questions?
Dr. Magy Seif El-Nasr: magy@sfu.ca
Dr. Tony Maygoli: tony@nmrae.com