e-learning games and games in general

 Natasha Skult, CEO, MiTale, E-learning games

Firstly, all people experience media differently, even in movies that are a linear experience, everything about us makes it a different experience. There's a reason someone might love a movie you thought was horribly made, or hating a movie that was a critical success. That was just an example for me to understand this better. So it's good to get feedback, as what you perceive as good may be not so pleasant to other people.

Images stay in our mind longer than other mediums, so utilizing symbolisms and visual storytelling is great in games.

E-learning

E-learning is not about removing the teacher, but rather give them tools and making teaching easier. Working on learning games it should be collaborating with the teacher, so the game developers understand what is most effective and teachers can learn about games. 

Premium generally works better than free to play for school games. Specially to school children, parents don't want kids to pay for skills etc.  Free to play works better for free time, and it can still be educational game.

E-learning games can be many things, like Lifesaver, interactive film about cardiac arrest to see if the player would know what to do in real life situation. It can be utilized with children and adults to support learning. 

Working on IP

Working on existing IP has good and bad sides. You need to work with the IP holders so you give the right image of the IP to the audience, and it gives limitations to the developers. 

Players should be aware ->

• Where I am?
• If player feels constantly that they are lost, it is not enjoyable gameplay.
• What I am doing?
• This is a tricky one, as there is huge variety between having games guide the players too much, and then games where players feel like they need more guidance. I think it is genre specific and target group specific how much you'll guide your players. 
• What are they supposed to do?
• Similar point as previous.
• Did my choice of action succeed or not
• If the player cannot get any confirmation from their gameplay, let's say a sound of click when opening a safe, they might keep on trying even when their safe was already open.
• Do I have what is needed to play successfully
• If player easily misses items to needed to get through game it is not good design
• Am I in danger of losing the game?
• Let's say visible information if character is not well, visible information if you are about to lose a puzzle.
• Am I progressing towards victory?
• I think this is similar as, 'where I am?', if player gets stuck or they can't tell whether they are working on a side quest or main quest of the game the information hasn't been conveyed enough to the player.

These are one of the reasons why it's important to do testing with games, so you'll know how the player is going through the game, will they get stuck? Is the information conveyed clearly enough?

Remember genre expectations when working in certain genre, players who have previous experience with same genre will expect certain way the game will go through. Of course it is possible to play with the limits of the genre, but when playing with the rules it is important to know the rules.

Why do we play?

It is to have fun and fulfil inner desires, like being a soldier, wizard, good guy and bad guy etc. This doesn't mean you want to be a bad guy in your life, just have the freedom to experience these in a safe environment without actually hurting anyone. 

What motivates the player to keep playing? Contests, like test of skill, achievements (can be personal achievements), status & rank, self-expression with how player character looks like with gear and different skins. Altruism and solution finding.

Discovery motivations

• start of the journey
• onboarding
• learning the moves and tools of the game
• scaffolding
• regular journey of repeated actions towards the goal (upgrades, achievements)
• endgame
• conclusion and beyond (sequel baiting, but conclusion is still important)

Imagine a game (what it should be about) -> define how it works (how things work in the game world) -> describe the elements that it uses -> convey the information to others (make sure other people understand it, not just you)

Gameplay

• Gameplay= Challenges + actions
• Challenges = Goals of the game
• immediate goals 
• For example, getting more hit points, getting a collectable item etc.
• victory conditions 
• End goal.

Actions = verbs of the game, players options

Think about how the actions are assigned to input devices (for example multiple platforms, the experience of the UI should still feel similar)

Also actions that are not related to the challenges (customization, creative play, etc.)

Genre-specific design, each genres have practices, you should combine and use these. Innovation can happen from mixing genres. 

Platform specific design (remembering limitations and possibilities of each platform).

Game should be able to work without certain things, like without audio, for people with disabilities. Being able to customize things like subtitles and changing input keys can be very helpful to players. Inclusivity is important in the future of gaming. 

Game world and rules can be weird, but the world needs to have consistent rules, so they'll make sense.

A game as a therapy tool

Mitale has game called Sanalanka, which is a speech therapy tool to use with speech therapy for children. It is motivating through story-driven adventure gameplay to encourage self-learning. All the speech therapy material is animated, interactive, intuitive and easy to set at any time. Having exercises and games are available with speech recognition 

Learning from mobile games what is motivating to the player as kids like it and combining that to speech therapy tool. Video games can be a visualization too and interactive tool to help learning.

Main takeaways

Games are a new medium that can be utilized to help with people with different aspects, like motivate to exercise, therapy in different forms 

Learn from previous developers, looking at and analyzing what has worked on previous projects can help with your current project. 

Experiment as much as possible, it will help with new ideas.

Prototype and test as fast as you can, so it is easy to see what works and doesn't.

Listening is the key. Be honest to yourself, to your team, ang clients! Everyone needs to be on the same page, everyone should be aware what is possible (to attempt)