game on and be playful! creating games and digital toys for your museum

Sharna Jackson Tate @sharnajackson Danny Birchall Wellcome Collection @dannybirchall

today Introductions Why make games and toys? Games from our sector The Game Design Document Exercise 1: Your target audience Exercise 2: Learning objectives Exercise 3: The game idea BREAK Collaboration: internal buy-in/working with agencies Exercise 4: Key mechanics Review Exercise 5: Vision statement Sharing and reflection Summing up: Get your game on!

introducing ourselves

who you are your institution, or favourite museum

your favourite toy or game what you’d like to get out of today

why make games and toys?

Communication

‘Stickiness’

Self-expression

Unlock collections

Reaching the unreachable

Fun?

games from our sector

guess who?

Code Fred: Survival Mode Museum of Science + Industry

Chicago

Wondermind Tate

Axon Wellcome Collection

Street Art Tate

Art Game Lab SFMOMA

Cuboom Tate

Wolf Quest Minnesota Zoo

the Game Design Document

High Tea, Wellcome Collection

Gamers. by Mikal.Danielle, on Flickr

Learning, by College Degrees360 on Flickr

exercises

#1: Target audience #2: Learning objectives #3: Game idea #4: Key mechanics #5: Vision

Exercise # 1 target audience

1) Form a team!

2) Who is your game for?

3) What do you know about this audience?

5 minutes

Exercise # 2 Learning objectives

1) What does the player learn from the game?

2) Formal or informal learning?

3) Be specific!

5 minutes

Who’s the Pest? Wellcome Collection

Exercise # 3 the game idea

1) Use the object cards as inspiration

2) Filter through audience & objectives

3) Describe the world of the game

15 minutes

time for tea

Welcome back!

Collaboration

Working internally

Working externally

What can we learn from agencies?

“Don’t underestimate the time and money creating standout games require. It’s an expensive business but can generate great levels of interest if done right.”

Paul Canty Preloaded @paulcanty

“Also, be absolutely clear what you want to get out of a game – whether it be engagement, learning outcomes, dialogue/discussion, brand extension etc.”

Paul Canty Preloaded @paulcanty

“If you’re looking to commission games, it’s of the utmost importance that you understand why you’re doing it. Games are fundamentally different to pretty much every other form of media. The biggest mistake I see is not giving games a clear job to do, or expecting them to do a job they are not suited to.”

Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

“There’s an interesting thing to be said about how story and game (probably) play a zero sum game inside a product.”

Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

“So you can either have a lot of story (and a little game) or little story (and a lot of game).”

Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

“In museum or gallery contexts, there is often a story to be told, so games can sometimes get in the way unless they are designed very carefully, with distinct ‘story’ and ‘game’ phases. Stories tell stories to users. Games let users create their own stories. And they do this via giving users a system to explore – games enable learning through doing, rather than seeing or being told.”

Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

“To boil this down into something small and useful – use stories when you want to tell and games when you want to let others tell.”

Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

Exercise # 4 Key mechanics

1) Use the ‘game genre’ cards to brainstorm

2) Hone down the idea to actions

3) What must the player do?

15 minutes

review!

Exercise # 5 Vision

1) Describe your game in a single sentence

2) What makes it special?

3) What’s the experience?

5 minutes

Sharing game ideas and reflection

Summing up: get your game on!

Thanks for coming!

Sharna Jackson Tate @sharnajackson Danny Birchall Wellcome Collection @dannybirchall