André Luiz Battaiola

Game Design Recommendations Focusing on Children with Developmental Dyscalculia

Children with Developmental Dyscalculia’s difficulties include those which affect the normal acquisition of arithmetic abilities. In order to improve their mathematic skills, these children are motived by the use of based-game interventions during neuropsychological rehabilitations. These games seek arithmetic training but present several game design constraints, which limit the real possibilities of use specially regarding motivational aspects. This paper presents a combination of studies on neuropsychology and game design to enhance user’s motivation. In order to achieve such purpose, it comprises four steps: literature review, case study, data triangulation, and experts’ evaluation. As a result, we offer a set of game design recommendations focused on user’s motivation. This paper is a result of the first author’s dissertation for the postgraduate program in Design.

Applications of a Roleplaying Game for Qualitative Simulation and Cooperative Situations Related to Supply Chain Management

This article presents the current stage in the development of a serious game. The main goal of this game is to provide an environment where students and professionals can train Supply Chain Management (SCM) accordingly to a qualitative point-of-view. The Serious Game consists of a Roleplaying Game system for SCM training and simulation, where players simulate, as characters, organizations placed into a Supply Chain with mutual interdependence relationships. During the play session, players respond to situations faced in a simulated organizational setting (a market, a producer or consumer of goods and services) and experience the challenges of an organizational environment. The research method consisted of four consecutive phases: research, development, application and evaluation of this game. The article concludes pointing future possibilities to use the game system in purposes related to SCM area, such as Quality and Environmental Management, Health and Safety, development of new products and services, among other.

An architecture for rendering Web 3D virtual environments on computers with limited graphic processing power

This paper presents an architecture for 3D virtual environment rendering on the Web applied to computers with limited capacity for graphics processing, which do not have a GPU for rendering the virtual environment. 3D rendering of the scene is done remotely, on demand, and employs 3D warping technique for generating views locally in the client. Thus, the client is able to render new views while waiting for data requested to the server or even when there are problems in the transmission or receiving delay. The proposed architecture allows the virtual environment rendering using residual images, which make the data transmission between client and server more efficient since less information is sent when compared to complete frames rendered from the 3D model. A method for taking advantage of the residual images received by clients is proposed and implemented, improving the quality of the resulting views instead of being discarded. Furthermore, an approach to reducing the quality degradation problem of the views locally rendered in the client is presented.

Educational Digital Games: A Theoretical Framework About Design Models, Learning Theories and User Experience

This article presents a study on design models for Educational Digital Games, taking into account learning theories, game design models, game elements and user experience. Through a theoretical framework the research seeks to understand the different perspectives involved in these models, considering the interdisciplinary character of the developer teams and their target users. The aim of the research is to identify similarities, differences, and gaps between the models investigated. Thus, a literature review was conducted and four models for analysis were identified. As a method, both a comparative and a qualitative analysis of these models were used, based on a data analysis spiral combined with an analysis protocol. The analysis sought to identify pedagogical approaches, instructional design aspects and other elements involved in the design process. Game elements and user experience were also considered relevant for the analysis. As a result, this research presents a hybrid model which complements the analyzed models, using the investigated framework as a structural basis to assist developers and content specialists when designing educational digital games for teachers and students, according to the learning objectives and the theme addressed in the game. Finally, this article presents a brief analysis of the results obtained and considers how the present study may contribute to future investigations.

Distinctive features and game design

Abstract Research on how to design better games is ongoing, and it can benefit from theoretical frameworks, such as the Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics (MDA) model, and the Distinctive Feature (DF) framework, that we proposed in a previous paper. This paper presents further research about the DF framework, which was conducted in two distinct phases. In the first phase, we created a tentative inventory of DFs, with focus on strategical analysis characteristics. In the second phase, our focus was on an inventory of DFs able to model cooperative mechanics in games. In both phases, we based our findings on empirical data, collected from participants in extension courses on modern board games. The MDA framework offered a key insight in the analysis of collected data. Accordingly, the results indicate that the MDA framework can be used as a guideline for the development of new DF systems, enabling game designers to create better products.

Canvas to Improve the Design Process of Educational Animation

Educational animation as a resource for learning has proliferated due to the inclusion of technology in schools and the possibilities brought by new media and graphic design software. By using animation for learning this feature gains more stakeholders with different goals (learning and teaching) and becomes a complex product. Aiming this, it is necessary to use auxiliary tools to cover all the functions of the project. The Business Model Generation (BMG) is a tool that displays all stakeholders of a business and their relationships. This article tries to apply the idea of this tool as an auxiliary canvas for creating requirements for animation. For those presents the BMG canvas and proposes a canvas for design educational animations. Finally, to show its uses two animation samples were evaluated by the model built, to demonstrate the ability of the canvas to be used as a tool for collaborative requirements elicitation.