Carly A. Kocurek

Game Design as Technical Communication: Articulating Game Design Through Textbooks

ABSTRACT This article examines the framing of the designer’s role in game development in textbooks published and circulated over the past decade. The authors investigate the discursive ways coding is downplayed within game design texts as a means of promoting design as a form of creative expression. This speaks to ongoing tension in the games industry of coding and technology versus art. The authors argue that, in their presentation of game design, leading textbooks attempt to frame the field as one of artistry and technical practice, presenting game design as a type of technical communication. The authors ultimately consider the potential and pitfalls of considering game design as a technical communication field and suggest that this framing presents lens for considering the recently professionalized field.

Principles for educational game development for young children

Abstract The use of media devices such as tablets is increasing with 41% of children engaged in more than two hours of screen time per day. The number of educational games has also significantly increased but little has been to done to assess the effectiveness and validity. Given the increase in access and use of devices, and increased popularity of educational games, a set of principles is needed. We present guiding principles that are useful for the design and development of educational games for children, under 5 years. We provide evidence from child development research findings that games should: (1) be developmentally appropriate content; (2) integrate the theoretical frameworks from the learning science field; (3) embed learning in socially rich contexts; (4) develop diverse content; and (5) create a balance between play and real-world learning opportunities. We build the principles around a hypothetical educational game designed to facilitate language development.

Olive Dreams of Elephants: Game-Based Learning for School Readiness and Pre-literacy in Young Children

School readiness remains a major challenge in the United States educational system. Research consistently shows significant disparities in pre-literacy skills and language acquisition based on socioeconomic class emerging within the first 18 months of childhood. Simultaneously, access to media devices such as smart phones and tablets is increasing, even among very young children. New guidelines suggest that those as young as two years of age can safely use these types of devices for up to two hours a day. Effective educational interventions for preschoolers have been developed using a variety of media, including computer games, suggesting that earlier interventions may be both possible and effective. We begin by providing a critical context that considers the importance of early-childhood language acquisition for two to three year old children. Then, we present a Science-Fiction Prototype that explores the possibilities of a sophisticated system to enhance school readiness and educational and economic opportunity.

Who hearkens to the monster’s scream? Death, violence and the veil of the monstrous in video games

Alternative blood is a practice in video games in which on-screen characters bleed green or other off-coloured blood when killed. The practice, intended to minimise in-game violence and reduce the depiction of gore, has become common since the release of Carmageddon (1997) and can be deployed as a means of either placating ratings boards and censors or offering players greater in-game choice, as in the case of Serious Sam 3 (2011). This article suggests that alternative blood and the more general depiction of on-screen targets as ‘monstrous’ as currently deployed in video games often serves to dehumanise the familiar and limit the presentation of death. Instances from video games in the horror, Western and war genres are examined and placed in a context that considers the history of these genres and of thematically related propaganda. This analysis suggests that the justification of deaths through alternative blood and monstrousness may not dampen the impact of violence in the way that developers and moral guardians might assume. Ultimately, this article argues that the desire to minimise the impact of in-game deaths by rendering victims as ‘monsters’ enacts a type of cultural violence by dehumanising them. This aesthetic dehumanisation of in-game victims echoes propaganda strategies used to justify historical violence and may have negative social consequences and should be further studied.