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WhitepaperFoundations of Digital Games (FDG)11 Apr 2023

Promotypes: Prototyping Games for a University Game Production Pipeline

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
Academic game development frequently suffers from overscoping and feature creep because designers often prioritize personal standards of polish and 'good game' aesthetics over the project's original, limited remit.See it on page 7
02
The Aalto University Game Production Pipeline (GPP) project demonstrated that academic developers often struggle to balance the tension between educational learning goals and the practical constraints of low-budget, short-term production cycles.See it on page 1
03
Academic game designers often fall into the trap of assuming that high levels of visual realism or complex mechanics will inherently improve learning outcomes, despite such features significantly increasing cognitive load and development time.See it on page 7
04
The lack of professional game development resources in university settings necessitates a shift toward purposefully limited, smaller-scale prototypes to ensure projects remain viable within constrained budgets and timelines.See it on page 1
05
Recording the development process through design diaries, GitHub commits, and meeting notes is essential for academic institutions to build a knowledge base that helps future developers better estimate task duration and manage project scope.See it on page 7
06
The friction between academic educators and game developers often leads to misaligned expectations regarding tone and content, such as the tension between an educator's desire for positive character portrayals and a designer's inclination toward darker, more complex narrative themes.See it on page 7

Summary

Promotypes - Prototyping Games for a University Game Edward Morrell Annakaisa Kultima Aalto University Aalto University Helsinki, Finland Helsinki, Finland [email protected] [email protected] Ylva Grufstedt Tomi Kauppinen Malmö University Aalto University Malmö, Sweden Helsinki, Finland [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT ...

Promotypes: Prototyping Games for a University Game Production Pipeline

Promotypes: Prototyping Games for a University Game Production Pipeline

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