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Best Practices for an Effective Design and Evaluation of Serious Games
Serious games serve as a critical tool for professional development and education, yet the industry suffers from a lack of standardized methodologies for their design and evaluation.
- Serious games must integrate pedagogical frameworks like constructivism, experiential learning, and Bloom’s taxonomy to ensure game mechanics actively support specific educational goals rather than serving as aesthetic overlays.
- Effective design requires a structured three-phase facilitation process consisting of briefing, gaming, and debriefing to reinforce complex concepts.
- To improve usability and learning outcomes, developers should prioritize meaningful context and reduce cognitive load through intuitive user interface design.
Affordances - How Design Teaches Us Without Words - Extra Credits
Affordance serves as a fundamental principle in design, describing how the physical or visual properties of an object intuitively communicate its function to a user without the need for explicit instruction.
- Affordance is the design principle of using an object's physical or visual properties to intuitively communicate its function to the user without explicit instruction.
- Designers bridge the gap between virtual and real-world experiences by leveraging existing physiological and cultural associations to make complex game systems feel natural.
- Effective use of affordance reduces player cognitive load, allowing for seamless interaction with game mechanics rather than requiring the memorization of abstract rules or mathematical formulas.
Monetizer: Epic Empire
Epic Empire, developed by Pocket Gems, represents a strategic attempt to innovate within the mobile city-building genre by shifting the primary focus from army management to individual character progression.
- Pocket Gems' Epic Empire pivots the mobile city-building genre away from traditional army management by focusing on individual character progression and light RPG mechanics.
- The game utilizes a hard currency system called 'star stones' with seven distinct in-app purchase price points ranging from $1 to $100.
- Hard currency to soft resource conversion is relativistic, meaning the amount of gold received is scaled based on the player's current storehouse capacity.
You have to get out there and network says Alistair Aitcheson
Independent game development requires a multifaceted approach where creators must balance coding, design, and business operations as a one-man operation.
- Independent developers must prioritize networking at industry conferences to secure press coverage, identify personal development gaps, and build long-term business relationships.
- The mobile gaming market suffers from poor discoverability, forcing developers to aggressively promote their titles because app stores provide limited visibility for independent projects.
- To overcome passive consumer discovery habits in mobile gaming, developers must proactively communicate a unique value proposition to differentiate their products in a saturated market.
Discovery is a challenge but one we can overcome says QuizTiz's Albert Marshall
The mobile gaming landscape presents significant hurdles for independent developers, particularly regarding user acquisition and game discovery.
- Game discovery remains the primary challenge for mobile developers due to the high volume of new titles entering the market.
- QuizTix is targeting a broad demographic of smartphone users who do not identify as traditional gamers to expand their market reach.
- Successful user acquisition requires a hybrid strategy that balances traditional PR and marketing with data-driven analytics.
Get into HTML5 and WebGL now to solve distribution, says Goo's Sara Lempiäinen
HTML5 and WebGL represent a critical evolution for the gaming industry, offering a viable solution to the persistent challenge of game distribution.
- HTML5 and WebGL provide a strategic alternative to mobile app stores, allowing developers to bypass market saturation and reach users directly through browsers.
- Browser-based gaming functions as a viral distribution funnel, enabling the rapid sharing of game demos or levels to drive interest in full-title downloads.
- Industry-wide adoption of web standards is currently limited by developer skepticism regarding the maturity and reliability of these technologies.
Distimo's Richard Pidgeon on the importance of data
Market intelligence firms play a critical role in the mobile gaming ecosystem by providing essential data analytics to publishers and developers.
- Market intelligence firms provide essential performance metrics and benchmarks that allow mobile game developers to transition from raw data to actionable product strategies.
- The analytics sector is currently experiencing growth driven by an increased demand for granular data specifically focused on user acquisition and conversion tracking.
- To improve usability, analytics providers are innovating by implementing real-time leaderboards and intuitive interfaces that help independent developers identify the specific sources of their traffic and revenue.
The Magic Circle - How Games Transport Us to New Worlds - Extra Credits
The magic circle represents a fundamental psychological boundary that allows individuals to suspend disbelief and enter an agreed-upon, fictional reality.
- The 'magic circle' is a psychological boundary that allows players to suspend disbelief and treat fictional narratives as emotionally significant experiences.
- Designers facilitate entry into the magic circle by using sensory cues to sever the player's connection to mundane, real-world distractions.
- Audio design serves as a primary tool for immersion, signaling to the player that it is safe to emotionally engage with the game's narrative.
Games You Might Not Have Tried: Digital Collectable Games - Find New Games - Extra Credits
This overview explores the landscape of digital collectible games on mobile and tablet platforms, focusing on titles that demonstrate innovative ways to integrate collectibility into various gameplay genres.
- Digital collectible games are successfully evolving beyond traditional card-based mechanics by integrating collectibility into diverse genres including tower defense, match-three puzzles, trivia, and real-time strategy.
- Developers are leveraging digital-only platforms to create combat structures and mechanics, such as those seen in Tyrant Unleashed, that would be physically impractical or impossible to replicate in a traditional trading card game format.
- Hybrid gameplay models are becoming a standard design strategy, exemplified by titles like Puzzle & Dragons and Puzzle Trooper, which utilize collectible monster systems to drive engagement in match-three puzzle loops.
How PG Connects' Indie track can make a real difference
The Pocket Gamer Connects 2014 indie track aims to provide independent developers with actionable insights to navigate an increasingly challenging industry landscape.
- The PG Connects 2014 indie track focuses on three core pillars: maintaining creative integrity, building sustainable business models, and implementing ethical monetization strategies.
- The curriculum is designed to help independent developers scale their concepts into long-term, viable enterprises without compromising their original creative vision.
- The program emphasizes the intersection of game design and revenue, advocating for monetization models that prioritize player experience and delight over simple value extraction.
Mobile is the dominant driver for the game's industry say Applifier's CEO
Mobile gaming is rapidly emerging as the primary growth engine for the global interactive entertainment sector, with projections indicating the market will expand from $13 billion in 2013 to $22 billion by 2015.
- The mobile gaming market is projected to grow from $13 billion in 2013 to $22 billion by 2015, establishing it as the primary growth engine for the interactive entertainment sector.
- The influx of console-quality development talent into the mobile space is shifting the industry focus from casual titles toward more complex, mid-core, and core gaming experiences.
- Mobile platforms are increasingly characterized by a winner-take-all environment, where app store saturation makes content discoverability a critical structural challenge for developers.
Let your players play against their friends, says Nextpeer
The mobile gaming industry is undergoing a fundamental shift where social integration has become a prerequisite for commercial success.
- Social integration is now a prerequisite for commercial success in mobile gaming, as top-performing titles like Candy Crush and Clash of Clans rely on these features to drive engagement and visibility.
- Games lacking competitive and social interaction tools face significant hurdles in user acquisition because players are less likely to recommend solitary experiences to their peers.
- Social features create a self-sustaining growth cycle by generating organic downloads and increasing the probability of being featured in app stores.