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DiGRA JAPAN

Organization1 report

DiGRA JAPAN is the Japanese chapter of the Digital Games Research Association, an academic society for game studies. It publishes research papers and reports, including work on serious game jams.

Documents

Cover of Lessons Learned from Serious Game Jams
Report6 pages

Lessons Learned from Serious Game Jams

This paper, published by DiGRA Japan in the Proceedings of DiGRA 2020, reflects on eight Serious Game Jams (SGJs) organized since 2014, which together drew 231 attendees.

  • The authors argue that the standard Global Game Jam operational manual, which assumes entertainment-focused development, is poorly suited to serious games, which require participants to thoroughly research the subject matter.
  • Across eight Serious Game Jams held since 2014, the events drew 231 attendees, and the organizers adapted their management approach over successive events based on their serious game development process and learning materials.
  • Key adaptations include specialist lectures before development begins and a pre-development planning stage called "PERA-CON", in which teams are selected from submitted game planning documents, a process that took about 1.5 months at SGJ2 (42 proposals submitted, 6 chosen).
EducationalGame DevelopmentJapan+1
DiGRA JAPANJan 2020