Defining Independent Games, Serious Games, and Simulation

1. Defining Independent Games, Serious Games, and Simulation Digital Right Management & Content Development

2. OVERVIEW • Defining Independent Games, Serious Games, and Simulations • Setting up Game Development • Determining Project Goals • Game Design—The Creative • Game Design—The Technical • Production and Authoring • The Finish Line • Digital Right Management

3. Defining Independent Games, Serious Games, and Simulations • The term independent games borrows from the term independent film • In the film industry, independent films refer to: • films not made under the auspices of major studios (Fox, Paramount, Sony, etc.) or “mini-major” studios (Lionsgate, NuImage,etc.). Funded outside the studio system • Low budgetfilms • more creative freedom

4. Independent Games • independent games refer to either entertainment game or seriousgame titles created by independent companies with limited resources, operatingoutside the mainstream game publishing industry (Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony, Activision, etc.).

5. Independent Games (2) • A.K.A Indie games or garage games • Some of the most successful independent games: • Portal, now distributed by Valve Steam (who also distributed Half-Life); Portalbegan as an independent game called Narbacular Drop, created by students atthe DigiPen Institute of Technology • World of Goo, developed by 2D Boy, an independent game startup • Braid, developed by Jonathan Blow and now distributed via the Xbox LiveArcade service and by Valve Steam

6. Independent Games (3) • Barriers: • Budget sewa kantor, gaji pegawai, dan other expenses harus mencukupi creative visions • While seeking licensing on its intellectualproperty, what can an independent game company do to generate revenue? • Although the Internet is a tremendous distribution platform, it’s also an environment whose users are oftenreluctant to pay money for a product.

7. Independent Games (4) • Opportunity: • independent game companies now look to producing seriousgames or simulations for corporate and nonprofit clients

8. Serious Games • Definition: “the use of games and gaming dynamics for non-entertainment purposes.” (Marketing and technology research company Forrester Research)

9. Serious Games (2) • Objectives: “powerful contexts for learning because they makeit possible to create virtual worlds, and because acting in such worlds makes itpossible to develop the situated understandings, effective social practices, powerfulidentities, shared values, and ways of thinking of important communities of practice.” (University of Wisconsinresearchers)

13. Serious Games (3) • In general, serious games are designed to act as conduits for each of the following: 1. The transfer and reinforcement of knowledge and skills 2. Persuasive techniques and content aimed at changing social or personal behavior(this would include games that promote, market, and recruit)

14. Serious Games (4) • serious games have become increasingly popular in: • Education, • Industrial, • emergency training, • efforts for social betterment, and • marketing.

15. Serious Games (5) • Applications for serious games include: • occupational training, • disaster and emergencypreparation, • leadership and crisis management, • primary and secondaryeducation across the liberal arts and sciences, • behavioral and social change, and • advertising, recruiting, and activist persuasion.

16. Serious Games vsE-Learning Applications • E-Learning Application: • designation for virtual delivery ofclassroom experiences (lecturing, discussions, assignments, and testing). • where an e-learning application will adopt so many game tools that it evolves into a serious game. • E-learning app bukan serious games, tapi dalam e-learning app kemungkinan ada serious games

17. Serious Games vs E-Learning Applications(2) • Serious Games: • Learning, persuasive, or promotional applications thatadopt game formats, structure, functionality, and interactions and attemptto be fun to at least some degree. • Serious games bisa digunakan untuk membantu penjelasan dalam e-learning app

18. Simulation • a simulation as a virtual environment that attempts to accurately replicate (i.e., model) a task orexperience for specific training or educational purposes. • create virtual world environments for: • Physical and human interaction • decisionmakingprocesses, • often in risky or dangerous situations and occupations.

19. Simulation (3) • Human interaction: • evacuation • decisionmakingprocesses: • Employee training/recruitment • risky or dangerous situations and occupations: • Flight simulator • Construction simulator

20. Simulation (2) • We are often asked whethersimulations are games? • Here’s our best answer. Some simulations are extremely open-ended, with little in the way of gameelements, a game being a closed environment with (1) clearly stated rules, (2) clearly understood goals, and (3) measurements of success or failure in achieving goals.

21. Summary • Independent games are low-budget entertainment or serious games developedby small companies outside the mainstream game studio and game publishing industries. • Serious games (with rare exceptions) are developed outside the mainstream gamestudio and game publishing industries with the intent to teach, persuade, or promoteusing established videogame dynamics.

22. Summary (2) • Various categories and subsets of serious games have emerged, including simulations,which create virtual world environments that model actions and decisionmakingprocesses, often in risky or dangerous situations and occupations.

23. Summary (3) • Serious games and e-learning applications are two terms that are sometimes usedinterchangeably because the line between the two has begun to blur. We focuses on serious games, rather than e-learning.

24. Let’s go make a game!