Understanding the Underlying Patterns: Teaching Scientific Thinking through Building Games

1. Understanding theUnderlying Patterns: Teaching Scientific Thinking through Building Games Dr. MagySeif El-Nasr Simon Fraser University, Canada Dr. Tony Maygoli New Media Research and Education, Canada, Canada

2. Website is • http://www.gamedevcamp.com • Delivered Workshops since 2004 for High School and Middle School kids (11 total workshops) • Taught 13 courses on game design at College Level

3. Managed by NMRAE: New Media Research and Education • Delivered Workshops since 2004 for High School and Middle School kids • Penn State University (US) • 3 Schools Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) • Simon Fraser University (Canada) • Vancouver, BC (Canada) • Laguna College of Art and Design (US) • Willamette University, Oregon (US)

4. In this talk • Scientific thinking through workshops • Scientific Game Design • Workshops

5. Science Starts With Critical Thinking

6. Learning by doing • By building games they learn: • Science of game design • Psychology • Mathematics • Art • Physics

7. Play Fostering Creative and Collaborative Skills

8. Concept Design

9. Concept Development and Critique Game Design and Programming Process

10. Critique

11. Few courses that I have been teaching: • Math Finance • Physics Business • Chemistry Real Estate • Critical thinking Stocks • Guitar Forex • Bass guitar Kung fu • Piano Karate • Keyboard Budo • Music theory Judo • Painting Kendo • Poetry Swimming • Calligraphy Chess • Cooking Badminton • Renovation Game design • ESL Early retirement

12. Few Important Facts and Conclusions: Teacher Knowledge System Student

13. Few Important Facts: • Science is NOT tangible for students • We (teachers) have no LEVERAGE

14. What do we teach them? Critical Thinking Math Geometry Physics Programming Storytelling Art

15. Mathematical Thinking: Math, Geometry, Animation -y X=624,y=0 X=0,y=0 ROOM X=0,y=464 X=624,y=464 -x x y

16. X=624y=0 X=0 y=0 ROOM 0,464 X=0 y=464 X=624 y=464

17. X=624y=0 X=0 y=0 ROOM ?,? 300,464 X=0 y=464 X=624 y=464

18. X=624y=0 X=0 y=0 ROOM 0,464 X=0 y=464 X=624 y=464

19. X=624y=0 X=0 y=0 ROOM d=√(x12 + y12 ) b ? y1 X=0 y=464 a x1 X=624 y=464 Move the dog step by step in the game for the distance (d)

20. X=624y=0 X=0 y=0 ROOM X=0 y=464 X=624 y=464

21. X=624y=0 X=0 y=0 ROOM v = g * t X=0 y=464 X=624 y=464 velocity v of a falling object from the falling time point

22. The tools and Programming: In 400-level college classes: • Wildtangent (1) • WarCraftIII (2) • Unreal Tournament 2003/4 (10) For high/middle-school Workshops: • WarCraftIII (4) • Game Maker (5) • RPG Maker (1)

23. Computer Science:Programming • Statements • Variables • Conditionals • Functions • Loops • Events

24. Computer Science: Parallel processing, event programming, Object Oriented Programming

25. Arts: Architecture design, map design, visual composition, lighting, camera movement, etc.

27. Scientific Principles of Game Design 5 Principles

28. Game Mechanics: • Operant conditioning • Creating drama • Directing attention • Navigation • Preparing the users for interaction

29. Skinner (Operant Conditioning): The process of learning behaviors from the environment through consequences. • Positive reinforcement • Negative reinforcement • Punishment • Chaining and shaping • Reward schedule systems reinforcement is the chances of increasing probability of behavior occurrence.

30. C. Fabricatore. 2007 . Gameplay and Game mechanics design: a key to quality in video games. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

31. Game Designers use the same techniques to teach the player what to do in game environments • Game Level Designers use Variable Ratio for rewards

32. At the beginning: things are easy, “you make level 2 in about 5 kills.” By the time you make level 3 half an hour later, you understand the system Gradually, it takes longer and longer to get to the next level. It is the rewards that motivate you to continue “trivial tasks are no longer rewarded. The one-click reward disappears, and is gradually replaced by rewards that take more and more clicks to get. And suddenly, some of us find ourselves clicking away for hours in front of a forge or jewellery kit.”

33. Uses random ratio schedule. “Both melee and trade skill points increase after a random number of attempts. You know you won’t get skill points unless you practice the skill, but you don’t know how many attempts it will take to get another skill point.” “A completely transparent experience points system would be a fixed ratio schedule because you have a very good grasp of how many more solo kills it takes to gain a level.” – would that work?

34. Drama is tension, created through conflict • Conflict in games is created: • Uncertainty of outcome: you don’t know if you are going to win or who is going to win • Inevitability of resolution: you know there is an end Creating Drama in Games (Le Blanc):

35. Feedback systems • Negative: make score between players closer to zero • Positive: make score between players as large as possible Systems for producing Uncertainty

36. Escalation: more points towards the end (e.g., Jeopardy) Hidden energy Fog of War (not everything is revealed) Decelerator: an obstacle that slows player down late in the game Cashing out:reset to zero, e.g. rounds in fighting games Systems for producing Uncertainty

37. Ticking clock Systems for producing Inevitability

38. Industry Involvement Increase Motivation and Knowledge Seeking

39. For Camps hosted in cities away from Vancouver, we bring professionals to talk to kids through skype

40. “making the experience immersive, sounds lighting, everything. I also have a much greater respect for the difficult process of game design/creation” “Coding and style of coding because nothing works if you can't code correctly” “How to program and produce something in a group” “Game design concepts in general”

41. Science Ends With HUMANITY

42. Questions? Dr. MagySeif El-Nasr: magy@sfu.ca Dr. Tony Maygoli: tony@nmrae.com