Week 4, Assignment #1: Gaming Elements

The game: School Tycoon. The player has to create a school where the teachers and the students are happy. Beware of fire, storms, trouble makers, and unhappy janitors! :)

1-      Gaming Elements:

Text- Many games provide texts in the form of balloons or dialog boxes. The player must identify the main idea of the text provided. They must make connections between the text, the game, and the context. This is an ongoing transactional process. Additionally, the player uses previous knowledge of the game to critically analyze the text provided and make choices and draw conclusions about a better way to play based on that. In this game, the text appears on the top of the screen to notify the gamer of impending disasters, teachers that quit, new students, and so on. Additionally, the player can read the students’ and teachers’ thoughts to make changes in the game. A school newspaper is given out as well.

Visual-graphic: Players need to learn how to draw information and meaning from the graphics and animations that are displayed. Gamers have to learn to see things from different perspectives and respond to changes in the setting and surroundings. In fact, studies show that video games players had a greater ability to detect new information in visual settings. They also were able to demonstrate faster stimulus-response mappings for processing visual search tasks. In this game, the player can have a bird’s eye view and the view from a student’s perspective. This can help the player make changes and act accordingly.

Audio: Sounds create a more realistic atmosphere. Some sounds cue gamers to react to new occurrences and information in the game as well. Sounds of classrooms, ringing bells, school buses and so on help put the player in the right mindset. Additionally, sounds can alert the player to an upcoming storm, a fire, or a change in schedule.

2-      The goal of the game is to create a school where the teachers and students are happy, the academics, sports, facilities, and morale all rank high, and the school is not in debt. There are also specific requirements based on the rank and the level of the game.

3-      There are no specific rules. The gamer can create students, fire teachers, demolish and build buildings. However, the school must be kept in the green and the requirements met within and certain time frame.

4-      This game has scenario design and embedded in curriculum based content. The students need to be familiar with the dynamics of a school, have leadership capabilities, and critical thinking and decision making.