Gamewise Magazine

GameWise

Event!

The student group decided to go on another

path. Spin a goal tile one time.

MAGAZINE

- Project based education

- Delivering a group project unit

- iCamp46 – no ordinary game

- Becoming gamewise

- 4 Keys to a Memorable University Experience

| 2 | 2 GameWise

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GameWise


GameWise Magazine

is a part of the Leonardo project

Gamewise

List of contributors:

Viden Djurs, Denmark

The University of Bournemouth,

United Kingdom

FuN (Flexible Education Norway),

Norway

Aarhus Social and Health Care College,

Denmark

La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull,

Spain

HKU University of the Arts Utrecht,

The Netherlands

List of associated partners

Computerspilzonen, Denmark

Art Futura, Spain

3D Labs, Spain

Dutch Game Garden, Netherlands

TIGA, UK

Published 2014, Oslo, Norway.

This magazine is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-Non-

Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK:

England & Wales License.

The GameWise project has been

funded with support from the European

Commission. The articles in this

magazine refl ect only the views of the

authors, and the Commission cannot

be held responsible for any use which

may be made of the information

contained herein.

http://game-wise.eu/

ISBN-978-82-91766-32-4

Illustrations by HKU University of the

Arts Utrecht, The Netherlands

Istock and Ebba Køber, FuN

Photo by Istock, Creative Commons

and The Contributing Partners

AD Ebba Køber, FuN

Game WiseMagazine

- Becoming Gamwise- 4 Keys to a Memorable university Experience- iCamp46 - no ordinary game- About project education

About Hexigo: the GameWise Game

Hexigo is a collaborative game developed by a third year student team,

consisting of game designers, interaction designers and game artists from

HKU Games and Interaction. The GameWise project organisation acted as

the real world client for the student team.

The goal of Hexigo is to defi ne the deliverables of a student project

and execute and fi nish the project before the deadline catches up. The

game is meant to be played by teachers from an educational institution

and potential clients together, but it can also be played by teachers and

students.

The aim of the game is to give the players insight into the dynamics of a

student project, the roles and infl uence of teachers, students and clients.

The game is meant to function as a conversation piece to discuss the

possibilities, pitfalls and opportunities of executing a student project with a

real world client.

You can fi nd more information about the game on the Gamewise website

(http://game-wise.eu/gw-game/). If you are interested in playing the game

yourself, please contact one of the Gamewise partners.

3 | 3 | GameWise


Wise up your game!By Mikkel Lodahl, Viden Djurs Denmark

Welcome to the O� cial GameWise

Europe Magazine!

In here you will fi nd inspiring stories from all over Western

Europe to inspire and assist you in bringing the world of

education and the world of labour closer to each other.

What is GameWise?

The GameWise Europe Project is a project funded by the

Lifelong Learning Programme in the EU. The project involves

bringing teachers from Bournemouth University in the UK and

Viden Djurs in Denmark together with teachers at La Salle de

Ruiz in Spain and HKU in Holland to transfer knowledge across

borders.

What knowledge, though? The knowledge needed to

construct courses and educational environments that facilitate

a closer corporation between businesses and students to the

benefi t of both sectors.

The businesses of today and tomorrow require employees

who can show initiative and entrepreneurial spirit at all levels.

To facilitate this, education needs to focus on instilling a sense

of agency in students, rather than a sense of mechanical

obedience. Doing what you are asked to do is no longer

enough – you must formulate problems and solutions of your

own accord.

What will you fi nd here?

In this magazine, you will fi nd articles detailing the principles

used at La Salle de Ruiz and HKU as well as articles detailing how

these principles have been applied in the UK and Denmark.

The article from La Salle de Ruiz details the emerging fi eld of

gamifi cation, and how and why the use of priciples from game

design can promote engagement and agency in students. The

article from HKU details lessons learned from years of working

closely with the world of business in an education entirely

based on project work, where students come up with real

solutions to real problems.

The article from Viden Djurs details the weeklong student

activity iCamp46 – the biggest gamifi cation event in education

ever, inspired by the practices at La Salle de Ruiz. The article

from Bournemouth University shows how an existing course

can be adapted to more closely involve the external briefs from

clients for team-based assignments.

Finally, an article detailing the complete re-organisation of

all courses at Erhvervsakademi Dania in Grenaa – an higher

education institution working closely with Viden Djurs – to

follow the GameWise Europe Model, shows the potential for

dissemination of the GameWise Europe Model on a larger scale.

Why is it useful?

This magazine is an invitation for you to begin re-thinking the

relationship between business and education. All of the articles

are expanded upon and supplemented with tools, sample

courses and more at the GameWise Europe website: http://

game-wise.eu. Even more, we strongly encourage you to

contact us with any questions and thoughts that can help us all

move forward towards better cohesion between business and

education.

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The projects are focussed on a diversity of relevant

socials domains, for example healthcare, cultural

heritage, mobility, entertainment and education.

Examples of commissioned projects are the Nederlands

Openlucht Museum (Dutch Open Air Museum, a

historical museum), energy company Nuon, De

Efteling (entertainment park), Guerrilla Games, The

University Medical Centre Amsterdam, and broadcasting

companies such as VPRO.

These projects have been very successful both for

the students and sta� as well as for the clients. One

major reason for this succes, is the relevance and the

authenticity of the projects. The success is based on

two major factors: collaboration with the ‘right’ type

of clients who have the right kind of projects, and the

preparation and education of our students. At HKU we

have been conducting these kind of real-life projects

with external organisations for over 15 years. During that

time we have built up a network of partners (as we like

to call the ‘clients’) and have gathered a vast amount of

practical knowledge about the dynamics of executing

student projects.

The right type of clients….

Building a good relationship with (possible) clients

is a challenging, yet rewarding experience. Not all

organisations are the same, so for each potential client

you, as an educational institution, need to fi nd the right

opening and common ground to organise student

projects. Commencing a fi rst project with a new client

requires a serious investment from both the client as

well as from the school. Organisations with whom you

ideally establish a long lasting partnership are preferred.

What type of clients should you not ‘collaborate’ with in

student projects? Companies or other organisations who

contact your school as a means to commission a design

or production opportunity. They reckon that student

projects are a cheap way of acquiring a game, fi lm,

interface or….(fi ll in your own area of expertise). These

kinds of clients are usually willing to pay, but it is rare that

they are willing to pay current market prices. Working

with this type of clients is a bad idea. Mainly because you

will spoil the market for your alumni and thus underme

your education, but also because the projects are usually

not suited for the educational needs of your students.

These kind of organisations tend to behave like clients:

they formulate an assignment (such as “develop a

serious game for teaching math to third graders”)

and then expect your students to deliver a polished

full version Mario-like game that has been tested and

Project based education

Each year in January at an event called Showcase about 40 projects from the Creative Design

Studios are presented. These projects are the result of the collaboration between fourth year

BA and MA student end teachers and researchers from HKU Games and Interaction, Media,

and Music and Technology. Together with public, cultural and commercial organisations,

HKU develops new ideas and applications for innovative entertainment and creative

solutions for issues and questions in society.

by Corné van Delft,

HKU Games and Interaction

[email protected]

HKU UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, THE NEDERLANDS

5 | GameWise


validated. In the meantime you will only hear from them

if they are disappointed about the fi nal product, as their

expectations did not match the result they hoped for.

This is of course an exaggerated scenario, but based on

fi rst hand experiences.

What type of clients should you collaborate with in

student projects? Clients who have questions in your

relevant domains, who are looking for new solutions to

emerging challenges and problems. Organisations who

are willing to invest in a collaboration with your school

and students. In short you are looking for partners to

develop projects with. This often means that you have

to ‘educate’ them, to make them understand what it is

like to work with students, what they can and what they

cannot expect. This also means they need to be willing

to commit themselves to the partnership in terms of

time investment and knowledge (and preferably also

money) to make working with students successful.

…with the right kind of projects…

After establishing a promising contact with a new

partner, defi ning the right type of project is essential.

The most interesting projects are those were all parties

benefi t. The clients will be motivated by working with a

(design) school that can help them address challenging

questions and problems which clients do not have the

time or knowledge to tackle alone. The school and

students benefi t from the partnership as students work

with real clients wich provides them the opportunity to

design and develop a product for potential use in the

real world.

The scope of the project needs to fi t into the

curriculum. Although this may sound obvious, defi ning

the right scope can be di� cult. Depending on the

experience of the student team and the availability of

representatives from the clients, a project may need

more time than foreseen. Defi ning a spectrum of

minimum and optimum requirements might help in this

respect.

The requirements of the project also have to fi t the

students’ skills and knowledge. This does not mean that

all needed skills have to be acquired before the project

starts! On the contrary, a good project is a project that

students actually can learn from. The project has to have

enough challenges for the students to stimulate them

to learn new things. This also means that regular input

and feedback from the client and teachers are needed.

Such a way of working allows students to experiment,

research and try out di� erent things. Depending on the

team of students and the way the team was formed,


Glimpses from Showcase 2014

| 6 GameWise


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getting to know each other, planning, and group

dynamics may also take time.

Working with students also means that a project may

fail. A client needs to take this into account. Outcomes

can be innovative and an ideal way of illustrating the

future possibilities in the sector. However they can

also fail in terms of outcomes and still be a good

learning experience for the students. Depending on

the learning goals it might even mean they will still

receive a passing mark for the project. For a client a

project that fails is not desirable, however it can be

a possible outcome. One could minimize this risk by

having multiple student teams working on the same

assignment.

An ideal project remains somewhat open and

formulated more as a question than as a production

assignment. There a two good reasons for this.

First this will give the students the opportunity to

come up with their own ideas. Of course the client

determines the boundaries and requirements of the

project. Preferably together with teachers one or

more research questions are defi ned . These might be

more or less academic or theoretical, but can also be

more practical, technical or commercial in nature. For

the client, defi ning a more open question will usually

result in a pleasant surprise: creative students often

come up with solutions and designs that you would

not think of beforehand.

… in the right kind of educational environment …

For students to be successful in large interdisciplinary

projects in their fourth year, they have to be prepared

and trained throughout their curriculum. Working in

teams for a real client is not an easy task. Not only do

students have to apply their design and development

knowledge and skills, but they also have to collaborate

in an e� ective way. Students also have to e� ectively

plan and execute a project and work together with

students from other disciplines who might use

di� erent methods and jargon.

The HKU Games and Interaction curriculum is

set up as a project-based curriculum from the fi rst

until the last year. It allows students to learn diverse

professional skills such as: working in groups, coping

with group dynamics, planning and executing a

project, and to presenting their results to clients.

Working in projects helps to motivate the students,

especially if the projects are realistic and cater to the

interests of the students. Project-based work makes

their education more meaningful and prepares them

for a business environment.

Individual/ small teamsSimple assignmentsShort period (1 – 4 weeks)Small outside influence

First year Second year Third year Fourth year

Larger teams (up to +/- 12 students)Complex assignmentsLong period (full semester)Large outside influence/client involvment


Glimpses from Showcase 2014

7 | GameWise


.. that supports students in developing skills and

knowledge…

Learning is most e� ective if students have the

opportunity to experiment, make mistakes, refl ect, learn

from their experiences and celebrate their successes.

We carefully defi ne the projects from the fi rst to the

last year, so they become increasingly challenging. First

year students are introduced to project-based work with

small-scale projects: both in duration as well as number

of students working on a project. Students start with an

individual project that lasts one week: the design and

development of their own portfolio site. Following

this they start an art project with small groups (usually

three students) that lasts three weeks. This incremental

project-based learning continues throughout their

education building up to client-based projects in

the fi nal two years that can range from one to who

semesters.

The way teams are formed also changes. Students

begin working with mono-disciplinary teams in the fi rst

year. Starting in the second year, we involve students

from other schools (HKU Art and Economics, and later

HKU Music and Technology). The projects in the fourth

year consist of interdisciplinary teams where students

from di� erent schools work together as they would in a

design and research studio.

By practicing working in teams and projects students

build up experience and confi dence. They develop

their own methods of working and learn from mistakes.

Especially developing collaboration skills and dealing

with group dynamics is an important aspect of project-

based learning. We try to provide as much variation

as possible in the way the teams are formed. In the

beginning teams are formed randomly. Later teams are

formed based on the individual skills and specialisations

of the students as well as their own preference.

During the projects the students are supported by

teachers. Each group has an individual teacher who acts

as a coach and mentor. He or she is mainly focussed

on group process: planning, defi ning deliverables and

group dynamics. We developed several methods and

tools1 to support the teachers in this process.

The projects are supported by classes, lectures and

workshops that help them develop necessary skills

and knowledge. These classes are organised around

four learning strands: 1) design & research, 2) art, 3) 1 You can fi nd some of these tools on the GameWise website http://game-wise.eu/tools/)

development and 4) management & entrepreneurship.

Teachers create assignments that are tailor-made to

project-based working, so that skills learned during the

lessons can be applied to the projects. Assignments

are separately graded by each teacher. For example,

the graphic design teachers creates an assignment

to design the layout of a menu system and grades

that. The research teacher assigns the students to

do interviews with the target audience and develop

personas. The development teacher teaches classes in

processing and unity and grades the code of the fi nal

result, etc.

… and celebrate the results.

Each project starts with a kick-o� . Here the project

assignment and the challenges are introduced. At the

end of the project we organise a Post Mortem. During

Post Mortem, students present their results and refl ect

on the process and the outcomes. Several teachers

from di� erent disciplines grade the projects. If possible

people from the industry and/or people from the target

audience are invited. This helps to motivate the students

as the projects become more meaningful because

they are not only doing the work for their grades or

teachers. The audience can provide useful feedback the

students learn from. The Post Mortems are also a way

to celebrate their successes.

HKU Games and Interaction, one of the eight schools of

HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, o� ers a four year BA

programme in Interaction Design, Game Design and Game

Art. In collaboration with The Open University UK, HKU also

o� ers a MA programme called Creative Design for Digital

Cultures.

HKU was the fi rst institution in the world o� ering a full

time BA degree in Interaction Design since 1989. Later,

degrees in Game Design (2001) and Game Art (2008) were

added to the curriculum. Alumni from HKU play a major role

in the development of the Dutch creative (game) industry.

About one third of the alumni start their own company.

HKU University of the Arts Utrecht http://www.hku.nl/

Photographs by Lea Groeliker http://www.leagroeliker.com/

More about showcase

http://www.hku.nl/web/English/HKUUniversityOfTheArt-

sUtrecht/NewsAndEvents/ShowcaseHKU.htm


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Delivering a Group Project unit

Bournemouth University, based in the South West coast

of the UK, recently ran a pilot unit which was informed by

the EU Leonardo Transfer of Innovation GameWise project

fi ndings. This was on a 2nd year unit which is part of both

the BSc Games Technology and BSc Music and Audio

Technology undergraduate degree curriculums, both in turn

part of the Creative Technology framework of degrees in

the Faculty of Science and Technology, formerly School of

Design, Engineering and Computing. These two degrees,

whilst, as is obvious from their names, are very di� erent in

nature, share a number of common units across the three

years that they run for.

The aim of this particular magazine article is to provide

details of a case study for this process which can,

subsequently, inform other educators attempting

to undertake a similar exercise, focusing on the

methodology undertaken, the lessons learned, the issues

faced and, fi nally, thoughts on taking this forward in the

future.

1. So, What is Group Project?

The aforementioned unit, titled Group Project, existed

before this trial. This is in fact the second year it was

running, its fi rst was originally during academic year 2012-

2013 though it was completely redesigned from the ground

up in terms of content to accommodate the GameWise

approach. The fi rst term of the unit, from early October

2013 to mid-December 2013, focused on a team-based

assignment. There were 11 groups for this and ~50 students

in total, typically in groups of 4 or 5, which were, similarly

to what was observed during the January 2013 GameWise

HKU Netherlands workshop, derived from di� erent-for-

each-group live client briefs, thus adopting the project-

based learning approach HKU is also using very successfully

for a number of years now (and one that we felt we/our

students could benefi t considerably from).

There were two clients attached to this providing specifi c

and multiple project briefs; the Bovington Tank Regiment

and the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust/Odstock Medical

Limited. Both of the clients found this a very interesting

premise and were extremely enthusiastic throughout the

process. As a result of this, there were two clear themes

to the briefs, a) cultural heritage and b) medical. The 11

project briefs were all completely di� erent to each other.

See list below; 3 were from the former client - Projects 1

to 3 - and 8 from the latter - Projects 4 to 11-. The three

cultural heritage briefs were reconstruction-oriented

being World War 1 (WWI) tank actions of famous historical

engagements. WWI it should be noted, was the fi rst war

where tanks were used. As for the medical ones, they were

all focused on stroke rehabilitation with the use of computer

and video gaming. This is a subject of signifi cant interest

to researchers today for a variety of reasons, including the

cost e� ciency games can o� er to what is a very arduous

and expensive process for most, if not all, European national

health services.

2. Detailing the Assignment Briefs

It is of interest to discuss the briefs in a little bit more detail

since this can showcase the variety, diversity but also depth

of the work undertaken, as well as the interaction with the

clients and the students across the few months that Group

Project ran with this approach. During the second lecture

the students were presented with the following briefs.

They were subsequently asked to put themselves in teams,

by Dr Christos Gatzidis

[email protected], Bournemouth University, UK

with the use of Project-Based Learning and External

Client Involvement in UK Higher Education

BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY, UNITED KINGDOM

9 | GameWise


identify a role within the team for themselves, i.e. one of

artist, designer, programmer or audio expert, and then

provide a list of preferences, maximum 3, as to which one

of these projects they wanted, collectively in their newly

formed group, to undertake. They were also fi nally asked to

pick a representative person who would liaise both with the

teaching team and also the client.

The projects presented in that second session were the

following;

Project 1. Reconstructing the battle/tank actions of Flers

Courcelette in September 1916, in the form

of an interactive, multi-camera (switchable)

walkthrough

Project 2. Reconstructing the battle/tank actions of

Cambrai in November 1917, in the form of

an interactive, multi-camera (switchable)

walkthrough

Project 3. Reconstructing the battle/tank actions of

Cambrai in November 1917, in the form of

an interactive, multi-camera (switchable)

walkthrough. Since this was a larger

engagement than Project 1, Project 3 had

a distinctly di� erent part of this particular

engagement to cover as opposed to Project 2

Project 4. Fine Motor Control Game - Finger Piano, a game

or app which can facilitate a large number of

repetitive movements in the fi ngers, with the

goal of improving dexterity and co-ordination,

ideally on a tablet device

Project 5. Fine Motor Control App - a platform game

integrating writing practice, the game would be

set in a traditional platform-type game format

whereby a player is directed through a 2D world

using small iterative movements performed

utilising a stylus

Project 6. Pinching App Game, a game that can provide

patients with grasping/pinching practice,

ideally this would be tablet-based, whereby

the participants would pinch targets on screen

(easy: larger targets - > hard: smaller targets)

Project 7. Gross Motor Control Game - Motion controlled

Crossword/Sudoku, a game which is Sudoku or

Crossword-like in nature using Kinect, or similar,

control technology

Project 8. Gross Motor Control - Daily Exercises for Stroke,

a simplifi ed ‘exergame’ using motion capture

technology, such as Kinect, that includes a

number of exercises such as arm raises and

stretches in appropriately designed ‘sets’ and

repetitions set to music, complete with a

scoring system

Project 9. Stroke Beat, a game where the player

synchronises key presses which could be

guitar/drums or any input controller with easier

rhythm targets

Project 10. Bowling Cues, a bowling simulation game that

matches four movements to an auditory and

visual cue, namely; a) lowering the arm with the

ball b) lifting the ball back c) swinging the ball

forward and, fi nally, d) releasing

Project 11. Walking obstacles, a game which would intend

to provide practice for the patient in dealing

with unexpected interruptions while walking or

stepping on the spot. This is an experience that

is likely to induce a freeze


Figure 1. one of the WWI

tank action reconstruction

student projects

| 10 GameWise


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The students were also at that stage introduced to the

clients and the contact names of individuals in these

two organisations were given to them, with also express

instructions for the students to be as professional as

possible in their dealings with them. Bovington Tank

Regiment visited, onsite, the students quite early on to

clarify the three cultural heritage reconstruction briefs.

Research material for the students was also provided.

This was particularly useful because of the historical

nature of these projects. Additionally, mid-term, a visit to

the Bovington Tank Museum was organised by us where

students working on these three briefs were invited to

attend for research purposes (such as inspecting a real

WWI tank etc.). Similarly, mid-term, a visit from Odstock

Medical Limited was also organised at Bournemouth

University where clarifi cations were again provided about

the nature, intention and vision behind all the medical

project briefs.

3. What Were the Outcomes of the Approach?

The fi rst part of this unit, worth 50% of the fi nal mark for

it, concluded on the 10th of January 2014 where all the

team-based assignments were handed in for marking.

This was all via online submission. These consisted of

a game design document (as a report), a website (the

students were asked to present themselves as a company

and create a brand and logo for the purposes of this), a

resultant prototype and, fi nally, a step-by-step diary of

development (as another report). Other techniques such

as individual and group assessment (i.e. self and peer)

were also used and formed part of the hand-in. In fact this

was made compulsory so that students were incentivised

to carry it out and include it with everything else. The

fi nalised games/prototypes created by the students, was

envisaged at that stage would be showcased on the

GameWise project site.

Figure 2. one of the external projects interpreted as a food preparation

game by the students

The three best games/applications, at least in terms of

marks received, are shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. These

were all medical briefs. It is felt that the students in

their majority enjoyed the unit and, more importantly,

the approach it was carried out with, i.e. assignment-

centric and distinctly problem-based focused, as well

as the fact that they worked in teams and to an external

client’s demands. It should be mentioned that the unit

was on purpose almost completely platform-agnostic,

i.e. students were asked to pick the game engine or end

device they wanted to work with/for, a very di� erent

and less restrictive approach to most of the other units

in their degrees. This was praised and worked really well

with some exciting results; many of the groups used

the game engine Unity for example at the core of their

development. This is surprising as we do not teach Unity

on the course at all. Another very pleasing result relates

to the interpretation of the actual briefs. This, again, was

left to the students to a signifi cant extent. While the briefs

had a specifi c direction and goal, they were carefully

put together with external client collaboration and

agreement in order to o� er a good measure of freedom

of implementation and fl exibility. A great example of this

is the best in marks achieved assignment which is Project

11 (see Figure 4, the game is called Steady Service) where

the students fused Kinect with virtual reality technology,

namely the very new at the time Oculus Rift device/

headset, now more recently purchased by Facebook and

making headlines about its future direction. This was in

order to produce a game based in a restaurant where

the player, as a waiter, was asked to move plates from

one side of the room to the other whilst dodging people

walking towards him/her. This was not imagined at all

when we put the brief together and to see it executed

in a prototype, based on the inspiration and imagination

of the students was immensely rewarding, both for the


Figure 3. the Bowling Cues student game

11 | GameWise


members of sta� involved and, of course, the students

who relished the freedom and creative stimulation

a� orded by this approach.

4. Refl ecting on the Issues and Concluding

What didn’t go well? The team-based approach to

working towards a problem presented some, to an

extent, predictable issues such as members within

a team not working so well with each other and

also students dropping out from the course and

subsequently leaving a team with one member short.

On one occasion this was shortly before the deadline

of submission. These issues were dealt on an individual

basis by the teaching team with careful consideration

on both the existing team dynamics but also the nature

of the project the team in question was eventually

allocated. Another issue which was encountered was

the mixing of Games Technology and Music and Audio

Technology students. It was stipulated to the students

from the second week that, because of both student

numbers across the two courses and the nature of

all the projects, there would be one Music and Audio

Technology student per each one of the 11 teams.

While this worked well on some of the teams, the

collaboration of students from di� erent disciplines was

not quite as smooth as it was originally thought it would

be, with many of the students not having met before

and resultant communication issues. Another issue

highlighted by some of the students, including some

who did really well in the unit, is the fact that a few

months to work on these often complex and demanding

prototypes was not as much as they would have

liked. It was stated that this unit was so enjoyable yet

challenging that they would have preferred the whole

year to work towards a brief rather than just one term.

To conclude, applying the approach of GameWise, as

highlighted by the existing practices of other partners,

was a great experience for both most students and all

involved sta� on the Creative Technology framework

and the Group Project unit itself. It showed clearly

the benefi ts of a project-based learning approach for

games development, team-based projects and the

signifi cant potential this has by mimicking the real world

far more than a more regimented and sterile approach,

as typically used elsewhere in the courses, admittedly

for very good educational reasons. Whilst it may entail

more work from members of sta� in organisation

and more open-mindedness from students who are

initially perplexed by the newness of the approach itself

compared to the rest of their assessed coursework, the

rewards are not to be underestimated. For example,

recently a session was organised on-site where the

projects in Figures 2,3 and 4 were showcased to three

visitors from Odstock Medical Limited, leading to some

very positive comments and talks of possible student

placements. It would fi nally be of interest to see the

Group Project GameWise approach moulded to other

units on the Games Technology course in the future.

This pertains to other years too, not just the second one.

Figure 5 showcases a fi nal student app/game prototype,

the Stroke Beat game, from the unit.

Figure 5. the Stroke Beat game

Acknowledgements

The author of this article would like to thank all the

students involved with Group Project and in particular

those providing images of their work to be used in the

Figures displayed here. Owen O’ Neil is also thanked for

his invaluable contribution and support as is Professor Ian

Swain, Vicky Parry and Lt Col Gareth Davies.


Figure 4. the Steady Service game

| 12 GameWise


GameWise


In Grenaa, there is a burgeoning ecosystem of video

game-related education. Where Viden Djurs o� ers

several educations at the upper secondary school-

level, Erhvervsakademi Dania runs a higher education

institution called Dania Games that o� ers Applied

Science educations also targeting the video game

sector. Since Viden Djurs and Dania Games work closely

together, the opportunity to try out the Game Wise

Europe Model (GWEM) at the HE level in Denmark was

too good to pass up.

Dania Games is a small institution with only nine

workers, who all function as both educators and

in administrative functions. At the beginning of the

implementation of the GWEM, around 150 students

attended the educations o� ered at the school.

The implementation period for the GWEM at Dania

Games began in June 2013 and the new pedagogical

strategy went into e� ect in September 2013.

What any organisation should ask themselves when

undertaking such a profound change is: Why? and How?

and never forget to plan for a way to answer the crucial

question of How did it go?

Why?

Dania Games is a VET school at the HE level that

features two distinct educations: one fi ve-semester

education in programming (AP Graduate in Computer

Science) and one four-semester education in

communications design (AP Graduate in Multimedia

Design and Communication). Both are focused on

making computer games and the processes involved

both in producing and marketing them.

Typically, each semester was structured around

theoretically founded subjects related to making

computer games. They ran concurrently, with one

subject Monday, another Tuesday and soon. They

concluded in a period of producing a game and an

academic report detailing this process. This was often

done in concert with a client from the outside world,

and all students have an internship, typically in their

fourth semester.

As such, much of the structure already in place as well

as a lot of the discourse at Dania Games was centred

on partnerships with the world of business. However,

the pedagogical strategy has continuously taken its

departure point from a classic, declarative point. This

severely reduced the motivation of the students both in

participating in the teaching acitivities as well as in the

end-of-term projects.

Thus, the specifi c main purpose of implementing the

GWEM at Dania Games was to design a pedagogy that can

further support the orientation towards working with business

By Mikkel Lodahl, [email protected]

Assistant Professor at Erhvervsakademi Dania

Becoming GameWiseThinking of making your entire institution GameWise?

Don’t worry, we’ve already tried it!

DANIA GAMES, DENMARK

13 | GameWise


to ensure consistency in the value generated by and for

students.

How?

In implementing any change in education, two groups

must be motivated to take part in the change: educators

and students.

Motivating educators

In education, you should be mindful that the individual

educators are the most important part of the entire

organisation; they are the ones delivering the core

service. Since the implementation of GWEM will most

likely be a profound change for everyone involved, it is

thus important that the educators are all on board. If the

GWEM is seen as a structure forced upon the educators,

it will become an untimely interference in the work of

the educators. This will create loss in job satisfaction

and may ultimately make it impossible to implement the

GWEM.

Therefore, it is desirable to facilitate conversations

stressing openness and the need for acceptance from all

members of the faculty when implementing the GWEM.

Not only should the educators all participate in the

conversation about the principles of the GWEM but also

– and crucially – be the active factor in planning both

the specifi c structure of the GWEM at their institution,

and in their day-to-day teaching. This achieves a sense

of ownership over the GWEM among the educators,

which is essential to the success of the model.

This was achievable at Dania Games in discussions

with the entire organisation. At larger organisations, the

same e� ect can presumably be achieved by dividing the

involved individuals into groups that send representatives

to a central committee. This will, however, slow down

the process to at least half the speed of the process at

Dania Games.

The model is welcomed by the teachers. Says

Kenneth Røjkjær Andersen, who teaches programming:

“The intense courses in GameWise help me engage

more thoroughly with the curriculum. It is much easier

to re-use the same material for di� erent classes.” He

adds: “The students have an easier time remembering

the curriculum from day-to-day than they had when a

week passed. The inclusion of projects where they use

what they have learned immediately also helps them a

lot. The practicality of this approach will help them in the

world of business.”

An AP graduate in programming from Dania Games

himself, Andersen, who has worked on a handful of

video game productions, has no doubts as to how he

would like to have been taught: “If I had to choose, I

One of the talks given by industry experts at Dania Games Expo 2014


| 14 GameWise


GameWise


would defi nitely want this new way of education rather

than the way I was taught.”

Motivating students

One of the challenges identifi ed by the faculty at Dania

Games in implementing the GWEM was that basing all

courses on PBL would be a very di� erent way of working

for most students, compared to the pedagogy of the

Danish primary and secondary educations. While PBL

in some variation has been a part of the pedagogical

method in most levels of the Danish education system for

many years, it has rarely taken centre stage.

Similarly to the inclusive way the implementation had

been planned and executed on a faculty level, the cards

should be on the table with the students. However, since

the whole concept would feel alien, the students went

through an intense, one-week project before the GWEM

was explained.

After the project, an educator gave a lecture explaining

the reasoning behind and all plans for the GWEM to the

students. This lecture was given after the students had

formally evaluated the fi rst project, so they could vent

any frustrations. The openness led to further formal and

informal comments all through-out the semester from

the students, indicating a sense of agency and ownership.

How did it go?

While the complete evaluation results are available on

the website, at the time of this writing the most relevant

results are in the fi nal evaluation of the entire fi rst

semester of the AP in programming under the Dania

Games GWEM.

The evaluation was conducted as a series of

statements where the students were asked to reply

whether they disagreed strongly, disagreed, agreed,

or agreed wholeheartedly with the statements. 50

respondents replied, which represents an 83% response

rate.

The answers indicated a 90% overall approval rating for

the education, and a full 98% of students are looking

forward to the second semester. 70 % of the students

fi nd that they are better equipped for working in the

world of business already after the fi rst semester, which

is a good indication that the GWEM is working. All in all,

the GWEM has been declared a success at Dania Games

and a continually modifi ed and updated version of the

model will be the basis of the educations there going

forward.

Where do we go from here?

At the time of this writing, we just wrapped up end-of-

Students demonstrating their games at Dania Games Expo 2014


15 | GameWise


term projects for the students on the second semester

of the AP in programming. Here, a wide variety of

external clients have participated, from the charitable

organization Lions Club and video game company Kong

Orange to the Danish University Extension in Aarhus.

Overall, these partnerships promise to generate value for

both students and clients alike.

Says Marie Kruse Larsen of the Danish University

Extension in Aarhus: “The University Extension has

gained a valuable partner and has benefi ted from fresh

eyes looking at how the University Extension can be

marketed.” She goes on: “We have gained new insights

in the possibilities of video games as a medium. We

would recommend other institutions and businesses to

participate in a similar project.”

The students have also gained a lot from following the

GWEM, not the least of which is a substantially better

grade compared to their predecessors. The Danish

grading system is a seven point range from -3 to 12, and

the average grades for the recent exam jumped from

5,6 to 7,7 after GameWise was employed. This roughly

corresponds to an increase from 2,35 to 3,15 on the

ECTS grading scale. Even more encouraging, the drop-

out rate has dropped dramatically from 43,75 % under

the classical model to 7,7% under the GWEM.

The projects – as well as the more than 200 games

produced by students in the fi rst two semesters under

the GWEM were presented at the Dania Games Expo

2014, where politicians, representatives from the world

of business and the students’ families all came see the

amazing results of becoming GameWise. This fi nal

presentation is crucial in building upon the model

and will be repeated annually from now on. As well as

being a presentation opportunity for the students, it

is supplemented by free talks from industry experts to

reward the students for a job well done.

Dania Games is a companion higher education to

the game related educations at Viden Djurs. It is run

by the Dania Academy of Higher Education. They

implemented a variant of the GameWise Model

mostly based on the experiences from HKU. Detailed

lesson-plans as well as some materials are available

om the GameWise website. More information on

Dania Games can be gained at www.spildatamatiker.

dk or www.eadania.dk .


Erhvervsakademi Dania, Denmark

| 16 GameWise


GameWise


iCamp46 – no ordinary

gameHow do you implement a gamifi cation model

for education at the largest game-oriented

education in Denmark? By doing the largest

gamifi cation event ever, obviously!

By Mikkel Lodahl

Project Worker Viden Djurs, Denmark

[email protected]

In the week running from the 11th to the 15th of

November, Viden Djurs’ two upper secondary schools

– the higher commercial and the higher technical

examinations – got together and played a game. Even if

this had been an ordinary game, it would have been a bit

of a special occurrence, since it involved 472 students.

But this was no ordinary game.

The game – iCamp46 – was designed to facilitate an

innovative process, where the students from the two

secondary schools worked together across multiple

subjects to deliver a solution to a problem posed by the

municipality of Grenaa. The problem: how do we make

our town a more attractive place for the many young

students living and studying here?

iCamp46 was then designed to simulate a microcosm

of innovative businesses competing against each other

to come up with the best solution to the problem. Over

the fi ve days of the game, the 472 students made 80

di� erent fi ctional companies and followed a series of

milestones to develop ideas and present them to the

municipality. Based on a company’s performance at

each milestone, they earned a portion of the centrally

controlled fi ctional currency “VIDe penge”, which acted

as points for a ranking system as well as being currency

to buy services from the competing companies and

teachers acting as expert consultants.

At the end of the game, the company that collected

the largest amount of “VIDe penge” won a prize and

VIDEN DJURS, DENMARK

17 | GameWise


representatives from the municipality selected six

projects to work on further in their project. The fi nal

projects stretched from outdoor parkour ranges to

an elaborate lighting show demonstrated in a virtual

simulation of the City of Grenaa.

And that’s basically it. But you probably have

some more questions. A lot of answers are in the

documentation of the rules on the website, but here are

a couple of frequently asked ones.

Milestones? What milestones?

Milestones are goals that are reached along the way

towards the fi nal goal, and in iCamp46 these milestones

generally took the form of presentations of the di� erent

solutions to panels of experts as well as the other

groups. Criteria for an assessment of the product at

each milestone were told to both the presenters and

the assessors in advance. This created a sense of

transparency and agency as the students could navigate

the treacherous sea of assessment more easily, knowing

and actively using the criteria for assessment.

Based on whether the student presentations lived up

to the criteria, an amount of “VIDe penge” was earned.

Originally this amount was simply set by the assessors

as a group inside a specifi c range for each milestone,

but due to attempts to “game the system” an algorithm

organized schematically was set up and can be seen on

the website.


The students of Viden Djurs are briefed on the rules of the iCamp46 game

| 18 GameWise


GameWise


How do 472 students make 80 companies?

With great di� culty, you would suspect. But actually, the

process went rather well. Before the start of the game, each

student had taken a personality test to indicate that student’s

style of working. Each student was then given a badge to

display the results of the personality test. Companies formed

with a diverse set of personality types – as well as companies

with participants from both the technical and commercial

schools – received a bonus to their start capital.

The process of forming the companies took place in a

great hall, where the students could mingle and talk and

then report their selected companies to tacher standing

ready to send them to the classrooms that would be their

home incubation-environments for the week. Their “cubas”.

How was it received by students? By teachers?

There was a clear unity in the evaluations by both

teachers and students: the rules needed to be

communicated more clearly. While there were ways to

get the economy going and exchanging “VIDe penge”

for services, these were not immediately obvious to the

students and this aspect of the game was not working

that well. Similarly, while the rules for assessment were

communicated to the assessors, they needed to be

clearer. The students also felt that the milestones were

too alike and did not allow for di� erent skill sets.

The teachers echoed the sentiments of the students

and added that more opportunities for the usage

of “VIDe penge” could easily be added to stimulate

response. They also felt a little lost as to the workings of

the rules from time to time, which could be solved with

more timely communication of them to the teachers.

However, both students and teachers overall counted

the game as a success, especially as a motivator for

learning about innovative business in practice, although

there is defi nite room for improvement in the design.


GameMaster Anders Vang Pedersen, Emiliano Labrador of La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull and Daniëlle Krabshuis of PlayPaca listen to student feedback on iCamp 46

19 | GameWise


What is the relationship with the GameWise Europe-

model?

iCamp46 was designed explicitly with reference to

the materials presented at the workshop at La Salle,

developed at the design workshop in Spain and was

observed while running by representatives from both

La Salle and HKU. These observers contributed valuable

feedback for the next version of the game.

Crucially, the involvement of an external client in a

gamifi ed learning environment was an idea that could

only come about through the Ga meWise Europe

project. The design of the game as a fi ctional economy

with fi ctional businesses as groups was also result of

discussions primarily at the workshop in La Salle.

Su� ce it to say that without the GameWise Europe

project, the iCamp46 game would never have existed.

Will you do it again?

Yes! iCamp46 has been integrated into the planning

of the next academic year and will incorporate the

feedback from both participants and observers.

Viden Djurs is a conglomerate of a variety of educations at the upper secondary school and VET level, including both technical and business educations. Among the educations are the only two video game focused educations at the upper secondary school level in Denmark, GameIT College and GameIT Biz. All told, around 2500 students attend Viden Djurs educations all over the region of Djursland and in the city of Aarhus, making Viden Djurs the primary educational institution in the area, as well as a national player in retail education. Around 200 people are employed at Viden Djurs. For more information on iCamp 46 please feel free to contact Anders Vang Pedersen, the lead designer of the game, at [email protected]


This physical board was regularly updated with the point total, so the students could track their progress in iCamp 46.

| 20 GameWise


GameWise


Four Keys to a Memorable University

ExperienceBy Mr. Emiliano Labrador [email protected]

and Dr. Oscar García Pañella [email protected]

Abstract

The work described below is part of a project based on

the application of gamifi cation techniques in a fi rst-year

subject of the Degree in Multimedia Engineering at La

Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull. The work discusses the

advantages of the application of immersive gamifi cation

techniques in the acquisition of role-based learning.

For that purpose, we have worked together the UX and

the gamifi cation departments. In order to understand

this concept, the fi rst part of the article explains what

gamifi cation is and its usefulness.

KEYWORDS

Gamifi cation, immersion, game characters, teaching, fun

experience, knowledge.

“Onboarding” tutorial: Start

0 XPs (Experience points). We will start with the

“graphics.” Slideshare is a social network which enables

users to share presentations. An example of pure altruism

where knowledge is uploaded, shared, appreciated

and where it consequently gains popularity and status.

Quid pro quo. If you have downloaded the application

to your portal, you may occasionally receive emails

from this service which brighten your day. An email

from Slideshare to inform and congratulate you on the

fact that one of your presentations has been seen by

100 people with a voucher attached o� ering special

discounts if you subscribe to the service as a Premium

user. In a nutshell, a powerful intrinsic motivator which

appeals to your personal values and which furthermore

comes out of the blue, like a kiss! (the fact that X number

of people have taken the time to open and watch

your presentation as they apparently fi nd it interesting),

followed by a small and less original extrinsic motivating

factor (the discount voucher) which o� ers you the

possibility to continue using their services for at a lower

price. You may fall in love with the fi rst factor. You will

probably forget the second. Welcome to serious games

and gamifi cation.

50 XPs. Since the fi rst eye-opening infographics

created by Knewton (“The Gamifi cation of Education

Infographic”) or the BigDoor (“Gamifi cation Goes

Mainstream”) experts predicted that the world would be

gamifi ed by the year 2015. And it looks like they hit the

LA SALLE-UNIVERSITAT RAMON LLULL, SPAIN

21 | GameWise


nail on the head. But, what is “Gamifi cation” and “Serious

Games” all about? Is it some kind of “underground”

network that does not actually have much to do with the

day-to-day lives of the users (Players) and the companies

(Game masters)…or is it just the opposite and a fi ne

example of rigor and e� ciency? We would plump for

the second option. Not in vain have scientists such as

Kühn, Gleich et al, published an article in the prestigious

scientifi c journal “Nature,” which explains how a

commercial video-game such as Nintendo’s Super Mario

Bros can induce structural brain plasticity.

First Level: Introduction and defi nitions

125 XPs. Let’s start with “Serious Games”. Is this a suitable

term? Or not really? The point is that the games are

serious but not boring. This is the key. Serious games

are applications based on the design theory of games

which have not been created with the same objective

as games designed for pure entertainment. Fortunately,

there are other general terms such as “Applied games”

and “Evergames” (games associated with the army, or

to recoveries in Physiotherapy and from Sports injuries),

“Newsgames” (associated with Journalism, the news and

the media), “Games for Health (related to Medicine and

Health), “Edugames” (related to Education and Training),

“Advergames” (related to Advertising), “ARGs” (Alternative

reality games applicable to workshops for example)

among others. Why are there so many names for what is

essentially one thing? It must be important.

200 XPs. And, gamifi cation? Well, here we are before two

sister species. In the case of Gamifi cation, we apply the

laws of “Game Design” and we apply “Motivation” to the

design of user experiences which involve “Engagement”

or motivation. The objective is to persuade the fi nal

users (we are all players) to use our product and then to

consequently create a kind of brand loyalty with these

users. This is viable if the process is carried out properly

and user experience is positive. Our objective is not

to simply programme the users as if they were robots

playing a fruit machine. It is quite the opposite. We

want to give them an interesting experience, packed

with interesting options to choose from, which enables

them to cover many of their personal needs and enjoy

the “unwritten script” which they themselves create. As

human beings, we love the pleasures in life, even though


Scheme of the FED methodology

| 22 GameWise


GameWise


we quite often forget about them.

400 XPs. You might remember those wonderful books

named “Choose your own adventure.” These books

provide us with an excellent example of how to foster

the habit of reading because, unlike standard books

or novels, they gave the reader the chance to choose

the storyline and eventual ending of the book. When

readers reached a certain point in the book, especially

in the case of a fantasy novel, we were given options

to choose from, and according to the decisions that

we took, the outcome of main character, “our player,”

and the story continued on one page or another. It was

the perfect example of a “non-linear plot”, which is just

what gamifi cation o� ers us. We cannot predict what is

going to happen in every game and the fact that we are

bombarded with interesting decisions to take, motivates

us. And it encouraged us to keep reading. In other

words, it was a video game on paper! Many of those who

said, “I don’t really like reading” entered a world and never

came out.

Second level: What some experts say

700 XPs. According to Jesse Schell of the Entertainment

Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, games

are “...an activity related to problem-solving which follows

a methodology that is clearly based on a fun approach”.

In fact, as Marshall McLuhan said: “Anyone who thinks

that there is a di� erence between learning and having

fun has no idea of either the fi rst or second.”

1000 XPs. Melinda Jackson claims that the use of this

type of tool enables us to learn faster (knowledge

content is directly transferred to our brains) since we are

capable of extracting signifi cance from a set of complex

data and then of further manipulating and touching this

data. According to game designer Ian Schreiber, the

rules of creating enjoyable learning – aka “fun stu� ”–

are the creation of the chance to explore (in our virtual

world), the guarantee that the games is played in a social

context, the existence of an inventory (collection of

objects which serve a specifi c purpose), the opportunity

to physically feel something, jigsaw puzzle-solving

(active learning, brain stimulation) as well as the chance

to compete (we like to stand out) and to upgrade our

patrimony (albeit virtually). While Kurt Squire claims that

di� erent game experiences with di� erent “playabilities”

enable the players (users/students) to learn how to

manage complexity. Little wonder did Clark Aldrich

create the fi rst leadership simulator (Virtual Leader) in

the world as an essentially educational tool. The rules of

playability are not necessarily linear and depend on the

decisions of each user and on when these decisions are

taken. Games are played in real-time, thus facilitating

the creation of groups and the customization of content.

This ensures that the users, or should I say the players?,

take on the knowledge content as they play. “Learning

by doing” in its essence.

Third Level: Methodology development and Case study

1500 XPs. Design and Usability is a core subject for all

students studying ICT engineering degrees at La Salle-

URL (Barcelona). It is a subject which is less demanding

than others when it comes to technical knowledge,

but more demanding when it comes to creativity.

The content of the subject is applicable to all areas

of knowledge and it is of great use in the professional

development of the student. However, students do not

share this vision and feel that it should be easy to pass

without any great e� ort. In this academic year (2013/14),

we have included a layer of gamifi cation as part of the

course content and the results have been outstanding –

an increase of over 10% in the number of students with

a mark of “excellent” and a drop of 40% in the number

of students who fail in some of the course practicals.

The methodology which is being developed with the

area of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is called Fun

Experience Design (FED). This facilitates the monitoring

of the improvement and the practical application of

course content is based on game mechanics in the

classroom. Furthermore, this methodology provides

information on user satisfaction levels, obtained from the

feedback extracted from the surveys and questionnaires

which the students have to submit.

1700 XPs. The FED has 4 stages (or rather 4 sub-levels)

which form an interactive process (just like the learning

process of any game):

Exploration phase: To know the objective and specifi c

information from users is needed in order to plan the

best strategy to be implemented.

Data Analysis: Both user perception and emotions are

analyzed in order to design the most appropriate strategy.

Creation of the gamifi ed system: Design the best strategy

to achieve the objectives.

The re-designing of the FED stage: After the


23 | GameWise


implementation of the strategy, it turns to make an

exploration phase, where information is extracted to

improve the system.

+500 XPs. If you read the details on pictures on the top.

The study concluded that a numerical mark is not

enough and so the di� erent knowledges to be gained

throughout the subject had to be specifi ed, and therefore

the roles that can be acquired in the industry. The

integration of gamifi cation is justifi ed by raising students’

awareness of what they will learn with each practice and

the level at which they are achieiving it. It was sought

an increase of intrinsic motivation, thus students would

study more if they understand the need to acquire these

areas of knowledge.

The system created categorizes each practice and

exercise, and specifi es the area of knowledge acquired

and its level from the mark obtained. A system of clans,

accessed from the badges obtained in each assignment,

specifi ed the acquisition of knowledge. The mechanisms

to increase intrinsic motivation were: time pressure,

challenges, clans, badges...

Besides intrinsic motivation, the most important one, it

was added a mechanism to increase extrinsic motivation

as well. Points were gained according to the mark of

each assessment. After a certain amount of points,

students did not have to take the fi nal test, as it is

understood that they acquired the knowledge necessary

to pass the course already.

2000 XPs. After applying gamifi cation to the subject,

the average mark increased signifi cantly. Taking as an

example the Design assignment, the percentage of

excellent marks (9 or greater out of 10) in the previous

two years was low or very low; while this year, with the

gamifi cation system applied, it has risen over 12% of

students.

Also, the number of students failing (less than 5 out of

10) was more than half of the class, with a peak of over

64% last year. This year, just 20% of the students have

failed.

Final level: GAME OVER

(No! THE SHOW MUST GO ON)


Students’ dashboard at the end of the course

GameWise

The column below shows a little playing with the font and positioning of the objects in relation to each other.I have chosen to proceed with the logo at the top - it’s shown in the right column: logo with logotype; logo with logotype and with subtitle. In addition, proposals for how the logo can switch between the main menu items.At the following pages you can see how it could look at the website.9 788291 766324

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