Assignment 3

Game Title

New Eden’s Oasis

Game Genre

MMORPE (Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Education)

Target Audience

  • The initial target audience will be students in K-12.
  • Future expansions would allow for learning objectives in higher education.

Subject Area(s)

  • STREAM:
    • Science
    • Technology
    • Reading and wRiting
    • Engineering
    • Arts
    • Math

Topics Covered

  • Initially, the game will be focused on science, math, and society building.
  • The intent of this game is to breach the scope of traditional games and allow unlimited topics to be covered. This

Learning Objectives/Standards Addressed

I struggled a lot with this section. I wasn’t sure if I needed to be supplying official education standards or a generalized list of objectives and standards. After digging for official standards, I realized that, given the premace of the game, any game design standard could be implemented on a per quest basis. Thus, this section becomes a huge wildcard with the response: it depends on what is trying to be accomplished.

Goals

  • The goal of the game is to provide a space for users to be able to play and learn any subject at any level of mastery.
  • Motivate players to play by rewarding them with gamification strategies and financial incentives (Levitt, List, Neckermann, & Sadoff, 2011).
  • Improve skills in all study areas that are engaged regularly.
  • As an MMO, the player will have many options for advancement. Regardless of the path, the goal is to increase the level in a subject area which will improve the level of skill and the level of the player.

Rules

Many MMOs are RPGs that rely purely on combat scenarios to level a player. While combat scenarios will definitely be available for a type of progression, they will not be the fundamental leveling mechanism in this game. The combat scenarios will be required to hone teamwork, collaboration, and resource gathering that is needed for other areas of the game. The other areas of the game will include questing, crafting, dungeons, and events.

Rules will vary based on what the player must do in order to complete a scenario, such as questing, dungeons, crafting, or events.

Storyline

The once united Earth has spread across the galaxy and universe through the discovery of a wormhole network that had a node just outside the Sol System. After thousands of years of exploration and colonization, an unknown, unexpected, and seemingly unprovoked event caused the wormhole network to collapsed. This left hundreds of thousands of colonies stranded to fend for themselves. For millennia, many of them endured while a vast majority fell to extinction. A millennium has passed, and the Earth is but a fable as the human race begins to reform governmental structures and organize themselves.

Cloning and mind uploading (the ability to upload human memories to a central data center) are basic technologies that have been maintained by all of the factions from the initial, brutal space expansion era. Warp technology, however, was lost when the connection to Earth was severed as all warp-capable ships were manufactured solely in the Sol System.

No sentient alien species have been discovered. However, there are many alien species that have been discovered and proven useful for resources, food, and domestication. Many predator species have also been discovered, but due to the savage nature of these species, they are easily kept at bay by base defenses.

Characters/Roles

There are five known human races left from the dispersion of humans across the universe.

  • Shiksier

    A tribal race that leans on local laws and socialized central services.

  • Dudine

    A mostly democratic society that has evolved with a capitalist mindset, but respect for individualism and human rights.

  • Arnac

    This race is ruled by capitalist dictators that are fiercely focused on strict laws and bureaucratic policies.

  • Onoid

    Mostly resembling androids, their cloning technology is used to create only bare necessity organs, while most organ functions are synthesized.

  • Inean

    A highly religious race that elevates the spirit and self-discovery over the advancement of the race.

Other races may exist, but they have not made themselves known to this central collective.

Problems/Tasks/Missions

Questing is one of two primary methods for advancing a character. A quest will normally be given by an NPC. The quest is pre-configured by an educator to have desirable learning objectives. It can have a wide range of objectives with an equally diverse range of learning objectives. Examples of quests include:

  • Finding tints and dyes in the wild to mix into desired colors.
  • Scavenging for ingredients from the environment. The quantities of the ingredients may need to be derived from a word-problem or by solving a puzzle that will result in the quantity needed.
  • Creating genetically superior plants by breeding plants with desired traits.
  • Survival tactics where the character is placed in a scenario where they must use their wits to survive a grueling or time-based trial. The trial may require eating, lodging, and wild-life survival skills. Alternatively, surviving may require concocting an antidote to a poison that was ingested.

Crafting is the second of the two primary methods for advancing a character. Crafting outcomes will always vary depending on the in-game weather, geographic locations (such as altitude), and countless other factors. An expert smith might be able to create an exquisite hammer 99% of the time, but occasionally they will be tired and forget to watch the temperature of the oven and the quality will be affected. Likewise, a master baker from the coast may need to re-discover cooking times and temperatures needed for a basic loaf of bread while they are exploring a mountainous region. Artistically inclined players may enjoy designing new art, sculptures, buildings, and ships; of course, they will need virtual ingredients to bring their designs to virtual reality.

Dungeons are special scenarios where players team up to accomplish a shared task. Dungeons are mostly randomized events with a common theme, allowing a learning objective to be taught over and over again without muscle memory coming into play and reducing the ability for blogs and walkthroughs to be written on the exact solution. Dungeons may also include escape room elements with puzzles, decryption, acrostics, hidden messages, scavenging, magnetic locks, and other acceptable riddles.

Events are special opportunities that may occur for a short period of time or indefinitely. Events may be based on a real holiday bringing social experiences to the game.

Many mini-games may also be created in-game to assist with real-world research. This is a lot like how Project Discovery enlisted thousands of gamers to determine if exoplanets exist; much like Eve Online has done. Previously, Eve Online had a mini-game that helped the Human Protein Atlas map the human genome.

Description of 3D Environments

Section Details
Characters or NPC Players will interact with both PCs and NPCs to accomplish goals and objectives. If a player earns the respect of an NPC, the NPC will obey the orders of the player.
Overall Description (visual) The world will be a massive 3D world with features similar, but not the same as that of Earth. The world will be an alien planet, and will also contain wild-life that will be unique to that planet. Players can wake up on an existing world, or they can opt to wake up on a new world in the universe. Worlds will be added to a grid of solar systems and galaxies where they will eventually be discovered by other players that are more advanced.
Game mechanics (actions) Keyboard and mouse controls will be required to play this game from the computer. The game will be adapted for console systems allowing for controller-based control. A mobile version will also be created and will likely use on-screen, virtual thumbstick controls for movement and other standardized gestures for interaction and controls.
In-world tools/resources There will be maps created while the player explores. The player will need to create most of the tools, but everything is a resource and adaptation to the environment may be imperative for survival.
Challenges or obstacles Players will need to learn through exploration. When a quest is too hard for a player, they can ask for help. The quest giver will either enter a tutorial (training) mode or will funnel the player to a training session/dungeon for learning. Progression will require completion of previous scenarios.
Interaction/communication Sounds Players will enjoy the sounds of nature while they are exploring their world. They will be able to talk to other players using proximity chatting, and they will be able to communicate via in-game messaging.

Levels and Progression

Characters will have a level that will be a summation of their skill levels. Skills will include subject areas including a progression tree of sub-skills of each subject. Major subject areas are included here and generally follow higher education classifications, but they will be geared towards all levels of learning:

  • Liberal Arts
    • Environmental Science
    • History
    • Languages
    • Linguistics
    • Literature
    • Mathematics
      • Pure
        • Algebra
        • Calculus
        • Analysis
        • Geometry
        • Topology
        • Combinators
        • Logic
        • Number Theory
      • Applied
        • Dynamical Systems
        • Differential Equations
        • Mathematical Physics
        • Computation
        • Information Theory
        • Signal Processing
        • Probability
        • Statistics
        • Game Theory
        • Operations Research
    • Philosophy
    • Political Science
    • Psychology
    • Religious Studies
    • Science
    • Sociology
  • Engineering
    • Aerospace
    • Biological
    • Civil
    • Chemical
    • Computer
    • Electrical
    • Industrial
    • Mechanical
  • Performing Arts
    • Circus
    • Dance
    • Drama
    • Music
  • Visual Arts
    • Painting
    • Sculpture
    • Drawing
    • Film
  • Leadership
    • Style
    • Theory
    • Skills
    • Quality
    • Management
    • Development
  • Military
    • History
    • Battlespace
    • Weapons
    • Tactics
    • Operational
    • Strategy
    • Grand Strategy
    • Organization
    • Personnel
    • Logistics

Note: I only expanded Mathematics down to advanced levels, but any of these categories can become equally advanced.

Number of Players

MMOG (Massively Multi-player Online Game)

Estimated Length of Gameplay

Since the game is an MMO with teaching objectives at every level of education, this game can ostensibly be played indefinitely.

A single play-session should include some form of accomplishment to occur in the session. The play-session should be normally completed within an hour and have an upper limit of two hours. Some special-events or advanced dungeons may last longer.

Cognitive Processes Required for Gameplay

Remembering

Players will need to remember many things; e.g.: 1) where the quest giver is, in order to return and complete the quest, 2) key combinations and shortcuts, 3) world map locations

Understanding

Players will need to understand the gameplay, but more importantly, they will need to understand basic RPG strategies. Most understandings of subjects will be taught/assessed in-game. Understanding the impact of decisions made is an important concept that will need to be embraced.

Applying

Students will need to apply what they been taught in order to advance in levels and become more powerful in-game.

Analyzing

Players will slowly gain access to more technology that provides them with more data that allows them to interact with the world in new ways. As understanding is gained, so will the need to analyze more information to optimize technology and game needs.

Evaluating

Evaluating the results of actions will be an on-going effort in this game. As the user progresses to higher technology, a greater understanding of the principals will be required. If the player is heading in a direction (technological wise) that they do not want to be in, they can adjust their path and get different results.

Creating

Crafting will be a part of this game. It will include art, food, architecture, music, and many more creative subjects.

Skills Required for Gameplay

Critical thinking

Quests will sometimes rely on the player to think critically about the scenario and whether or not it can be completed without assistance.

Problem solving

Crafting will be affected by the environment and other conditions outside of the player’s control; this will require a deeper understanding of what’s required to craft and what variables are causing problems with the crafting process.

Decision making

There will usually be many ways to solve a problem with crafting or complete scenario. As such, decisions will need to be thought through and evaluated for optimal results.

Creativity

Artisitc creativiy will be needed for many quests, especially the ones focused on design or art.

Communication

Quest work will often be intertwined with that of friends and can be completely jointly or with assistance. Those quests that require individual effort will be done in a dungeon where only a single quester can enter each dungeon instance.

Collaboration

To excel in an MMOG, collaboration is required. In this game, the collaboration will be many-faceted and will be augmented by scenarios developed by the player’s real-life teacher.

Psychomotor skills

Any computer gaming will likely emphasize coordinates physical activity with at least the hands and fingers. This game is no different.

Content Integration

Basic content will be created for basic levels of education. More advanced education will need to be designed by either contracted (by this game studio) or independent educators. As with any new technology, there will be a learning curve for creating content. However, there will be a content creation studio that will streamline the process and make it as easy as createing a slideshow in PowerPoint. Just like in PowerPoint, a basic template can be generate and the content filled in. Also just like in PowerPoint, the designer can start from scratch and create as much or as little as they want. A level of standards must be met for anything released to and accessible by the public, but for private/internal/development use, there will be no standards enforced.

Engagement Strategies

Many gamification strategies will be employed, including but not limited to: player ranks, badges, in-game titles, peer pressure through teamwork,

Scaffolding Strategies

Guidance is always needed for new topics, and explanations will need to feel like they are coming from the NPC, and not necessarily from watching a video in an in-game messaging system or library archive.

Assessment Strategies

Assessments will be done purely in-game. The assessment strategy will be validated by course designers against real standards and will be certified as actual coursework by learning institutions. Basically, by completing a quest, the player has completed the learning objective satisfactorily.

Due to the nature of the internet, cheating is always a risk when seeking real-world certification. In order to receive real-world credit for the work/quest done, final questing must be done in-world at a certified testing center. Alternative options may be made available in the future.

Major Purpose of the Game Integration

This game will be mostly used for instructional augmentation, practice, assessments. The game provides an immersive learning

Implementation Plan

This game is designed to exist on its own or be used in conjunction with a course.

As a standalone game, the players are free to explore, build, and create as they see fit.

When used as part of a course, the course instructor will force an event on the player that will require either immediate or timelined attention. Existing players will be able to bring whatever skills, abilities, and items the event creator allows them to.

Perceived Barriers & Support Needs

The biggest challenge to creating this game will be the scope. While ideally, this game could be an amazing tool, it is arguable that several smaller, simpler games would allow for more targetted playing.

Expertise and advisors across every discipline will be required to create a game that intertwines with reality in an accurate and believable way. The goal is not to create a fantasy world, but to create a possible future of humanity.

Reflection on the Assignment

This assignment was very telling about the strains that are faced when trying to think through the minutiae required for thorough game design. While this game is well thought out, there are lots of details that are missing and would take months to think through exhaustively.

This template helped me to flesh out details that I would have glossed over if left unguided. One of the things I struggled with the most was trying to decide how much detail to include.

My IT background leads me to realize that there will be countless barriers and support needs that will arise during the development phase of this game. This is the reason that IT planners tend to plan a project and then double all of the timelines. It is always easier on paper than in reality and quick fixes are either not quick or have unexpected rippling effects. I can only begin to imagine the waves that will be encountered when taking on a game design such as this.

References

  • Steven D. Levitt, John A. List, Susanne Neckermann, & Sally Sadof. (2011). The Impact of Short-term Incentives on Student Performance *. Retrieved from https://econresearch.uchicago.edu/sites/econresearch.uchicago.edu/files/Levitt_List_Neckermann_Sadoff_Short-Term_Incentives_September2011.pdf