Endogen: Framework for Designing Endogenous Educational Games


Athavale Sandeep Dalvi Girish
2020 DiGRA ’20 – Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere

Cohesion between content and gameplay can lead to games that are educational and enjoyable at the same time, making them effective. Endogenous designs, wherein the game elements emerge from the content, lead to such cohesion. However, endogenous design is not commonly observed in practice. Lack of guidance on conceptualizing endogenous design is an important factor hampering production of effective educational games. In this paper, we present ‘Endogen’ framework for designing endogenous educational games. The framework synthesized using the ‘function-behavior-structure’ approach is composed of a set of design strategies that we discovered in our recent work. It is validated using a multi-method approach wherein designers use the framework to design games and then rate it on various parameters. Results indicate that Endogen achieves the stated objective of creating endogenous design, therefore offering exciting content integration possibilities for game designers.

 

(Un)Playful player responses to exclusive video game publishing


Piittinen Sari
2020 DiGRA ’20 – Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere

This paper analyses playful and serious player responses to Remedy Entertainment’s announcement to publish their new game Control’s PC version exclusively in the Epic Games Store. Through discourse analysis of player tweets, it produces new understanding about player expectations and responses prior to a game’s release and how players express their criticism in (un)playful ways. The findings show that through creative use of humour and complaints players retake power from game companies and construct meanings in a way that is only understandable to fellow players. They discursively and morally take an expert stance while underlining the incompetence of the company.

 

A Framework of Player Objects in Virtual Environments


Willumsen Ea Christina
2020 DiGRA ’20 – Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere

Based on data gathered from an analysis of 99 digital single-player games, this paper presents a framework named the PO-VE model for analysing player objects in virtual environments. Player objects are understood as objects integrated in the virtual environment which constitute the player’s point of control and thus frame their actions in the game system. A necessary distinction is made between player object and the presentation of characterisation, separating the notion of “character” from player object, which yields certain analytical benefits. The PO-VE model, which consists of 16 different categories and thus provides a high-granularity analysis tool, is presented using two primary examples from the data set – The Witcher III: Wild Hunt and VVVVVV – and discussed in relation to its potential applications, limitations, and contributions to the more theoretical domain of game studies.