Designing Simulations and Games:

Design Tips and Tricks

Cynthia CalongneColorado Technical University

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education, March 2011

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Topics

Games vs simulations Requirements and Assessment

Simulation design Roles and behavior

Design tips and tricks Linking and scripts

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Requirements

Who develops it: student design? What: a game or a simulation?

When: timeframe and setting Where: the environment

Why: learning objectives How: roles, interaction and behavior

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Design Tips

Set full permissions – modify, copy, transfer

Plan for assessment, reuse & the archives

Primitive limits, resources & requirements

Interaction and object behavior Quests and outcomes

Foster discovery and knowledge creation

Plan for collaboration

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Design Tricks

Modularize Versions and retexturing

Rezzers – performance tradeoffs Behavior - inheritance Special effects – particles, sounds,

scripts

Use the library + full permission freebies

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Linking and Script Tips

Do not link doors last Link seats in reverse order

Spam vs performance Give contents – how and when? Reduce floating text - fade

Phantom versus physical Self-cleaning simulations

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Questions?

To participate in a doctoral research project

ccalongne@coloradotech.edu

For more information: http://

www.slideshare.net/lyrlobo/presentations Videos

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1399395902637

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1404251944035

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