Constructivism in Level Design PRESENTATION BY BLAINE GANTER.
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Transcript of Constructivism in Level Design PRESENTATION BY BLAINE GANTER.
Constructivism in Level DesignPRESENTATION BY BLAINE GANTER
Educating Players
In order to completely enjoy a game, a player has to first understand the rules
This knowledge can be gained through a variety of methods: By having a person with previous experience or knowledge of the
game teach/coach the new player
Examining a printed or digital instruction booklet that is included with the game
Foregoing trying to gain any preliminary knowledge, and figuring out the game as you go
This presentation was going to be about how to properly educate players on game mechanics, but the best tutorial ever has already been made.
Best Tutorial Ever
Designing a Better Tutorial
As a wise man once said, “Tellem what your gonna tellem, tellem, and tellem what you toldem.”
Video games have fallen into a pattern of giving context sensitive prompts, pop-up text boxes, and other means of interrupting the gameplay experience to offer the player a new piece of information.
Rote learning typically gets the job done, but does it play to the strengths of games as an educational medium?
What is Constructivism?
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge that contends human’s acquire knowledge and meaning from an intersection of their experience and their ideas
It is heavily related to Experiential Learning, which is learning through experience (different from rote or didactic)
Constructivism hasn’t become its own pedagogy, and research on has had mixed results
Despite his, Constructivism has been an incredibly influential force on modern education around the world
Jean Piaget-The Father of Constructivism
Jean Piaget formalized the theory of constructivism
Piaget is a well-known Swiss Psychologist who lived from 1896-1980
He developed numerous different theories and discoveries that grew his understanding of learning over his lifetime including
Piaget’s Models
Sociological Model of Development- dictates that children move from egocentrism to sociocentrism (logic shift from personal understanding to universal understanding)
Biological Model of Intellectual Development-explains that thinking and intellectual development are the results of assimilation and accommodation
Elaboration of the Logical Model of Intellectual Development-Piaget began arguing that intelligence develops in a series of stages related to age (lead to upward spiral model, and was the most debated by American psychologists when his ideas gain popularity in the 60s)
These models would all contribute to Constructivism
Spiral Model
• A later education theorist named Joseph Bruner would continue to refine Piaget’s spiral model.
• Bruner asserts that in a contemporary classroom model the instructor should engage in the Socratic Method of teaching (guiding questions) to aid the learner in coming to their own conclusions
• Bruner also stated that good methods for structuring knowledge should result in simplifying , generating new proposisitons, and increasing the manipulation of knowledge.
The Buiding Blocks of Constructivism
Schema-an existing organized pattern of through or behavior that categorizes individual or related information
Assimilation- An individual responds to a new event in a way that is consistent with existing knowledge
Accommodation-Individuals manipulate or alter their knowledge to make sense of their current environment
Applying Constructivism to Game Design
While rote and didactic instruction methods may inform the player on necessary information, they break the player’s immersion
Experiential Learning serves as a better tool to teach the player as the fourth wall isn’t broken
Game Designers can create constructivist approach based learning opportunities to instruct players
Back in Time
One of the best sited examples of a “tutorial” that doesn’t break this 4th wall came out for the Super Nintendo in North America in 1994
Mega Man X
The game was designed by Capcom in Japan as the next generation for the storied game franchise in the 16-bit era (following many titles on the original Nintendo Entertainment System)
Mega Man titles have historically been 2-D side strolling action platformer games
Mega Man’s character model was updated, enhanced, and more detailed than ever before thanks to the increased color palette and processing power of Nintendo’s new console
In addition to the updated graphics, a new play mechanic, the wall jump, was also added
8-Bit to 16-Bit
Constructivist by Design
During the first stage of the game, the player is given a brief introduction of the story and thrown into action
The play mechanics of the game should be familiar to anyone who has played a platforming game
At one point in the first stage, the player character is dropped into a pit after defeating a large bee shaped craft
Mega Man’s default jump is not high enough for the player to escape this pit
So, what do I do?
Educating by Design
When placed into this hole, the player has no choice but to further explore their situation in order to progress
Players have to use their existing schema to accommodate the fact that they are unable to escape the hole via running, shooting and jumping
Upon discovering that none of these techniques will work by themselves, the player is forced to explore their situation for a means of escapes
This will eventually lead to jumping into a wall and seeing a new animation of their character gripping the side of the wall
By combining grabbing a wall with a press of the jump button, players will “discover” Mega Man’s new ability of wall jumping, thus assimilating this new piece of information
The Morale of the Story
This brief action sequence informs the player of two different things The mechanic of wall jumping
The fact that falling into every pit or hole doesn’t mean the loss of a life
Both of these pieces of information are crucial to completing the game The wall jumping mechanic is used constantly throughout the
remaining stages of the game
Mega Man X had hidden collectables character upgrades and items strewn hidden throughout the game that could only be found by doing things like jumping in holes
In Conclusion
As serious game designer it is our job to provide player’s with an informative experience that is engaging
Using techniques based upon sound educational theory, like constructivism, allows us to create far more effective educational tools