eBug Senior Game Design

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e-Bug Senior GameDesign Evaluation
e-Bug Launch Meeting 3rd September 2009
David Farrell, City University London david.farrel
l.1_at_city.ac.uk
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e-Bug Senior Game

• Design Choices
• Satisfying Teen Audience
• Teaching with Adventure Game
• Scenarios
• how they work
• how they teach
• Results (preliminary)
• Comments and Next Steps

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Target Audience

• 13 - 15 year olds
• More detail than junior game
• Wildly divergent taste in games
• Most popular genres of games were
• sports games
• racing games
• shooting games

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Adventure Games

• Some pupils listed Adventure Games
• Story driven games
• undertake quests
• talk to non-player characters (NPCs)
• find items to solve puzzles
• Other pupils subsequently played and liked

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Suitable?

• Non violent
• Flexible
• Feasible
• Culturally adaptable
• Intuitively, Adventure Games very similar to
  class based learning
• Story telling
• Role playing
• Problem Based Learning

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Problem Based Learning?

• Players learn by solving problems called puzzles
  
• Learner driven
• Hypothesise
• Research
• Present findings
• Maps well to Adventure Games!

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Game Conceit

• Player is member of e-Bug Detectives
• CSI meets X-Files
• microbes instead of aliens
• Each scenario has one big problem
• With lots of sub-problems
• these map to the LOs
• Player interviews witnesses and finds evidence

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Game Structure

• 3 Missions
• Each mission covers different set of Learning
  Outcomes
• 2 out of 3 missions on antibiotics

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Mission 1

• Learning Outcomes
• Microbes are found everywhere even though you
  cant see them
• There are different types of microbes (virus,
  fungus, bacterium)
• When / Why to wash your hands
• Cover your coughs and sneezes
• Dont spread your bad microbes

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Big C

• Boss
• Gives initial mission brief
• Narrative glue

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Alyx

• Scientist colleague
• Accompanies player
• Used as MacGuffin
• scientific knowledge
• give player hints

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Hugh Gaego

• Actor
• Fell ill at barbeque

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Heracles Samson

• Hughs Bodyguard
• Conspiracy theory nut
• Thinks chef to blame

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Jamie Grimesworth

• Chef
• Indignant offended

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Rooms
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Explore
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Look for Evidence
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Microbe Vision
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Clue?
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Test Evidence

• Prove?
• Disprove?

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Mission 2

• Learning Outcomes
• Overuse of antibiotics can lead to antibiotic
  resistance in bacteria and affect our normal
  flora
• Bacteria are becoming resistant to many
  antibiotics due to overuse and misuse
• Antibiotics are special medicines designed to
  cure bacterial infections but not viral infections

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Puzzle Breakdown

• Why does this town have higher incidence?
• Player meets an expert Dr Brun who suggests
  overuse of antibiotics is the cause.
• Local GP thinks that patients dont take their
  medicine.

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Player finds evidence

• Patient records show antibiotics being
  prescribed for colds.
• Internet order form shows the doctor has a
  volume discount for ordering lots of
  antibiotics.
• Player finds advertising that promotes
  antibiotics

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Player shows Dr Brun

• Player shows items 1 at a time
• Allows for paced delivery of content
• Reasons given for this being bad practice
• Player given a USB Stick with data showing
  correlation between overuse and resistance
• Meanwhile, Allison has been confirmed to have
  superbug.

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Mission 3

• Learning Outcomes
• We need bacterial colonisation to live a health
  life
• Most microbes are good for us
• If you have antibiotics, finish the course
• Do not use leftover antibiotics or other
  peoples medicines

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Overview

• Player investigates potential gambling fraud
  has the football team been sabotaged?

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Suspicion

• Coach has vested interest
• But Allison (from last mission) provides the
  water)

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Summary

• It emerges that
• Allison stopped taking antibiotics when she FELT
  better
• Her superbug infection is returning.
• Allison has accidentally infected the team.
• Meanwhile
• Coach decides to take Allisons leftover
  antibiotics as a preventative measure.
• As a result, he damages his natural flora and
  suffers from an upset stomach

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Preliminary Results

• 700 played
• 132 gave pre and post questionnaires
• 21 finished mission 1
• 85 finished mission 2
• 26 finished mission 3
• Some first glance results from the antibiotics
  questions follows.

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Areas for Improvement

• Some questions showed little improvement
• Antibiotics kill bacteria
• 1 more correct
• 3 more incorrect
• Antibiotics will cure any illness
• 9 fewer correct
• 3 fewer incorrect
• Hygiene Learning Outcomes
• Wasnt effective
• Changes have been made

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Qualitative

• More mixed than junior game
• The storyline was exciting and a great idea
• i love this game, i wish i had it on xBox
• it was a terrible game make it more cool.
• it was a bit boring as it doesn't tell you what
  you need to do and it doesn't give you a
  'tutorial' at the beginning of the game
• Reading isnt popular!
• 50 said they would play again

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Qualitative

• Pupils wanted more help than initially given
• too much help no learning
• too little help frustrating
• Teachers and pupils wanted voice acting
• Teachers suggested
• Paired play
• Better for able learners (or older pupils)

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Next Steps

• Tutorial has been rewrittenand more evaluation
  will take place
• Mission 1 was improved following feedback
• Further evaluation will be carried out to better
  understand how to improve the teaching effect
• A full statistical analysis of the pre and post
  data will be published