Lets Play: Games That Improve Communication & Empathetic Understanding
Summary:
Learn and play games that Ive created and commercial games that Ive adapted that build skills in communication, interpersonal dynamics, and understanding each others unique POV.
Description:
These interactive games focus on how language and images can be interpreted differently, how to collaborate, and how to understand anothers POV while still authentically expressing your own. The range of activities Ill share can be applied throughout the arc of a course, within a specific unit, during a singular class period, or even as a 15-minute exercise. I will demonstrate my games: Subtext, Descriptionary, and Draw What I Mean. As well as adapted Commercial Games: Team 3, Hues and Cues, Dixit, Just One, and Blank Slate. Led by Prof. Maya Michele Fein of Baldwin Wallace University and assisted by student, Matt Hanrahan. For more in-depth pedagogy behind the games, join me for my Gamification & UDL: A Practical Application event.
Leveling Up Healthcare Education: Gaming Elements For Simulation Classes
Summary:
Explore how TTRPG elements were integrated into a community college nursing sim class. Presentation and interactive tutorial on how this approach can translate to other healthcare disciplines.
Description:
This presentation will demonstrate how dice rolling, character creation, and role play have been incorporated into a community college nursing simulation center. It will also show how easily these elements can be added to any healthcare program through an interactive tutorial. The audience will have the opportunity to roll on several tables to create a patient and simulate healthcare scenarios, generating unique experiences each time.
Leveling Up Learning: Exchanging Best Practices For Games In Education & Workforce Training
Summary:
Join us as we lead an interactive session to share research & explore using games (e.g., TTRPGs, escape rooms) in higher education & professional development.
Description:
Dr Jesse Olsen (Senior Lecturer of Management) and Dr Michael "Maxx" Schmitz (Lecturer and Curriculum Designer in the Faculty of Arts) conduct research at the University of Melbourne (Australia) on the use of games in higher education and training settings. Their work explores how games like tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), escape rooms, and wargames can equip learners with essential work and life skills. In this interactive session, Jesse and Maxx will share insights from their research and invite participants to discuss their own experiences with gaming, its role in education and training, and its impacts on skill development and real-world outcomes. Participants will explore the challenges of implementing game-based learning and exchange practical strategies for success. No prior experience or knowledge is requiredjust bring your curiosity and ideas for an engaging discussion.
Well examine board games and other relevant game-like experiences to explore framing, regret, competence, and other effects, and their relation to players' relationship with the game experience.
Description:
Loss aversion is a core effect in human psychology. Simply stated, losses make people feel worse than gains make them feel better. In other words, the negative emotions from losing $100 are stronger than the positive emotions from gaining $100; about twice as strong according to a variety of experiments. The fundamental aspect of loss aversion to human psychology is very deep, and touches a wide variety of phenomena, most of which are directly relevant to game design.
** GAME DESIGN ACADEMY ONLY EVENT / NOT INTENDED FOR GENERAL TRADE DAY AUDIENCE **
IUs MARLA preserves games through artifact collection, play, and a third space. Students curate the space, fostering discussions on rare games and new gaming culture, documented academically.
Description:
Cultural Impact: In the MARLA lab at Indiana University Indianapolis, faculty and students are working on a games preservation project.
Project Components: Game artifact collection, playable digital artifacts, and the creation of a third space within the school.
Purpose of the Space: This space encourages play and provides access to older games for scholarly work. Students actively curate the space, showing interest in older and niche games.
Presentation Focus: How this space fosters conversations about rare but influential games across genres, develops interests in past games, and reveals that experiences with historical games typically do not happen with original hardware.
Developing Culture: This evolving culture of new experiences with older games includes meta-discussions and is documented through ephemeral conversations, video essays, and academic coursework.
What visual information & prior knowledge of expected meaning in games can you tap into to make your game intuitive? In this hands-on workshop create a game that can be played without written rules.
Description:
** GAME DESIGN ACADEMY ONLY EVENT / NOT INTENDED FOR GENERAL TRADE DAY AUDIENCE **
An exclusive first hands-on run through of Loke Battle Mats' newest releases!
Description:
An event aimed mostly at retailers and event GMs which will look in some depth at our ENnie award winning Book of Battle Mats range, including a run through of the newest releases.
Big impact, small budget! Use local event calendars, press releases, inique events, and smart social media strategies to make your marketing budget stretch further.
Description:
Great marketing isnt about how much you spendits about how well you connect. In this panel, learn how to craft content that your followers, local influencers, and even the media will want to share. Well talk about writing press releases that get noticed, local event calendars, social media, and creating unique events that generate buzz. Finally, we'll discuss when to DIY your marketing, when you should consider spending a little bit of money, and how to get the most bang for your buck.
Mechanisms Make It Go: Balancing Complex Causality With Playability
Summary:
Explore the relationships between game mechanisms, verisimilitude, and playability. We will examine how slight tweaks to your primary mechanism can change the operation of your game.
Description:
** GAME DESIGN ACADEMY ONLY EVENT / NOT INTENDED FOR GENERAL TRADE DAY AUDIENCE **
Medicine Check Proficiency: Adapting Gaming Mechanics To Scenario Based Evaluations
Summary:
A case study on adapting TTRPG gaming mechanics to technical skills evaluations, focusing on shifting patient care simulations away from an algorithm-focused process.
Description:
Simulating highly technical skills like treating trauma and non-trauma casualties using an algorithmic model of direct inputs and outputs can create a false sense of security in learners by misrepresenting complex processes as binary choices. Despite this, checklist-style grading is often used to evaluate a learner's competency in hands-on practical tests. These evaluations do not account for the variance and uncertainty that a new provider will find in the real world, leading to poor outcomes, training scars, and even moral injury.
This case study will map out the process of integrating gaming mechanics to create a more robust learner experience. This will prepare trainees for an expanded range of outcomes, from lucky breaks to critical equipment failure.
Discussions centering on the adaptation process will hopefully be helpful for assisting other educators in technical fields.