scholarly journals 2515 Cure Quest: Teaching the complexities of drug discovery and development through an adventure game

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (S1) ◽  
pp. 53-53
Author(s):  
Benjamin Chang ◽  
Shawn Lawson ◽  
Kathleen Ruiz ◽  
Mei Si ◽  
Jeremy Stewart ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: “Cure Quest” is an adventure quest game for mobile tablets that aims to teach the player about the complexities of discovery and development of new medicines. The game instills a sense of wonderment into the learning process, taking the player to a world of magic where a mysterious condition has affected the land and they must follow the steps of the discovery and development process to find a treatment. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The game is being developed through a collaboration between faculty and students at ISMMS and the Games and Simulation Arts and Science Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The first target audience is 2nd–3rd year medical students, with the future goal of adapting the game to a broader population. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The game is currently in development, but the project has yielded insight into the design process for serious games in medicine. We found that for a game of this type it is essential not just to have both designers and subject matter experts, but to enable cross-pollination of modes of thinking. Through multiple design iterations and focus groups, we found that a game design approach rooted in narrative and allegorical abstraction would have a better ability to engage the target audience than one focused only on realistic simulation. When complete, we anticipate that the game will improve understanding of the core concepts in drug discovery. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: If successful, the game-based learning approach can help fill key gaps in current formal medical and scientific training, as well as gaps in understanding among the general public. The design process serves as an informative model of evolving collaborative team science.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
pp. 59-59
Author(s):  
Benjamin Chang ◽  
Shawn Lawson ◽  
Kathleen Ruiz ◽  
Mei Si ◽  
Emilia Bagiella ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: “Cure Quest” is an adventure quest game about the process of new drug discovery and development. The player explores a magical island in search of a cure for a mysterious illness, traveling through different lands based on the stages of the drug discovery pipeline. Along the way, they must solve puzzles, decipher clues, and enlist the help of a ‘team science’ group of collaborators. The game uses a fantastical setting and engaging story to communicate the topic through metaphorical representations, instilling a sense of wonderment in the learning process. Real-world science is embedded into fictionalized lands such as the Labyrinth of Target Identification, the Forest of Small Molecule Discovery, the Tree of Biostatistics, the Mountains of FDA Approval and the Desert of Funding. The project represents a novel application of game-based learning to a complex topic not typically addressed through games. The process of designing and developing the game itself uncovers strong parallels between the interdisciplinary game design process and the interdisciplinary team science process. The objective of the game is to communicate high-level concepts of the drug discovery and development process, starting with the principles of ethical research and the motivations behind medical discovery, through the development of a new drug and finally to FDA approval. The goal is to improve understanding of clinical translational science among the different disciplines involved, and to raise overall awareness of the drug discovery process. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The game is being developed through a collaboration between faculty and students at ISMMS and the Games and Simulation Arts and Science Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The first target audience is 2nd-3rd year medical students, with the future goal of adapting the game to a broader population. The game design is informed by specific learning outcomes, input from players in the target population and an ongoing iterative design process. The game is designed for mobile devices (iOS and Android), with an emphasis on narrative, exploration, and puzzle solving. Future evaluation will be performed through a quasi-experimental design comparing standard lectures with the game on a drug discovery. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The game is currently in development, but the project has yielded insight into the design process for serious games in medicine. We found that for a game of this type it is essential not just to have both designers and subject matter experts, but to enable cross-pollination of modes of thinking. Through multiple design iterations and focus groups, we found that a game design approach rooted in narrative and allegorical abstraction would have a better ability to engage the target audience than one focused only on realistic simulation. When complete, we anticipate that the game will improve understanding of the core concepts in drug discovery. CureQuest is designed as an episodic game, following the sequence of stages in the drug discovery and development process. In this version of the game, we demonstrate five of the initial episodes: The City of Discovery of Unmet Medical Need; The Labyrinth of Target Identification; the Aquarium of Transgenic Phenotype Expression; the Rival Researcher Gang Quiz Battle; and the Desert of Funding. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: If successful, the game-based learning approach can help fill key gaps in current formal medical and scientific training, as well as gaps in understanding among the general public. The design process serves as an informative model of evolving collaborative team science.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8487
Author(s):  
Rabail Tahir ◽  
Alf Inge Wang

Educational game design is a complex process demanding multi-dimensional focus in a heterogeneous team to balance multiple aspects. The existing Game-based learning (GBL) frameworks detail the required knowledge but are hard to use in design practice. Conversely, card-based design tools are a lightweight approach used to assist the early design phase. While several game design cards exist, none is specific for informing GBL knowledge. There is a lack of operationalizable approaches for designing learning games that integrate research based GBL knowledge into the actual ideation process. This paper presents a card-based GBL ideation toolkit to reduce the complexity of framework application and introduction of key GBL concepts in the design process as a tangible reference point to facilitate multi-dimensional focus, supporting idea generation, critical reflection, and creation of a shared understanding in the collaborative design process. The paper describes a ten-step process of transforming the LEAGUE framework into the LEAGUE toolkit (GBL ideation cards), an evaluation of the toolkit with design workshop participants, and design lessons detailing strengths and limitations to support GBL design practices.


CounterText ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-235
Author(s):  
Gordon Calleja

This paper gives an insight into the design process of a game adaptation of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart (1980). It outlines the challenges faced in attempting to reconcile the diverging qualities of lyrical poetry and digital games. In so doing, the paper examines the design decisions made in every segment of the game with a particular focus on the tension between the core concerns of the lyrical work being adapted and established tenets of game design.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Javier Rademacher Mena

In a previous work the author created the Education and Entertainment Grid by combining various taxonomies from the fields of play and learning. In this paper, a section of this grid known as the Entertainment Grid will be extended by including previously unused elements of Richard Bartle’s online player types and Robert Caillois’ play complexity. This Extended Entertainment Grid is then analyzed, revealing an interesting synergy between both men’s ideas. The main work of this paper, the Updated Entertainment Grid, is then created as a result of this analysis. This grid can be used by teachers as an interesting introduction and application of these taxonomies, by researchers interested in better understanding digital games and their players, and by designers interested in using the grid as part of their game design process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Josh Aaron Miller ◽  
Seth Cooper

Despite the prevalence of game-based learning (GBL), most applications of GBL focus on teaching routine skills that are easily teachable, drill-able, and testable. Much less work has examined complex cognitive skills such as computational thinking, and even fewer are projects that have demonstrated commercial or critical success with complex learning in game contexts. Yet, recent successes in the games industry have provided examples of success in game-based complex learning. This article represents a series of case studies on those successes. We interviewed game designers Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger, creators of Good Sudoku, and Zach Barth, creator of Zachtronics games, using reflexive thematic analysis to thematize findings. We additionally conducted a close play of Duolingo following Bizzocchi and Tanenbaum’s adaptation of close reading. Several insights result from these case studies, including the practice of game design as instructional design, the use of constructionist environments, the tensions between formal education and informal learning, and the importance of entrepreneurialism. Specific recommendations for GBL designers are provided.


Author(s):  
Sara de Freitas ◽  
Steve Jarvis

This chapter reviews some of the key research supporting the use of serious games for training in work contexts. The review indicates why serious games should be used to support training requirements, and in particular identifies “attitudinal change” in training as a key objective for deployment of serious games demonstrators. The chapter outlines a development approach for serious games and how it is being evaluated. Demonstrating this, the chapter proposes a game-based learning approach that integrates the use of a “four-dimensional framework”, outlines some key games principles, presents tools and techniques for supporting data collection and analysis, and considers a six-stage development process. The approach is then outlined in relation to a serious game for clinical staff concerned with infection control in hospitals and ambulances, which is being developed in a current research and development project. Survey findings from the target user group are presented and the use of tools and techniques explained in the context of the development process. The chapter proposes areas for future work and concludes that it is essential to use a specific development approach for supporting consistent game design, evaluation and efficacy for particular user groups.


Author(s):  
Marierose Van Dooren ◽  
Valentijn Visch ◽  
Renske Spijkerman ◽  
Richard Goossens ◽  
Vincent Hendriks

Personalization, the involvement of stakeholders in the design process, is often applied in serious game design for health. It is expected to enhance the alignment of a game to the preferences and capacities of the end-user, thereby increasing the end-user’s motivation to interact with the game, which finally might enhance the aimed-for health effects of the game. However, the nature and effect of personalization have never been systematically studied, making assumptions regarding personalization ungrounded. In this literature review, we firstly provide a proposal of our Personalized Design Process-model, where personalization is defined as stakeholder involvement in the Problem Definition-, Product Design- and/or Tailoring Phase. Secondly, we conducted a systematic literature review on this model, focusing on health and its effects. In this review, 62 of the 2579 found studies were included. Analysis showed that a minority of the studies were of methodologically higher quality and some of these tested the health effect by contrasting tailored versus non-tailored games. Most studies involved stakeholders in the Tailoring Design Phase. Therefore, we conclude that involving stakeholders in the Tailoring Phase is valuable. However, to know if personalization is effective in the Product Design- and the Problem Definition Phase, more studies are needed.


2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 448-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Pablo Zagal ◽  
Miguel Nussbaum ◽  
Ricardo Rosas

Extensive research has shown that the act of play is extremely important in the lives of human beings. It is thus not surprising that games have a long and continuing history in the development of almost every culture and society. The advent of computers and technology in general has also been akin to the need for entertainment that every human being seeks. However, a curious dichotomy exists in the nature of electronic games: the vast majority of electronic games are individual in nature whereas the nonelectronic ones are collective by nature. On the other hand, recent technological breakthroughs are finally allowing for the implementation of electronic multiplayer games. Because of the limited experience in electronic, multiplayer game design, it becomes necessary to adapt existing expertise in the area of single-player game design to the realm of multiplayer games. This work presents a model to support the initial steps in the design process of multiplayer games. The model is defined in terms of the characteristics that are both inherent and special to multiplayer games but also related to the relevant elements of a game in general. Additionally, the model is used to assist in the design of two multiplayer games. “One of the most difficult tasks people can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games …”


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