Designing Serious Games
by Seif El-Nasr, Carstensdottir, John
| ISBN: | Copyright 2026
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Serious games—or games for impact—encompass everything from educational, therapeutic, and rehabilitative games to games for social, scientific, and cultural impact. While the field is flourishing, the practice of actually designing such games is not readily understood. Filling this gap, Designing Serious Games provides a comprehensive guide to the design and development process of this unique interdisciplinary field. The book guides readers through a user-centric design process that includes methods to define the game’s goal, understand its target audience, design accordingly, and evaluate outcomes. Featuring diverse case studies, actionable advice, and incisive interviews with transformational game practitioners and industry leaders, this practical book is an essential resource for anyone interested in designing serious games.
- Provides game design instruction tailored to the needs of serious games
- Offers step-by-step activities and guidance on concept design, preproduction, production, and postproduction
- Highlights industry perspective through interviews sharing real-life insights of development practice
- Includes extensive exercises and case studies
- Suits both students and professionals
| Expand/Collapse All | |
|---|---|
| Contents (pg. vii) | |
| Preface (pg. ix) | |
| Acknowledgments (pg. xxvii) | |
| I: An Introduction (pg. 1) | |
| 1. Serious Games: An Introduction (pg. 5) | |
| 1.1 Defining the Space (pg. 6) | |
| 1.2 How Is That Space Defined by Experts? (pg. 7) | |
| 1.3 What Are Examples of Games in This Space? (pg. 11) | |
| 1.4 What Are Examples of Gamification? (pg. 32) | |
| 1.5 What’s Next? (pg. 34) | |
| References (pg. 35) | |
| 2. Designing and Developing Serious Games (pg. 39) | |
| 2.1 Layered Approach to Developing a Serious Game (pg. 39) | |
| 2.2 The Team (pg. 63) | |
| 2.3 What’s Next? (pg. 64) | |
| References (pg. 70) | |
| Further Readings (pg. 71) | |
| 3. What Is Impact? (pg. 73) | |
| 3.1 What Is Impact? (pg. 73) | |
| 3.2 Evaluation Framework (pg. 74) | |
| 3.3 Research Methods (pg. 76) | |
| 3.4 What Methods Are Used to Evaluate a Game? (pg. 79) | |
| 3.5 Case Studies for Intervention-Oriented Evaluation (pg. 83) | |
| 3.6 What’s Next? (pg. 87) | |
| References (pg. 87) | |
| 4. The Business of Serious Games (pg. 89) | |
| 4.1 Business Models Within the Industry (pg. 90) | |
| 4.2 Business Finances (pg. 96) | |
| 4.3 Marketing Strategies (pg. 99) | |
| 4.4 Publishing (pg. 103) | |
| 4.5 Community Engagement (pg. 108) | |
| 4.7 What’s Next? (pg. 108) | |
| References (pg. 111) | |
| II: Users and Stakeholders (pg. 113) | |
| 5. Understanding Users (pg. 117) | |
| 5.1 Working with Human Subjects (pg. 119) | |
| 5.2 Perception, Memory, and Attention (pg. 120) | |
| 5.3 Technology Access/Acceptance and Game Design (pg. 124) | |
| 5.4 Player Types, Traits, and Profiles (pg. 127) | |
| 5.5 Game Design and Player Motivation (pg. 129) | |
| 5.6 Game Design and Social Aspects (pg. 135) | |
| 5.7 What’s Next? (pg. 139) | |
| References (pg. 140) | |
| Further Readings (pg. 144) | |
| Motivation and Game Design (pg. 145) | |
| Cooperative Game Design (pg. 145) | |
| 6. Defining the Target Audience (pg. 147) | |
| 6.1 Who and Where Is Your Target Audience? (pg. 148) | |
| 6.2 Understanding Your Market (pg. 150) | |
| 6.3 Developing Player Profiles or Personas (pg. 156) | |
| 6.4 On to Design (pg. 158) | |
| References (pg. 158) | |
| Further Readings (pg. 159) | |
| III: Serious Game Design and Development (pg. 161) | |
| 7. Concept Design (pg. 165) | |
| 7.1 Prework: Gathering a Team (pg. 165) | |
| 7.2 Prework: Identifying Audience (pg. 168) | |
| 7.3 Prework: Identifying Goals (pg. 170) | |
| 7.4 Prework: Identifying Stakeholders and Resources (pg. 171) | |
| 7.5 Game Design Terms and Elements (pg. 172) | |
| 7.6 Theory-Driven Concept Design vs. Experience-Driven Concept Design (pg. 177) | |
| 7.7 The Concept Design Document (pg. 189) | |
| 7.8 What’s Next? (pg. 190) | |
| References (pg. 191) | |
| 8. Preproduction (pg. 193) | |
| 8.1 Beginning Preproduction (pg. 194) | |
| 8.2 Prototyping (pg. 197) | |
| 8.3 Agile/Scrum and Preproduction (pg. 206) | |
| 8.4 Macro Design (pg. 210) | |
| 8.5 Reaching Vertical Slice (pg. 215) | |
| 8.6 The Conundrum of Preproduction (pg. 217) | |
| 8.7 The Hard Call: Knowing When to Discard Work (pg. 218) | |
| 8.8 Heading into Production (pg. 219) | |
| References (pg. 219) | |
| 9. Production and Polish (pg. 221) | |
| 9.1 Preparing for Production: Making a Deal with Your Past Selves (pg. 221) | |
| 9.2 Rethinking Your Development Process (pg. 223) | |
| 9.3 Diving into Production (pg. 226) | |
| 9.4 Evaluation Is Continuous (pg. 228) | |
| 9.5 Bring It Home: The Final Milestones (pg. 230) | |
| 9.6 Best Practices in Production (pg. 232) | |
| 9.7 What’s Next? (pg. 237) | |
| IV: Data and Impact (pg. 239) | |
| References (pg. 242) | |
| 10. Game Usability Through Heuristics (pg. 243) | |
| 10.1 Introduction to Heuristic Evaluation (pg. 245) | |
| 10.2 Heuristics for Learning Systems (pg. 247) | |
| 10.3 Game Evaluation Heuristics (pg. 247) | |
| 10.4 What’s Next? (pg. 252) | |
| References (pg. 253) | |
| Further Readings (pg. 254) | |
| 11. User Studies (pg. 257) | |
| 11.1 Introduction to Key Terms (pg. 257) | |
| 11.2 Study Design or Protocol Design (pg. 259) | |
| 11.3 Putting It All Together (pg. 277) | |
| 11.4 What’s Next? (pg. 281) | |
| References (pg. 282) | |
| 12. Evaluating Playability and Engagement (pg. 283) | |
| 12.1 Usability Performance Testing (pg. 284) | |
| 12.2 Testing Playability (pg. 286) | |
| 12.3 Analysis Methods (pg. 291) | |
| 12.4 What’s Next? (pg. 320) | |
| 12.5 Resources (pg. 321) | |
| References (pg. 321) | |
| Further Readings (pg. 323) | |
| 13. Conclusion and Remarks on Measuring Impact (pg. 325) | |
| Notes (pg. 329) | |
| Preface (pg. 329) | |
| Chapter 1 (pg. 330) | |
| Chapter 2 (pg. 330) | |
| Chapter 3 (pg. 331) | |
| Chapter 4 (pg. 331) | |
| Chapter 5 (pg. 331) | |
| Chapter 6 (pg. 332) | |
| Chapter 7 (pg. 332) | |
| Chapter 8 (pg. 333) | |
| Chapter 9 (pg. 334) | |
| Chapter 10 (pg. 334) | |
| Chapter 11 (pg. 334) | |
| Chapter 12 (pg. 334) | |
| Index (pg. 337) | |
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