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In this design-oriented article penned for Gamasutra sister site <a href="http://www.seriousgamessource.com">Serious Games Source</a>, which deals with games created for ...

Simon Carless, Blogger

May 2, 2006

1 Min Read

In this design-oriented article penned for Gamasutra sister site Serious Games Source, which deals with games created for training, health, government, military, educational and other uses, researcher and serious game developer Gonzalo Frasca outlines how you should "design your serious game with your core audience in mind, but without forgetting that there is a secondary audience that you can also cater to." In particular, Frasca explains of the market for 'serious games': "...Companies can commission serious games for quite unexpected purposes. However, most of the time their main goal is to be able to train employees in both an effective and engaging way. By definition, training accomplishes short-term goals: it helps employees to learn or practice a new skill. If your game manages to deliver exactly that, then your job is done. Unless, of course, that you want to deliver 110%. That extra 10% is not about training but deals with long term goals: it can deal with work culture, public relations and even education, or hopefully all of the above. ...Trust me: you may think that you are creating a serious training game for new employees, but the fact is that your game is likely to be played by every single employee and potentially their families and their friends. Chances are that it will play a PR role too, and may be shown to the company's clients and visitors." You can read the full Serious Games Source feature on the subject, including more intriguing opinions and concepts from Frasca (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).

About the Author(s)

Simon Carless

Blogger

Simon Carless is the founder of the GameDiscoverCo agency and creator of the popular GameDiscoverCo game discoverability newsletter. He consults with a number of PC/console publishers and developers, and was previously most known for his role helping to shape the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Conference for many years.

He is also an investor and advisor to UK indie game publisher No More Robots (Descenders, Hypnospace Outlaw), a previous publisher and editor-in-chief at both Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, and sits on the board of the Video Game History Foundation.

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