This week we discuss the UX and Instructional Design potential of Gone Home, 2013’s 12th highest rated PC game on MetaCritic and the 2014 Games for Change Game of the Year. It’s also an excellent walking simulator. 

Gone Home is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Links mentioned in this episode:

An Application of Bloom’s Taxonomy to the Teaching of Business Ethics: 
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00383217

This American Life Episode 584: For Your Reconsideration: 
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/584/transcript

Testing Theories of Attitude Change With Online Panel Field Experiments: 
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/gsb-cmis/gsb-cmis-download-auth/414056

GDC 2014: Why is Gone Home a Game?: 
http://evt.dispeak.com/ubm/gdc/sf14/player.html?xml=201403825919_SPTZ.xml&token=3c6c000ab0766078310c 

The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman: 
http://www.jnd.org/books/design-of-everyday-things-revised.html 


Episode 02 - Gone Home

In a smaller “lockpick" episode, we take a look at the new awkwardly named game Mr. Robot: 1.51exfiltrati0n. The game (available for iOS and Android) pretends to be a messaging app like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. 

Set in the world of the TV show Mr. Robot, you take on the role of a hacker specializing in social engineering. It’s a choose your own adventure style experience where you decide whether and how to blackmail and coerce your way into systems. 

Mr. Robot: 1.51exfiltrati0n serves as an interesting exploration into how chatbots or other text interfaces might be useful in training and experiential learning.

Mr. Robot: 1.51exfiltrati0n is $2.99, available for both iOS and Android:
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mr.-robot-1.51exfiltrati0n.ipa/id1138484918?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.telltalegames.exfiltration&hl=en

Links and things mentioned in this episode:

Mr. Robot: http://www.usanetwork.com/mrrobot
ARGs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game
The Beast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(game)
I Love Bees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Bees
Pumpkin Spice Latte chatbot: http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/29/12693096/starbucks-pumpkin-spice-latte-chat-bot-facebook-messenger
Amazon Echo: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Echo-Bluetooth-Speaker-with-WiFi-Alexa/dp/B00X4WHP5E
First Principles of Instruction, M.D. Merrill: http://www.mdavidmerrill.com/Papers/firstprinciplesbymerrill.pdf
Slack: https://slack.com/
Cognitive Load - NNG: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/minimize-cognitive-load/ 

Episode 03: Experiential Learning and Text-Based Training in Mr Robot: Exfiltration

Brandon introduces Pandemic Legacy and its applications of cooperative learning principles in this week’s shorter “lockpick" episode. 

Pandemic Legacy is a collaborative board game that takes a serialized approach to gameplay. Players work together to stop the spread of diseases around the world, and consequences of decisions made during one game carry forward to the next time.

Pandemic and Pandemic Legacy are available wherever finer board games are sold.

Show Notes & Links:

The State of Cooperative Learning in Postsecondary and Professional Settings: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-006-9038-8 
Pandemic: http://www.zmangames.com/pandemic-universe.html
Pandemic Legacy: http://www.zmangames.com/pandemic-legacy-universe.html 
Battlestar Galactica (board game): https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/battlestar-galactica/
Archipelago: http://archipelago.ludically.com/
Shut Up & Sit Down’s review of Pandemic Legacy: https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/review-legacy/



Episode 04: Cooperative Learning Principles in Pandemic Legacy

Super Mario Maker, a game for the Wii U, could probably have entire books about the approaches and design choices it reflects. 

It’s a complex level creator for classic side-scrolling Mario games. Anybody can use 72 different pieces in infinite combinations to build the Mario level of their dreams (or nightmares). 

In this episode we specifically look at the game’s onboarding process. The way Super Mario Maker teaches players how to use it has implications for getting someone up to speed in other games and elsewhere.

Show Notes & Links:

-Super Mario Maker: http://supermariomaker.nintendo.com/
-While recording I couldn’t remember how many items there are to use in creating levels. There are 72.
-The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Socialization - Chapter 14: “Are Organizations On Board with Best Practices Onboarding?”: http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199763672.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199763672
-Actionable Gamification: http://yukaichou.com/gamification-book-3/
-Skipping ahead in Super Mario Maker: http://www.ign.com/wikis/super-mario-maker/Unlockables_and_Secrets
-Super Mario  Maker manual / art book: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wiiu/amaj/booklet/SuperMarioMakerBooklet.pdf


Other games mentioned in this episode:
-Skyrim
-Oblivion
-Fallout 3
-Dark Souls


Episode 05: Onboarding in Super Mario Maker

We talk about the intersection of video games, instructional design, and user experience.

Gamification Unlocked