G.I.G.A. - Games for Innovation, Games for All

<< Background >>This Project came about as a result of previous distinct work between the partners.Taitotalo and Headstart Technology had been collaborating many years on providing work experiences to vocational game students. Headstart was also working with Maria Regina College and Danube University Krems on game-based learning and gamification in education. During these interactions, it became clear that there were strong areas of cooperation possible to address. Among gaming students interested in a gaming career, a common issue identified was that students lacked an exposure to real-life customer interactions beyond the training.This lack of authentic interactions meant that students engaged in work placements often found the experience challenging. At the same time organizations as Danube University Krems, when working with teachers, and Maria Regina College as a school often experienced resistance by educators when it came to employ games in the classroom, with one of the reasons being that many existing games do not match the requirements of pupils. At the same time,while schoolchildren generally have a positive attitude to the use of games, many games are not tailored to their needs, and are not designed with their voice as input. << Objectives >>The aim of GIGAGAMES was to address five distinct problems: 1.Improve the quality and level of innovation of games used in a classroom setting by giving students and teachers greater input into the creative process without requiring them to learn actual hard technical skills 2.Provide vocational students in the games industry a real-life authentic experience in developing a game that has a real audience 3.To improve the workflow of the game development process by providing a platform that allows developers and educators to coordinate and manage the ideation and development process, all the way from initial idea to final product. 4.Improve the communication and efficiency of the game development process for vocational students, by introducing a comprehensive project management platform that closely mirrors industry processes, but is not as complex as traditional industry approaches. Alack of such a tool was anticipated pre-project based on past experience hosting students on various projects by project partners and confirmed in the early stages of this project. Understanding and addressing these challenges of working in a distributed team dynamic with real-life customers would be of significant value to the profession<< Implementation >>The purpose of the project was:1. To create pedagogigal mini-games for school children2. To create on-line platform for VET gaming students and teachers and pupils and companies to meet and act togetherActivities to implemet the project:1.A qualitative and quantitative study with educators on the use of games in the classroom 2.Designing a digital platform to facilitate the communication and structure of a game development project between various partners. The online platform is designed to: a.Streamline communication between game project participants b.Provide p[project management and reporting features c.Mirror industry best practices in software and game design industries, while staying simple enough to not add overly onerous administrative work 3.Design and creation of mini-games. These games has been designed directly by students and educators, with both having wide discretion on design and gameplay mechanics. Games are focused on different subject areas. 4.International dissemination events , Multiplier events in all partner countries5. Learning, Teaching and Training activities in 2 partner countries<< Results >>This project developed:1. Educational mini-games for elementary schools2. On-line platform for VET game industry students and their customers, elementary school teachers and pulpils, to meet in guided business company cooperationThis project The project managed to achieve and exceed all of its stated aims, including: 1.A high quality quantitative and qualitative study was produced analyzing the attitude of educators towards games in education, helping both this project and future initiatives in understanding essential elements of a successful game development process for educational games 2.A fully featured digital platform that features a complete work flow management system for the game project. This includes the formalization of the game project into distinct phases, with each phase having specific deliverables and qualitative gateways to ensure the project stays on track. The platform can handle multiple concurrent projects and teams, and offers a fully integrated communication and project management platform for each project. This platform will now be integrated in the curriculum at Taitotalo for future game development projects. Taitotalo plans to maintain the dynamic of working with real-life educators and students for game development projects using the digital platform in the future, as it significantly enhances the experience of the vocational students. 3.4 mini games were produced (to date, with more in development). Each game was produced based on the designs and ideas of participating students and edcuators, essentiallly delivering a personalized gaming experience. 4.The games and the project management platform are available on a dedicated website, with free access to interested parties.