An Agent Based approach to design Serious Game

Authors

  • Manuel Gentile National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY
  • Dario La Guardia National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY
  • Valentina Dal Grande National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY
  • Simona Ottaviano National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY
  • Mario Allegra National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v1i2.17

Keywords:

Serious Game Design, Agent Based Social Simulation, Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

Serious games are designed to train and educate learners, opening up new learning approaches like exploratory learning and situated cognition.  Despite growing interest in these games, their design is still an artisan process.

On the basis of experiences in designing computer simulation, this paper proposes an agent-based approach to guide the design process of a serious game. The proposed methodology allows the designer to strike the right equilibrium between educational effectiveness and entertainment, realism and complexity.

The design of the PNPVillage game is used as a case study. The PNPVillage game aims to introduce and foster an entrepreneurial mindset among young students. It was implemented within the framework of the European project “I  can… I cannot… I go!” Rev.2

Author Biographies

  • Manuel Gentile, National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY

    He graduated in computer engineering at the University of Palermo in 2002. Since 2003, he has worked as a researcher at the National Research Council - Institute of Educational Technologies (ITD) of Palermo.

    His main research interests concern the definition of methodologies and environments to support learning with particular attention to entrepreneurship education. He has been involved in several research projects at national and international level, within which uses its expertise in the design and implementation of: mobile learning platforms, educational games and systems for the collaborative production, sharing and organization of learning resources. He is author/co-author of more than 70 scientific papers.

  • Dario La Guardia, National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY

    Dario La Guardia graduated in computer engineering at the University of Palermo in 2002. From 2003 to 2008 he worked as informatics consultant expert in networking issue for the most important Italians Information and Communication Technologies¹s Company. Since 2008 is a researcher at the Italian National Research Council. His main research field include semantic annotation, ontologies and game based training and learning systems. He has been contract professor at the University of Palermo

  • Valentina Dal Grande, National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY

    She graduated in business and administration at LUISS – Roma (Italy) in 2001.  Since 2008 she has worked as technologist at the National Research Council of Italy- Institute of Educational Technologies (ITD) of Palermo.  She has many years of experience in management and administration of projects financed with public funds (national and international). She was auditor in several 6 and 7PQ, and currently, she is  an auditor for projects funded by the Sicilian Region.

  • Simona Ottaviano, National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY

    She graduated in Psychology at University of Palermo (Italy) in 1994. Since 1995, she has worked as a researcher at the National Research Council - Institute of Educational Technologies (ITD) of Palermo.  Her main research fields concerning educational policies, learner strategies and theoretical and methodological aspects involved in the design and experimentation of learning paths supported by ICT. She is author/co-author of more than 50 scientific papers.

  • Mario Allegra, National Research Council of Italy Institute for Educational Technologies Via Ugo La Malfa 153 - 90146 Palermo - ITALY

    Since 1989 he has been a researcher at CNR-ITD; he has participated in promoting and carrying out research projects concerning ICT and their application in education and training contexts. Since April 2002 he is senior researcher and Responsible of the Palermo Department of CNR-ITD. His research activity has concentrated on educational technologies. He is in charge of several research projects both national and international and he is author/co-author of more than 120 scientific papers. Contract professor at the University of Palermo until 2007 and consultant for the Italian Ministry of research.

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Published

2014-06-19

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2014)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

An Agent Based approach to design Serious Game. (2014). International Journal of Serious Games, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v1i2.17

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