1. game on and be playful!
creating games and digital toys for your museum
Sharna Jackson Tate @sharnajackson
Danny Birchall Wellcome Collection @dannybirchall

2. today
Introductions
Why make games and toys?
Games from our sector
The Game Design Document
Exercise 1: Your target audience
Exercise 2: Learning objectives
Exercise 3: The game idea
BREAK
Collaboration: internal buy-in/working with agencies
Exercise 4: Key mechanics
Review
Exercise 5: Vision statement
Sharing and reflection
Summing up: Get your game on!

3. introducing ourselves
who you are
your institution, or favourite museum
your favourite toy or game
what you’d like to get out of today

4. why make games and toys?

5. Communication

6. ‘Stickiness’

7. Self-expression

8. Unlock collections

9. Reaching the unreachable

10. Fun?

11. games from our sector

12. guess who?

14. Code Fred: Survival Mode
Museum of Science + Industry
Chicago

16. Wondermind
Tate

18. Axon
Wellcome Collection

20. Street Art
Tate

22. Art Game Lab
SFMOMA

24. Cuboom
Tate

26. Wolf Quest
Minnesota Zoo

27. the Game Design Document

28. High Tea, Wellcome Collection

29. Gamers. by Mikal.Danielle, on Flickr

30. Learning, by College Degrees360 on Flickr

33. exercises
#1: Target audience
#2: Learning objectives
#3: Game idea
#4: Key mechanics
#5: Vision

34. Exercise # 1
target audience
1) Form a team!
2) Who is your game for?
3) What do you know about this audience?
5 minutes

36. Exercise # 2
Learning objectives
1) What does the player learn from the game?
2) Formal or informal learning?
3) Be specific!
5 minutes

37. Who’s the Pest? Wellcome Collection

38. Exercise # 3
the game idea
1) Use the object cards as inspiration
2) Filter through audience & objectives
3) Describe the world of the game
15 minutes

39. time for tea

40. Welcome back!

41. Collaboration

42. Working internally

43. Working externally

44. What can we learn from
agencies?

45. “Don’t underestimate the time and money
creating standout games require. It’s an
expensive business but can generate great levels
of interest if done right.”
Paul Canty Preloaded @paulcanty

46. “Also, be absolutely clear what you want to get
out of a game – whether it be engagement,
learning outcomes, dialogue/discussion, brand
extension etc.”
Paul Canty Preloaded @paulcanty

47. “If you’re looking to commission games, it’s of the
utmost importance that you understand why
you’re doing it. Games are fundamentally
different to pretty much every other form of
media. The biggest mistake I see is not giving
games a clear job to do, or expecting them to do
a job they are not suited to.”
Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

48. “There’s an interesting thing to be said about how
story and game (probably) play a zero sum game
inside a product.”
Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

49. “So you can either have a lot of story (and a little
game) or little story (and a lot of game).”
Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

50. “In museum or gallery contexts, there is often a
story to be told, so games can sometimes get in
the way unless they are designed very carefully,
with distinct ‘story’ and ‘game’ phases. Stories tell
stories to users. Games let users create their own
stories. And they do this via giving users a system
to explore – games enable learning through
doing, rather than seeing or being told.”
Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

51. “To boil this down into something small and
useful – use stories when you want to tell and
games when you want to let others tell.”
Mark Sorrell Hide and Seek @sorrell

53. Exercise # 4
Key mechanics
1) Use the ‘game genre’ cards to brainstorm
2) Hone down the idea to actions
3) What must the player do?
15 minutes

54. review!

56. Exercise # 5
Vision
1) Describe your game in a single sentence
2) What makes it special?
3) What’s the experience?
5 minutes

57. Sharing game ideas and
reflection

58. Summing up: get your game on!

59. Thanks for coming!
Sharna Jackson Tate @sharnajackson
Danny Birchall Wellcome Collection @dannybirchall