By David R. Michael - Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform: 1st (first) Edition

by David R. Michael

Learn how to take the skills and knowledge you use to make games for entertainment to make serious games for education, training, healing, and more. "Serious Games That Educate, Train, and Inform" teaches game developers how to tap into the rapidly expanding market of serious games. Explore the numerous possibilities that serious games represent such as the ability to teach military training in a non-lethal environment and the ability to convey a particular political viewpoint through a game's storyline. You'll get a detailed overview of all of the major markets for serious games, including the military, educators, government agencies, corporations, hospitals, non-profit organizations, religious groups, and activist groups. Discover the goals of each market, the types of games on which they focus, and market-specific issues you need to consider. Case studies of how professionals in these various markets utilize games provide ideas and inspiration as well as credibility for serious games. "Serious Games" shows you how to apply your game development skills to a new and growing area and also teaches you techniques to make even entertainment-based games richer and more meaningful.

Genres: Game Design, Reference, Nonfiction, Psychology, History, Games, Education

Paperback

First published October 10, 2005

About the author

David Michael is a software developer and a writer. Some days, he’s a writer and a software developer. Other days, he’s an amateur photographer. Because, really, who is the same person every day?

David is the designer and developer of The Journal (www.davidrm.com/thejournal/), personal journaling software for Windows. He has also designed and developed video games, and has written two nonfiction books and numerous articles about video game development.

David blogs about writing at Guns & Magic (www.gunsandmagic.com). He even posts free fiction there.

David lives with his wife and kids in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Reviews

[Lea Vozel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book if you're interested in the topic. In 2013, a little bit out of date, but nonetheless informative. The structure of the book is great, systematic and the content is detailed. The authors provide a lot of examples of serious games and how to face the issues of development, pitching and funding.

[Mohammed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Showing serious games from a business point of view. A bit old but still gives a good idea about the field.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. The authors did a solid job of exploring the history, present state (when written), and future possibilities of using computer games for serious purposes - as the title says, to educate, train, and inform (the distinction as used here is that education imparts information, training imparts skills, and informing imparts values or viewpoints.) It was written in 2005, but is current and relevant in 2010 - if anything, developments in the years between have followed the trends foreseen by the authors. I'd recommend this for readers interested in developing video games, in education and/or training, in helping shape public opinion and policy, and in my own field, psychotherapy.