Conference Introduction
& Keynote
Keynote speaker: Jani Penttinen
Bitmagic, CEO
Presentation title: The Current and Future Impact of Gen-AI on the Game Industry
Demos & Posters
Producing Novelty: Generative AI in Design Education
Jena Marble; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Generative AI has the potential to enhance pedagogical and creative processes for both educators and artists. Discover how generative AI was applied in an advanced typography course focused on graphic design in filmmaking and see the achieved outcomes. Practical strategies and solutions for integrating AI into playful pedagogies will be explored, aiming to cultivate vibrant, interactive, and thoughtful learning experiences.
Jena Marble jmarble@illinois.edu is a graphic designer, art director, and educator. She has a particular interest in designing custom brand identities and staying informed about generative AI trends. Her commitment to these areas extends beyond the classroom, as she emphasizes the importance of practical experience and creative exploration for personal and professional development as a designer. Within the classroom, she combines firsthand knowledge with hands-on instruction to foster a collaborative, creative, and practical environment.
The GSD stu/dio Demos:
- Resilient Community virtual board game
- Master Dancer VR game
- VRchaeology
- Neuroanatomy Adventures
The stu/dio Team led by Robbie Sieczkowski and Dan Cermak; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Play the four games currently under development at the GSD stu/dio at UIUC! Our student-run, student-created projects cover a variety of different educational issues across several platforms. Enjoy demos of VRchaeology, Master Dancer, Neuroanatomy Adventures, and Resilient Community.
Robbie Sieczkowski rms6@illinois.edu is a third-year Informatics PhD student and the Producer at the Game Studies & Design stu/dio. He is interested in developing serious games across educational domains and platforms (XR, 3D, 2D) while examining and utilizing industry production processes and best design practices. He also resides as the VR Club at UIUC’s Academic Advisor, running a biweekly academic forum where faculty and students share talks and connect.
AI-Powered Picture Book Creation for Fostering Creative Neurodiverse Connections Among Children
Yiqi Xiao; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
This ongoing experimental research investigates the use of Generative Image Models (GIMs) in crafting a picture book creation game designed to nurture social connections among autistic children and their neurotypical peers within hybrid neuro-affirming environments. Moving away from traditional methods that often seek to condition neurodivergent children to socialize in prescribed ways, and building on extensive autism research—which indicates that autistic children are often more skilled in visual thinking—this project strives to cultivate a space where children can engage with one another naturally and creatively through art and storytelling, free from the pressure to adhere to standard social norms. Beyond merely ‘story-choosing,’ the research highlights the potential of GIMs to facilitate ‘story-creating’ in a game, fostering a truly creative and novel peer social connection in a structured collaborative learning experience.
Yiqi Xiao yiqix3@illinois.edu is a third-year master’s student in the MFA Design for Responsible Innovation (DRI) program, specializing in the intersection of technology, education, and the arts. Her journey in inclusive education began with hands-on experience as a registered behavior technician, working closely with autistic children and their families. This foundational work led her to explore various approaches to disability research and design, including both the medical and social models of disability. Currently, her research embraces a neurodiversity model, focusing on the development of AI-powered, game-based tools that support socialization and learning for all children, with a particular emphasis on including neurodiverse individuals.
How Games Mediate Collaboration Between Rival Communities in Asymmetrical Power Relationships
Alvarez Dixon; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
This poster summarizes a proposal for dissertation research focused on the potential and challenges of digital video games to facilitate collaboration and knowledge co-production between rival communities within the context of asymmetrical power relationships. This research focuses on knowledge production as a collaborative task. This can provide insights that can be useful for urban planning projects where city officials and community residents work together to make development decisions. It can support the progress and engagement of struggling and disconnected students in a school system. It may also lead to support for innovative institutional engagement programs by providing alternatives to engagement strategies that perpetuate the residue of colonialism.
Alvarez Dixon alvarezd@illinois.edu is an informatics PhD student at the University of Illinois iSchool. His research interests orbit social and cultural configurations of technology practice. Issues of interest include deconstructing coloniality in digital spaces, African diasporic technocultural practices, as well as digitality and innovation at the periphery of networked societies. Currently Dixon is researching the boundary work of games within the context of rival communities with unbalanced access to power and authority.
Iterative Design in Practice: Adapting the CUDO Plays Curriculum for Different Audiences
Kaitlyn Bequette; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
The CUDO Plays board game design competition has guided people to create their very own board games for over 10 seasons. Occasionally, the CUDO Plays ‘curriculum’ has been adapted to cater to different audiences, helping each to create their own board game over different time periods with different goals in mind. This presentation will cover the when CUDO Plays taught game design to a group of home-schoolers, to seven classrooms in the Stratton Academy for the arts and as a college class at UIUC.
Kaity Bequette bequett2@illinois.edu has been helping community members develop their board games as a part of the local board game design competition CUDO Plays, for around 10 years. She is also teaching the Introduction to Board Game Design Class as a part of the Game Studies Program.
Virtual Time Capsules: Unlocking Living Memory Through Meaningful Play in Immersive Heritage Environments
Colter Wehmeier; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Dive into the world of virtual time capsules as we explore how meaningful play can transform cultural heritage engagement. This presentation unveils insights from an innovative case study centered on Cyprus’s Nicosia Airport, demonstrating how interactive virtual environments can collect, preserve, and share living memory across generations. Discover how strategic “interpretation gaps” and thoughtful interface design can turn passive observers into active contributors, creating a dynamic, evolving record of personal and collective history. Join us to learn key principles for designing participatory heritage experiences.
Colter Wehmeier wehmeie2@illinois.edu is a dual-PhD candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Cyprus Institute, bridging Informatics with cultural heritage studies. His research explores the intersection of game design, digital humanities, and heritage preservation, focusing on the development of playful virtual environments that serve as both scholarly tools and platforms for public engagement. Drawing on his diverse background in architecture, software engineering, and game development, Colter investigates how principles of meaningful play can transform cultural heritage engagement, particularly in museum settings. Website: https://colter.us/
Human-In-The-Loop in Virtual Reality Games: Mindfulness and the Brain Activities
Inki Kim; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
The proposed presentation is related to new game design methodologies driven by neuro-psychophysiological responses monitored in real time. The underlying technological components include sensing, real-time data fusion, state-space inference, adaptive systems, and human-in-the-loop.
Dr. Inki Kim inkikim@illinois.edu is Assistant Research Professor of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, affiliated with the Health Care Engineering Systems Center (HCESC), a multidisciplinary research center backed by $112.5 million in endowment support to foster collaboration between engineers and physicians. He is experienced with building various forms of interactive simulations including eXtended Reality (XR), brain-computer interaction (BCI), and haptic, and pursues through human-in-the-loop (HITL), the scientific discovery of human information-processing.
Accessing Tomorrow: Expanding Software Accessibility in K-8 Education
Chunyu Liu; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
This poster presents a set of innovative simulation games designed to teach K-8 students about software accessibility through hands-on learning. Building on published research in digital accessibility education, the game creates meaningful opportunities for young learners to explore and understand inclusive technology design. By integrating gameful learning approaches into K-8 education, this project aims to nurture a generation of students who understand and advocate for digital accessibility. The simulation serves as both an educational tool and a bridge between local classroom experiences and global conversations about inclusive technology design.
Chunyu (Nora) Liu jshan10@illinois.edu is a first-year PhD student at the iSchool. Her research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Accessibility, Human-AI Interaction, Social Computing, and Computing Education. She is passionate about exploring ways to make digital spaces more inclusive and useable by all.
Loadouts: An FPS Game Focusing on Deaf/Hard of Hearing and Visually Impaired Experiences
Olivia Wang; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
People who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) or visually impaired (VI) may experience disability-related challenges when playing video games. This project features the development of an FPS game which centers these experiences and incorporates accessibility features. This work examines the effectiveness of different accessibility features for disabled audiences, aiming to provide recommendations on these features in game development. It also explores how a game centered on accessibility challenges can increase empathy in people who do not live with those challenges.
Olivia Wang ohw2@illinois.edu is a first-year Informatics PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying accessibility, sound and music, and games. They previously received their Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Bachelor of Arts in Music Theory from the University of Washington. They are currently co-advised by Professor Rachel Adler and Professor Deana McDonagh. Olivia is interested in how sound and music can be used to convey information multimodally, specifically in applications for accessibility as well as game design. They also have interests in haptics, AR/VR, and physical computing.
Transforming ArchViz: Enhancing User Engagement and Interaction in Architectural Visualization through Gamified AI Experiences
Sarvin Eshaghi and Sepehr Vaez Afshar; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
AI-Driven Gameful Learning for Immersive Heritage Education on the Silk Roads explores how AI and playful design can transform heritage learning, focusing on the Silk Roads. The presentation showcases how Unreal Engine and photogrammetry bring to life a 3D virtual environment of Incir Han, a historical caravanserai. Through AI-driven characters created with Convai and MetaHuman technologies, the game offers interactive, real-time guidance that enriches the learning experience with historical insights and personalized interactions.The project embodies the GLOCAL theme by connecting local heritage narratives with global educational practices, making heritage content accessible, engaging, and inclusive. Attendees will learn how social constructivism and situated learning principles are embedded within the game’s design to foster critical thinking, collaboration, and deep engagement. This research highlights the role of AI in enhancing game design, demonstrating immersive storytelling and interactive pedagogy in practice. This research introduces a new frontier in playful learning for heritage education, showing how global challenges in education and technology can be addressed through local narratives, advanced gaming technologies, and multidisciplinary approaches to create impactful learning experiences.
Sarvin Eshaghi eshaghi2@illinois.edu is a Ph.D. student in Informatics focusing on Design, Technology, and Society at U of I. Her background includes a bachelor’s degree in architecture, followed by two master’s in landscape architecture and historic preservation. Her research focuses on developing educational games, ranging from text-based to 360 and 3D, incorporating XR and AI elements, primarily aimed at cultural heritage preservation. She is also interested in applying educational theories to her games, converging her aims around the sense of place, behavioral change, and cooperative activities. Outside of academia, she co-founded OyuNest Inc., an innovative company dedicated to the intricate production process of digital games.
Sepehr Vaez Afshar sepehrv2@illinois.edu is an architect and landscape architect with a background in computer science, Sepehr combines an interdisciplinary approach with a strong interest in game studies and digital heritage. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Informatics with a specialization in Data Analytics and Information Visualization, Sepehr’s research focuses on employing data science techniques to analyze and visualize large game-related databases, enhancing the game development process and tracking player experience within educational games. Also, he is the Co-founder of OyuNest Inc., a venture specializing in virtual landscapes and game design.
A Journey through Interactive Game Designs for Enhancing Social Interaction and Cognitive Growth in Children with Autism
Maryam Jahadakbar; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
This poster focuses on the development of interactive game designs aimed at improving social interaction and cognitive growth in children with autism. By integrating physical and digital interfaces, these games create engaging and task-based therapeutic experiences that enhance emotional awareness, sensory regulation, and motor skills. The research introduces the Ran-Go Game, a prototype tested with children at an autism center in Isfahan, Iran. This game adapts tasks from simple to complex, engaging children’s cognitive, motor, and sensory skills in a playful yet structured way.The project utilizes participatory design, ensuring that the game is developed with input from therapists, caregivers, and children to meet their specific needs. It highlights how game-based therapies can bridge the gap between global challenges in autism therapy and local solutions. By creating accessible and inclusive therapeutic tools, this research contributes to the global conversation on how game design can enhance learning and well-being for neurodiverse populations. The presentation offers insights into the transformative potential of playful, interactive learning in both educational and therapeutic contexts, demonstrating how serious games can make a meaningful impact on the lives of children with special needs.
Maryam Jahadakbar maryamj3@illinos.edu is a PhD student in Informatics at the University of Illinois with the background of architecture and design. Her research focuses on designing interactive spaces that merge physical and digital environments to support the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development of children, particularly those with autism. She explores the potential of playful, interactive learning to enhance therapeutic outcomes for children with neurodevelopmental differences. Her work aligns with the mission of inclusive education and accessibility, contributing to a broader understanding of how playful design can support diverse learning needs. She is particularly interested in how game-based interventions can be leveraged to improve social and cognitive skills in children with autism in both local and global contexts.
PLENARY: Role Playing Games: Learning, Design, and Accessibility
Role-play and Games for Intercultural learning
Alexandria Schreiber; University of Göettingen, Germany
Recorded Talk | Slides
This presentation showcases games and role-playing scenarios for intercultural learning at the Intercultural Learning Lab at Goettingen University in Germany. Here, students from all faculty can choose from a range of courses to obtain credits for transversal skills and build their intercultural competence for a variety of contexts. The presentation introduces good practice examples from current and previous courses which include games and role-playing scenarios. It addresses topics for intercultural learning and the potential of games and role-play to create sustainable learning moments and build intercultural competence, including examples from a EU-funded project using role-play to take perspective and practice conflict transformation skills. This sessions invites participants to a dialogue about challenges and opportunities when bringing games and role-play to the center of teaching pedagogy.
Alexandra Schreiber Alexandra.Schreiber@phil.uni-goettingen.de is a lecturer for intercultural competence at Goettingen University/Germany, where she also oversees its Intercultural Learning Lab. She obtained a master´s degree in intercultural studies at Danube University Krems in Austria and completed the certificate program “Transformative Game Design” at Uppsala University/Sweden in 2023. Alexandra designs and conducts workshops and seminars for students of all faculties to raise cultural awareness and promote intercultural understanding. She is implementing games and role-play for building intercultural competence and is currently pursuing a PhD program to research the connections between role-playing games and intercultural learning.
Establishing and Piloting a Master’s Degree in Transformative Analog Role-Playing Game Design
Sarah Lynne Bowman, Josephine Westborg, Joseph Baird, Kjell Hedgard Hugaa; Uppsala University, Sweden
Uppsala University’s new Master’s programme caters to working professionals and lifelong learners wanting to improve their skills in design, implementation, community building around transformative analog RPGs. The programme is entirely online and mostly asynchronous to accommodate students with different time zones and scheduling needs. Students read academic and popular sources teaching theoretical and practical principles important to transformative game design. They design short nanogames with transformational goals, playtest together over video conferencing, gather feedback, and iterate using Research through Design (Coulton and Hook 2017). We will discuss results, critiques, and takeaways from our first two years running the 1-year Certificate track at Uppsala University that establish the groundwork for the 60 credit (ETCS) degree. Our open access lectures synergize with our Transformative Play Initiative Event Series, available on YouTube. We will discuss recent developments, including the Erasmus+ funded project ROCKET (2024), which adds a Critical Virtual Exchange component to teach conflict transformation skills through role-playing for students from three EU universities. We will also discuss another Erasmus+ project EDGE (2023), which connects two EU universities with three larp organizations to develop a Bachelor’s version, two textbooks, additional lectures, a tech toolkit, and a RPG teaching Transformative Game Design principles.
Sarah Lynne Bowman (Ph.D., Docent UU) sarah.bowman@speldesign.uu.se is a scholar, game designer, and event organizer. She received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in Radio-Television-Film and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas in Arts and Humanities. Bowman has taught in the Humanities, English, and Communication. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in Game Design at Uppsala University Campus Gotland. Bowman is a founding member of the Transformative Play Initiative, who research analog role-playing games as vehicles for personal and social change. She co-edited The Wyrd Con Companion Book (2012-2015) and currently edits for the International Journal of Role-Playing and Nordiclarp.org. More information http://www.sarahlynnebowman.com/
Josefin Westborg josefin.westborg@speldesign.uu.se is one of the world’s leading designers in edu-larps. She has a background in game design and pedagogy and is one of the founders of Lajvbyrån (previously LajvVerkstaden Väst). Josefin has worked as a research assistant and teacher at Uppsala University’s Department of Game Design where she was a founding member of the Transformative Play Initiative with focus on analog role-playing games. Westborg co-designed curriculum for Uppsala’s Master’s in Transformative Game Design and has worked as a teacher in its introductory courses. She has also been a teacher in game design at both Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg. She recently published an article for the International Journal of Role-playing entitled “The Educational Role-Playing Game Design Matrix: Mapping Design Components onto Types of Education.”
Elektra Diakolambrianou elektra.dkl@gmail.com is a licensed psychologist and psychotherapist, a certified adult educator, and a larp designer. She has a B.Sc. in Psychology from Panteion University, a Pg.Dip. in Person-Centred Counselling from the University of Strathclyde, a Prof.Cert. in Art, Drama and Play Therapy from Edexcel, and is a European Certificate of Psychotherapy holder. Her academic work emphasizes the potential of larp as a medium for personal development and psychotherapy. She is also a co-founder of the LARPifiers. Elektra has experience in working as an emotional safety person in games and projects, as well as in curating larp designs for emotional safety. She is a project manager and curriculum designer for the Erasmus+ Coordination Partnership EDGE.
Josephine Baird josephine.baird@speldesign.uu.se is a lecturer at the Uppsala University’s Game Design Department and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Vienna in Education. She is a game designer and game design consultant, as well as a writer and visual artist. Her work often relates the intersection between games, identity, gender, and sexualities. Her research and recent publications present the theoretical and methodological basis for her thesis that role-playing games might provide a potent opportunity for people to explore their gender subjectivity in safer environments. Her current research will conclude with the design of a live action role-playing game that puts this theoretical work into practice. More information can be found at https://josephinebaird.com/
Kjell Hedgard Hugaas kjell.hedgard.hugaas@speldesign.uu.se is a Northern Norwegian game designer, organizer, writer, theorist, and trained actor. In particular, he is engaged within the Nordic larp tradition, where he has been active for a bit over two decades. The last few years he has explored the transformative potential of games, and has proposed specific intentional game design practices that facilitate transformative effects. Hugaas has theorized how ideas impact players through the processes of memetic bleed, procedural bleed, and identity bleed, culminating in his 2022 Master’s thesis in Game Design at Uppsala University. In 2023, he completed a second thesis for UU on the impacts of larp on participants’ attitudes and anxieties around death.
Dungeons & Dragon’s Accessibility Issues, Plus 10 Better Alternatives for Introducing New Players to RPG’s
Tom Ackerman; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Dungeons & Dragons is the most well-known tabletop role-playing game in the world, BUT it’s got some BIG problems when it comes to accessibility. D&D’s high cost and complexity mean it’s not a great option for players or educators wanting an introductory experience with role-playing games. This session will highlight some of the different accessibility issues plaguing the current iteration of Dungeons & Dragons, and also suggest 10 alternative (FREE!) games that are more accessible/inclusive and make for better introductions to the world of role-playing games.
Tom Ackerman tkackerman@gmail.com is an amateur game designer and also one of the organizers of CUDO Plays, the local board game design competition that runs annually in Champaign-Urbana. As his day job, Tom works for the University of Illinois Foundation. He is an alum of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois.
Design for Learning – Workshop
Intentional Worlds: Speculative Worldbuilding in the Classroom
Ahu Yolaç & Katherine Tackett; Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, USA
In this session, we introduce the worldbuilding tool we have developed, which is intended to be integrated into the classroom spaces to discuss critical worldbuilding, how imageries can depict values and how can we be more intentional both as consumers and designers or games. Hence, we introduce a new tool developed through our Design-Based Research Project. This speculative worldbuilding and quick prototyping tool, built on Unity, allows for creating meaningful play experiences without advanced modeling or coding skills.To use the system, users produce 2d drawings (hand drawn or digital) according to the sizing format we have established. The attendees will quickly produce assets (with guidance) and we will implement them into our system which will be followed by the discussion regarding the kinds of worlds and environmental storytelling instances that the participants created. The discussion will include how these gameplay spaces can tell a story, what are the most effective ways of doing it, how they can be more critical with visual representations, etc.. This workshop will be guided by prompts encouraging participants to think about alternative worlds and how to produce critical play outcomes through worldbuilding in a creative way.
Dr. Ahu Yolaç ylcahu@gmail.com is a game studies researcher, game designer, and gamer. She is a multidisciplinary designer with a Ph.D. in Arts Education with a focus on Game Design from UIUC, an MSc in Industrial Design from METU, and a BFA in Interior Architecture and Environmental Design from Bilkent University. She is interested in games as transdisciplinary, critical, and informal learning spaces. She conducts design-based research projects on intentional design practices with the goal of enhancing critical thinking outcomes for both gameplay and the design process. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Game Design and the Internal Director of the Game Design Program at Lawrence Technological University.
Katherine Tackett is a rising junior at Lawrence Technological University. Her field of study is Computer Science with a concentration in Game Development and a minor in Game Design. She is very passionate about games as both a player and a creator. She has been making games since 2019, exploring different genres ranging from restaurant time management to turn-based roleplaying games. Outside of school, she has been working on updates for Lone Labyrinth, a game she created in LTU’s Integrated Game Studio course and is now her passion project.
Serious Games
DART: A Serious Game for Seniors on Scam Avoidance
Dan Cermak; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
DART: Disinformation and Resilience Training: A synopsis of a NSF project aimed at using a game to inform a broad audience about how to avoid scams in a world of advanced technologies.
Dan Cermak dcermak@illinois.edu brings 30+ years of experience in the video game industry to teaching Video Game Design and Production classes as part of the Informatics department. He has co-taught a VR/AR class in CS and has been part of the university since spring 2018. Prior to teaching, Dan spent almost 15 years with Volition, a Champaign Illinois video game studio that was known for creating high end console and PC video games. Dan joined Volition in 2003 as the Vice President of Production and acted as General Manager for 6 years before leaving in 2017. He is active in assisting the development of various educational experiences on campus and started the stu/dio as an initiative to improve development processes on campus.
Teaching & Learning
Breaking Free from the Screen: Teaching Students How to Tell Immersive Stories
Christopher Ball; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
As immersive technology becomes more prevalent, we must provide students across campus with ample opportunities to learn about these technologies. In particular, it is essential that we empower students, regardless of background, with the skills and confidence to tell their immersive stories. In this talk, I will share information about how I accomplish these goals in my Augmented and Virtual Reality course, which is tailored to students of all backgrounds and skill levels.
Dr. Christopher Ball drball@illinois.edu is an assistant professor of augmented and virtual reality at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign within the Department of Journalism, the Institute of Communications Research, Informatics (faculty affiliate), and the IMMERSE: Center for Immersive Computing (faculty affiliate). His research interests involve the influence of new interactive and immersive media technologies on society and how these new technologies can be utilized for research, education, and outreach purposes. Specifically, his research addresses digital inequality and other related social problems by harnessing video games, virtual reality, and augmented reality for prosocial purposes to help create a more digitally inclusive and equitable future. He is also passionate about teaching and has designed and taught numerous well-received and cutting-edge courses related to immersive and interactive media.
Research Theme-Presentations
EPIC-WE Cultural Game Jams: a Quadruple Helix glocal model
Filipe Luz, Wilson Almeida, & Micaela Fonseca; Lusófona University
This talk aims to present ongoing research, showing the results from two initial studies, namely two cultural game jams developed in 2024 within a specific glocal intervention. In this study, the previous experience of engaging participants in serious game jams encounters the Quadruple Helix model to guarantee the engaging participation of youth, academia, game industry and governmental institutions in this Cultural and Glocal Game Jams.
Filipe Luz (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3608-8417) (Ph.D. in Communication Sciences) filipe.luz@ulusofona.pt is the Director of the Erasmus Mundus REPLAY: The European Game Design Masters, a Consortium between Lusófona University, LUCA university and Aalto University and Director of the Master Programme “Game Design and Playable Media” and of “Videogames” Ba studies at Lusófona University, and Member of the direction of the R&D unit HEI-Lab. He lectures digital post-production for film, games and animation, and also does research activities in Communication Sciences, Design and arts, beeing, Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator in several research Projects. His work at Hei-Lab (Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab), Glow (https://glow.ulusofona.pt/) and MovLab (Laboratory of Interactions and Interfaces), where he integrates technologies such as Motion Capture, Animation, VR or Stereoscopic Photography, it’s an example of the cross-media projects that evolve him in academic or professional work for the education, entertainment, design and communication area.
Wilson Almeida (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0357-6892) p5633@ulusofona.pt is a Game Designer and teacher at the Videogames Ba, Game Design and Playable Media and Erasmus Mundus REPLAY Master Programmes at Universidade Lusófona. Currently, he is a PhD student in Communication and Media Arts at Lusófona University, focusing his research on game jams. With extensive experience in organizing game jams, he has collaborated with various companies, higher education, and research institutions, including Microsoft, Miniclip, and the Champalimaud Foundation.”
Micaela Fonseca (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7946-4825) https://www.filmeu.eu/micaela.fonseca@filmeu.eu research is mainly focused on developing serious games and applied games using co-creation methodology and participatory research. Micaela is actively engaged as a research member of the EPIC-WE project. EPIC-WE is a Horizon Europe-funded project aiming to empower young people to participate in shaping European Culture through game-making. In her role as task leader at Óbidos Hub (Portugal), Micaela coordinates the research during the innovative cultural game jams within the quadruple helix ecosystem. Furthermore, as PI and co-PI for other recent projects, Micaela has been mainly focused on applied games with dynamic adaptive difficulty and fantasy contexts for interactive rehabilitation systems using Virtual Reality (VR) and biosensors.
Ludonarrative Harmony through History: The Unity of Gameplay and Narrative with Time Travel in Chrono Trigger
Will Helmke; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
This research explores how the deployment of time travel as both mechanic and narrative element within Square’s 1995 role-playing game (RPG) Chrono Trigger serves as a form of in ludonarrative harmony. Chrono Trigger centers time travel within its story, providing the player with tools to travel between the game’s time periods. I explore how the game not only utilizes time travel to enable the diverse temporal settings within the narrative, but also incorporates time travel mechanics into typical RPG gameplay elements. Throughout the game, gameplay and narrative are closely intertwined. Most significantly, after the player gains the ability to freely travel through time, they must carefully consider how actions and quests completed in one time period can change the future. I discuss how the incorporation of time travel works to engender ludonarrative harmony, resulting in an experience that empowers the player to use time travel mechanics to change narrative outcomes while also obtaining in-game power-ups.
William (Will) Helmke whelmke2@illinois.edu is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois. He is interested in the intersection between games, culture, and the representation of physical space, seeking to make connections between games and culture while also considering how physical space is reproduced in the games’ virtual worlds. He is also interested in the role of controls in the video game experience, the preservation of video game media and technology, video game localization, and adaptation of narratives to or from video games.
PLENARY: ok What You Just Made: The Astonishing Capacities of 3rd Spaces for Interdisciplinary Design at Illinois
Judith Pintar, Emilie Butt, Celenia Graves, Stuart Turner, Jamie Nelson, Nicholas Puddicombe, Mary Ton, University of Illinois
In this panel, representatives of the Center for Innovation and Teaching and Learning, the University Library, the Grainger Idea, the CU Community Fablab, and Siebel Center for Design will share stories and insights from their experiences facilitating the myriad design projects created by faculty, staff and students over the last decade. Brief presentations will be followed by a discussion by the panelists about why third spaces are so successful at facilitating interdisciplinary explorations into new design technologies, and what kinds of future projects do they see coming down the road.
Judith Pintar jpintar@illinois.edu, PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor, and faculty Director of the Game Studies & Design Program at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She directs the Playful by Design campus initiative. In 2020 she was named an Illinois Distinguished Teacher Scholar. Her research includes gameful pedagogies, studio-based learning, immersive storytelling, and science and technology studies (STS). She is the author of Information Sciences: the basics (Routledge, 2023).
Emilie N. Butt (MSLIS) enbutt2@illinois.edu is the Engagement & Instruction Coordinator for the Champaign – Urbana Community Fab Lab, and affiliated faculty within the Game Studies and Design program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a makerspace and game design educator focused on community engagement and programming around games literacies, art, board games, and escape room design for all ages. Her students have developed escape rooms used by the Molecule Maker Lab Institute, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and the Museum of the Grand Prairie for public engagement, and she has presented on developing and teaching escape room design courses at the Game Developers Conference (2022).
Celenia Graves Celeniag@illinois.edu leads comprehensive programming and outreach efforts in the IDEA Lab to help bridge the digital and technical divide by focusing on engagement efforts to underserved and underrepresented communities on campus and in the Champaign-Urbana area. She has a background in education, metadata for special collections, and public librarianship and is in her third year of residency at Illinois. Celenia is a first-generation Salvadoran American whose research interests include accessibility, user experience (UX) design, metadata, and website design in libraries. She is also involved in the Generative AI Solutions Hub, Library AI Task Force, and co-chair of the Library’s Outreach & Engagement Committee. They enjoy extending their curiosity and love of learning into their role at the IDEA Lab.
Stuart (Stu) Turner Slturne1@illinois.edu is the Coordinator of the IDEA Lab at the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center and is responsible for the lab’s day-to-day operations. He has been working with technology at the University of Illinois Urbana campus for 20 years with a wide-ranging array of expertise. His focus currently includes bringing VR/AR/XR systems into operational excellence. His focus for the lab is on bringing cutting-edge technologies into a sustainable and scalable operation within an enterprise environment. His interests include makerspaces, gaming (both digital and physical) and melding the two together. He also runs a small business called Print to Play Design, where he brings his makerspace experience to create board game enhancements from a digital model into physical form.
Jamie Nelson jamien@illinois.edu is Associate Director, Educational Innovation at the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He advances educational innovation through the strategic use and implementation of new & disruptive technologies. Jamie oversees the programming of the CITL Innovation Spaces – Innovation Studio, VR Lab, and Idea Space – a series of educational, technology-enriched spaces designed to spur educational innovation. He has an appointment with the Disruption Lab at Gies College of Business where he works as lead on virtual reality, metaverse, and generative AI initiatives. He is also Advisor for Illini Esports.
Nicholas Puddicombe puddicom@illinois.edu is the Senior Associate Director of Operations and Experience at the Siebel Center for Design (SCD) and oversees the strategy and physical resources offered through the Center’s studios, classrooms, makerspaces, and public gathering areas. Nick has his bachelors in Accounting and an MBA with a concentration in Theater Management, and joined SCD in 2019 after spending a decade working in customer service and operations at performing arts venues. Combining knowledge and experience from the arts with an education in business, Nick has created a career path in venue management and university administration that exemplifies how multidisciplinary collaboration can bring together different skill sets and shared knowledge to develop creative solutions to modern issues.
Dr. Mary Ton maryton@illinois.edu is an Assistant Professor and Digital Humanities Librarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the global history of early screen technologies and their impact on multimodal forms of communication today. She uses makerspace tools to recreate nineteenth-century performance media. As a member of the library’s Scholarly Communication and Publishing Unit, she leads instructional sessions on digital tools like ChatGPT, Scalar, and Esri StoryMaps to inspire new directions for research and storytelling. She currently serves as the chair of the Library Emerging and Integrated Technology Coordination Group. Her approach to accessible, hybrid workshop design is influenced by her experience and a Dungeons & Dragons Game Master.
Panel: Inclusive Game Design
From Local Voices to Global Play: Co-Creating Inclusive Games with Adults with Intellectual Disability
Carla Sousa, Filipe Luz, Pedro MA Fernandes, Wilson Almeida, Cátia Casimiro, João Léste, Henrique Monteiro, Lusófona University
The symposium will follow the theoretical and conceptual framework of the abstract. It will begin by clarifying the main theoretical concepts that will be inherent to it, including: intellectual disability; inclusive game design; cognitive accessibility; and glocalization as a co-creative practice. Subsequently, the sessions already held as part of the GameIN project will be presented, showing the different dynamics and games developed and/or adapted in this context. Finally, a parallel will be drawn between the games presented and the equal participation of people with disabilities in the creative process, as a way of democratizing game design, from the local to the global. The audience will also discuss the main insights and how they may or may not be transferable to different contexts and populations.
Carla Sousa (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1036-963X) carla.patricia.sousa@ulusofona.pt has a PhD in Communication Sciences, a Master’s Degree in Clinical and Health Psychology, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Her main research targets are directed toward media studies, with a particular focus on games, inclusion, behavior, learning, and human diversity. In Lusófona University (Portugal), Carla is part of the Centre for Research in Applied Communication, Culture, and New Technologies (CICANT) and is an assistant professor in the Bachelor’s Degrees in Psychology and Videogames. Carla has been part of several national and internationally funded projects and scientific networks. Since 2022, Carla has been an individual ambassador for the non-profit Women in Games and, since 2023, a member of the advisory board of ECREA.
Filipe Luz (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3608-8417) (Ph.D. in Communication Sciences) filipe.luz@ulusofona.pt is the Director of the Erasmus Mundus REPLAY: The European Game Design Masters, a Consortium between Lusófona University, LUCA university and Aalto University. Is also Director of the Master Programme “Game Design and Playable Media” and of “Videogames” Ba studies at Lusófona University, and Member of the direction of the R&D unit HEI-Lab. He lectures digital post-production for film, games and animation, and also does research activities in Communication Sciences, Design and arts, being Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator in several research Projects. His work at Hei-Lab (Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab), Glow (https://glow.ulusofona.pt/) and MovLab (Laboratory of Interactions and Interfaces), where he integrates technologies such as Motion Capture, Animation, VR or Stereoscopic Photography, it’s an example of the cross-media projects that evolve him in academic or professional work for the education, entertainment, design and communication area.
Pedro M. A. Fernandes (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6676-882X) is a first-year PhD Student in the Media Arts and Communication doctoral program at Lusófona University. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Videogames, and a Master’s Degree in Game Design and Playful Media where, for his dissertation, he explored the use of Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) systems to improve player experience in a virtual reality game developed to complement upper-limb rehabilitation. Pedro’s research interests – as part of his thesis project on the design of independent horror games – include game design, horror games, and independent games; they also work on projects related to applied/serious games as part of research projects in Lusófona University’s HEI-Lab.
Cátia Casimiro (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5606-5474) catia.casimiro@ulusofona.pt has a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Communications, as well as a Master’s Degree in Organizational Communications. Her Master’s Thesis focused on the equity of organizational communication between hearing people and people with hearing loss. She is currently a PhD student in Communication Sciences and her thesis will focus on the written accessibility of board game rules. Cátia’s research interests include communication, and social and organizational inclusion of People with Disabilities, and publishing. In line with these interests, she already has some articles, chapters, and a book dealing with these areas of research. Additionally, she is the editorial manager for the International Journal of Games and Social Impact (IJGSI).
João Léste (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7723-5041) joao.leste.design@gmail.com has a Bachelor Degree in design and research the informational ergonomics of tabletop games’ rulebooks during his Masters. He is currently a last year PhD student in design at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, having just finished a semester abroad at the Lusófona University as part of his field research. João’s research interests encompass the intersection between tabletop games and inclusion in its many forms. Currently he is focused on researching participatory techniques to produce tabletop games that are accessible for People with Visual Disabilities (PwVD), but he also considers the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ groups, as well as socio-economic inclusion.
Henrique Monteiro (https://www.cienciavitae.pt//pt/4816-B0A6-FE62 is currently a third year student in the Videogames program at Lusófona University in Lisbon,, with a large experience in participating in Game Jams with the goal to increase his creativity on game production. He has been awarded with a scholarship to research in game design for people with Intellectual Disabilities in the context of the GameIN research project – Games Inclusion Lab: Participatory Media Creation Processes for Accessibility.
Bridging Designer-Use Gap with Empathic Games
Xinhui Hu, University of Illinois, USA
User-Centered Design (UCD) emphasizes the importance of empathizing with users, fostering emotional resonance and contextual understanding to accurately interpret their needs and desires. However, effectively implementing this empathic approach requires training and experience, as designers must learn to navigate the complexities of user research and analysis. Opportunities to directly engage with users are often limited, underscoring the need for alternative methods to familiarize designers with this approach.To address this challenge, we propose utilizing empathic games as a ‘designer simulator’ for experiential learning. Within these games, designers can practice essential qualitative research techniques, such as field observation, interviewing, focus groups, think-aloud protocols, and surveys/questionnaires. By observing users’ daily routines, engaging in conversations, and even temporarily embodying their perspectives within the games, designers are expected to gain firsthand insights into their needs and motivations. This interactive gamified approach not only complements traditional training methods but also offers a safe and controlled environment for practicing empathy-driven design skills, ultimately leading to more user-centric and effective design solutions.
Xinhui Hu’s xhu15@illinois.edu projects seek to exploit the immersive capabilities of VR and the compelling storytelling of games to foster enhanced empathy and deeper social comprehension. She is a doctoral student in Information Science at the University of Illinois.
Utilizing Audio Game Design Conventions for Explorable Information Displays for Blind and Low Vision Users
Zainab Husain, David Barter, Stepher Murgaski, Ali Reza Syed, Alvaro Uribe Quevedo, & Peter Coppin, Ontario College of Art & Design University, Toronto, Canada
Visual displays such as maps and diagrams contain critical spatial information, yet Blind and Low Vision Individuals’ (BLVI) inability to access this data (when visuals are emphasized) is often overlooked. Traditional alt text and verbal descriptions fall short in conveying the spatial details that sighted individuals have access to.Inspired by the success of audio games in the BLV community, such as the first-person shooter Swamp, we developed the Auditory Spreadsheet Horizon (ASH). This tool allows BLV users to explore information displays via keyboard navigation and auditory feedback. Collaborating with BLV individuals through a co-design methodology, we created and tested interactive prototypes using existing and familiar Game Design tools such as the Unity Game Engine.Our study demonstrates ways that existing features in game design tools, such as spatial audio, can be utilized for purposes of accessibility and inclusion and how audio cues can be used to convey information to the user in novel and engaging ways. We highlight how BLV participants were involved in the co-creation of these prototypes and why co-design strategies should be considered by other designers and developers and non-visual based interaction mediums such as spatial audio should be further explored in the design of games.
Zainab Husain zainabhusain@ocadu.ca completed her Bachelors in Engineering Physics at McMaster University and her Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto, researching how medical data visualization interfaces could be better designed for doctors. Zainab is interested in applying design strategies towards making computational tools more user friendly and accessible. She currently works as a UX Researcher where she helps develop and test software and Virtual Reality interfaces for individuals with accessibility needs. Zainab has been involved in design education and curriculum development at OCAD University for the past 2 years and is passionate about creating technology that has a positive impact.
David Barter David.barter@davidberter.net is a design researcher with a background in interaction design, industrial design and inclusive design with a focus on participatory design with blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals. He has two Bachelor’s degrees (Science/Interactive Arts & Technology from Simon Fraser University and Design/Industrial Design at OCAD University), and a Master of Design in Inclusive Design, also from OCAD University. His research centers around the need for information representations (particularly those of information/communication technologies (ICTs)) to equivalently support BLV users’ agency, by providing cross-sensory affordances that avert the need to rely on second-hand interpretations of information (e.g. alternative text, single descriptions written by others) rather than direct perceptual experience.
Ali Raza Syed ali.syed@sensetech.ca is a systems engineer with a passion for accessible solutions who co-founded and leads Sense-Tech Solutions Inc. as CTO. He has been instrumental in national projects focused on rehabilitation, training, and accessibility outreach, working with organizations like the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and SurreyPlace, Spinal Cord Injury Ontario. Ali’s expertise spans multi-faceted software development, robotics and machine learning. As a primary investigator, for the “A Study of Accessible and Inclusive Virtual and Blended Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the Federal Public Service and Federally Regulated Industries in Post-COVID-19 Canada.”
Dr. Peter Coppin, fase.edtech@utoronto.ca Program Chair of Industrial Design, Director of the Perceptual Artifacts Lab and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Design, is an inclusive designer, visual artist, and cognitive scientist. His work seeks to improve information inclusion through a better understanding of how individuals make use of their diverse perceptual-cultural-motor capabilities to interact with interfaces and other designs (such as diagrammatic reasoning in problem solving and auditory display alternatives to charts, graphs, and maps). His electronic media art-designs have been exhibited internationally, including Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), the SIGGRAPH Touchware Exhibition (Orlando, Florida, USA), MIR: Art&Space (Bolzono, Italy), and the Adler Museum (Chicago, Illinois, USA).
Teaching & Learning
Art and Play: Innovative Approaches to Business and Technology Education
Max Rakov & Neda Maki; Yorkville University, Toronto
In this presentation, we will showcase the innovative gamification and art tools we’ve introduced into business and cultural courses within postgraduate programs offered to international students in VR/AR and Project Management at local universities in Toronto. Attendees will gain practical insights into the tools we’ve implemented and learn how these tools have positively impacted student performance, engagement, and overall experience. This will be supported by survey data we’ve gathered.
Max Rakov mrakov@yorkvilleu.ca Research Interests: The impact of AR/VR on empathy, knowledge exchange, innovation design, immersive education, the future of emerging technologies, sustainable innovation, VR/AR in experiential marketing. Relevant Experience: 18+ Years of experience leading digital transformation, digital marketing, immersive and digital media production in automotive, manufacturing, CPG, and entertainment (incl. Leo Burnett, PepsiCo, Natura&Co, Philipp Morris, Magna International, Tetra Pak, etc.); Executive Production for the world’s biggest tech and entertainment events, including CES (Las Vegas), IAA (Frankfurt, Munich), and ComicCon (San Diego); 12+ years in Business Facilitation and education. Relevant Education: MDes, Strategic Foresight & Innovation (OCAD), Higher Education Teaching (Harvard), Virtual Reality (University of London), Multimedia Storytelling (University of Toronto), etc.
Neda Maki neda.maki@mail.utoronto.ca is currently working on her doctoral degree (PhD) in medical anthropology at the University of Toronto and concurrently completing her practicum clinical placement in Art Psychotherapy at the Canadian International Institute for Art Therapy. Building on her career as a visual artist with over 18 years of professional experience (www.nedamaki.com) her PhD dissertation “Beyond the Silent Language: Autistic Imagination, Linguistic Bodies, and Art Therapy” explores how children on the autism spectrum express language and imagination through art. Neda has presented her work at national and international conferences and is the recipient of several awards and scholarships including the 2018 Joseph Armand Bombardier for Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). She is passionate about teaching, working with children, and art as a form of therapy.
AI-Driven Music Co-Creativity Games
Lav Varshney, Haizi Yu, & Han Ni; University of Illinois, USA
We have built a creator-focused music co-creativity platform that introduces a higher-level language for music that lowers the bar for composition, which allows all people to work together with others and with computational support to realize their musical dreams and exponentially grow their communities’ cultural wealth rather than being exploited. A social game interface enhances the fun. We have seen improved social-emotional learning among middle school kids in the Midwest.
Lav Varshney varshney@illinois.edu is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also a co-founder and CEO of Kocree, Inc.Haizi Yu is a co-founder and CTO/CSO of Kocree, Inc. He is also a research associate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.Han Ni is a designer at Kocree, Inc. She recently earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Product Design from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Haizi Yu is co-founder and CTO of Kocree, Inc., a social music co-creativity game platform company driven by human-controllable AI. He received his B.S. degree in automation from Tsinghua University, his M.S degree in computer science from Stanford University, his Ph.D. Degree in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and postdoctoral studies in sociology at the University of Chicago. He was once the most outstanding young painter in China.
Han Ni is a designer at Kocree, Inc., a social music co-creativity game platform company driven by driven by human-controllable AI. She received her bachelor’s degree in industrial and product design from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Teaching Indigenous Stories and Environmental Justice Through Games: Land of the Three Fires
Ahu Yolaç & Julia Kiernan, Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, USA
Land of the Three Fires targets youth public audiences in Michigan and invites players to think about environmental sustainability as a living and local concept; specifically, the game is grounded in past, present, and future Anishinaabe culture in Michigama: land of big water. The content of the game is framed within Anishinaabe land narratives that have evolved from oral histories to print text and now, with the support of our Indigenous advisors, to interactive digital stories. Land of the Three Fires’ curation of selected Anishinaabe stories intends to deepen public/player understanding of the local, human dimensions of environmental humanities ideas about the land where they live–it is designed to invite players to think hard about the ways that individual choices can affect their local landscapes. While environmental humanities scholarship theorizes narrative, decolonial, and anthropological connections between people and place, Land of the Three Fires reframes existing theory into publicly accessible and consumable humanities ideas, which include understanding landscape as a way of dwelling with past, present, and future human choices; understanding Indigenous cultural practices as implicit to environmental stewardship, preservation, and conservation; and understanding how Indigenous stories can help us bridge ecological and social relationships.
Dr. Ahu Yolaç ylcahu@gmail.com is a game studies researcher, game designer, and gamer. She is a multidisciplinary designer with a Ph.D. in Arts Education with a focus on Game Design from UIUC, an MSc in Industrial Design from METU, and a BFA in Interior Architecture and Environmental Design from Bilkent University. She is interested in games as transdisciplinary, critical, and informal learning spaces. She conducts design-based research projects on intentional design practices with the goal of enhancing critical thinking outcomes for both gameplay and the design process. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Game Design and the Internal Director of the Game Design Program at Lawrence Technological University.
Dr. Julia Kiernan’s jkiernan@ltu.edu research and teaching are intimately linked, and regularly examine the shifting impacts of inclusive pedagogical and curricular intervention in the digital humanities, environmental humanities, and game design. Her current research is framed within narrative, new media, and transmedia adaptation; her primary theoretical frames are rhetorical listening, narrative theory, and trauma studies. Her favoured research methodology is active research, which focuses on the impacts of listening, reflection, and feedback throughout learning processes. At Lawrence Technological University, she is currently an Assistant Professor of Communication; in fall 2024, she will also join the Game Design program as an Associate Professor.
Panel: Evaluating the Impact of Serious Games
Knowledge and Perception of Serious Games and Sustainable Cities among Spanish University Students
Ester Muñoz Céspedes, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
This study aims to evaluate the level of knowledge and perception regarding serious games and sustainable cities among university students in the Community of Madrid. A questionnaire will be designed using Google Forms to collect relevant information on both topics. The questionnaire will focus on measuring prior knowledge, interest, and attitudes toward serious games and sustainable city initiatives. The adopted methodology is based on exploratory and correlational analysis, allowing for an assessment of the students’ baseline knowledge and interest in these areas. The results will provide a detailed understanding of the university population and serve as a foundation for the implementation of future educational programs and serious games focused on urban sustainability. Additionally, these data will enable the proposal of specific strategies to increase interest and knowledge about sustainable cities and serious games. The collected information will be crucial for developing more effective interventions aligned with the needs and expectations of university students.
Ester Muñoz Céspedes ester.munoz.cespedes@urjc.es is PhD in Economics from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) and recipient of the Extraordinary Doctorate Award, with a research focus on financial education, sustainable finance, and active educational methodologies. She is the author of high-impact journal articles and coauthor of academic books. She completed a research stay at Universidad San Pablo CEU and has presented at numerous international conferences. With extensive university teaching experience, she is a member of the Teaching Innovation Group in Economics and Finance (GIDEF) and serves on the editorial board of the journal Rect@. Additionally, she has an outstanding professional background as the founder and CEO of the EducaT Study Center, CB.
Evaluating the Impact of Serious Games on Sustainable Urban Practices: A Methodological Approach
Raquel Ibar-Alonso, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
Serious games focused on sustainable cities provide a wealth of information that can be used to gain a better understanding of the target population, as well as the feelings and emotions that arise in the players. This work proposes a methodology to evaluate the data collected during the game, which will be analyzed with the aim of quantifying the effectiveness in promoting meaningful learning and behavioral changes towards more sustainable practices. Textual responses and the emotional tone expressed by the players will be analyzed using text mining and sentiment analysis techniques. This proposal provides a detailed description of the players’ opinions, feelings, and expectations regarding the game and its impact on informed decision-making. The findings will determine whether the game truly contributes to improving sustainable awareness and behavior among users, offering valuable recommendations for future educational initiatives in this field.
Raquel Ibar-Alonso raquel.ibar@urjc.es is Director of Data Laboratory – ASEPUMA and Research Professor in the Department of Applied Economics I of Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC). She has a degree in Mathematics and a PhD in Economic Analysis and Applied Economics with Extraordinary Doctoral Award. She has participated in research projects funded by public and private institutions, as principal investigator in some and researcher in others. She maintains a multidisciplinary character in her line of research, focused on the study of advanced statistical techniques, social behavior, and big data. With more than 60 articles and book chapters published publications in journals indexed in prestigious databases and presentations at international and national conferences.
PlayPension: Financial Planning to Improve Your Retirement
Sonia de Paz Cobo, Esther Ruiz, & Ana Serrano, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
Financial planning is a cornerstone of long-term stability and prosperity, particularly as it pertains to retirement. The serious game PlayPension is a tool in helping individuals achieve thorough financial planning. Through gamification, PlayPension transforms learning about saving, investment options, and the impact of financial decisions into a more engaging and enjoyable experience. This method not only makes financial education more approachable but also significantly enhances user engagement and retention of critical information. Moreover, PlayPension offers a risk-free simulated environment where users can experiment with different financial strategies. This hands-on approach allows individuals to see the potential outcomes of their decisions, thereby fostering improved financial decision-making skills. As players navigate the game, they learn to balance immediate desires with long-term financial goals, a key aspect of effective financial planning.
Sonia de Paz sonia.depaz@urjc.es has a degrees in Economics and Business Administration from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and in Actuarial and Financial Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Phd. in Economics from the same university with the thesis “Alternative Risk Transfer”, awarded by the Royal Academy of Doctors of Spain as the best thesis in Social Sciences and by the Club of International Insurers as the best research in Finance and Insurance (2004). She is a professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and directs the Master in Actuarial and Financial Sciences.
Ana Serrano Garcia: Degree in Actuarial and Financial Sciences and in Business Administration and Management from the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca.Training technician and head of the BugaMAP program, MAPFRE’s business game.
Esther Ruiz: 2016 – Actualidad: Actuario de MAPFRE España S.A.2004 – 2016: Subdirectora Adjunta del Centro Universitario MAPFRE de Estudios de Seguros.Vicedecana de Alumnos y Extensión Académica de la Facultad de Ciencias del Seguro, Jurídicas y de la empresa de la UPSA. Profesora encargada de cátedra en la Facultad de Ciencias del Seguro, Jurídicas y de la Empresa de las asignaturas: Teoría General del Seguro y Derecho del Seguro Privado.1997 – 2004: Técnico del Instituto de Ciencias del Seguro de la Fundación MAPFRE Estudios. Profesora de la Facultad de Ciencias del Seguro, Jurídicas y de la Empresa.1996 – 1997: Ejecutivo de cuentas. Correduría de Seguros Iberassecuranz.
Roundtables
Games as instruments of social change
David Dubin & Sharon Irish, University of Illinois, USA
Many games have been designed to educate or influence players on social, political, or moral issues, often failing to reach an audience or to live up to the designer’s aspirations. How and with whom should socially transformative games work to achieve their goals?
David Dubin ddubin@illinois.edu is a Teaching Associate Professor at the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences. He teaches the social history of games and gaming.
Sharon Irish slirish@illinois.edu published a book on the London-based artist Stephen Willats in 2021; Willats “game-ified” many of his participatory projects. She is currently active with the CU Reparations Coalition and the youth development non-profit, STEAM Genius.
Learning Games: Cursed Problem?
Bobby Lockhart, CodeCombat, Chicago, IL, USA
Could the concept of learning games have an inherent conflict which makes success more rare than you might expect? Bobby Lockhart will lead you through the reasons learning games might be cursed problems and whether they are doomed, or just very difficult.
Bobby Lockhart bobbylox@gmail.com is an award-winning designer of learning games based in Chicago. He has worked on games for a wide range of audiences and learning goals. He also builds large-scale interactive installation art and designs tabletop games and toys. His book of game design exercises comes out next year.
Design Workshop
Developing Human-Centered Game Design Challenges for the Classroom
Amber Dewey Schultz, University of Illinois
This workshop is designed for instructors interested in integrating human-centered game design into their curricula for undergraduate and graduate students. Human-centered design (HCD) prioritizes the needs and experiences of people throughout the design process. This approach empowers students to create games that resonate with local communities while addressing global issues such as inequality, conflict, and sustainability. Participants will be introduced to the HCD framework, emphasizing empathy, collaboration, and iterative problem-solving in the context of game design.The workshop will cover the HCD process, associated mindsets, and the benefits of incorporating design thinking specifically into game design education. Attendees will learn to create game design challenges that align with course objectives using HCD principles. Through interactive activities, participants will collaboratively develop human-centered game design challenges, fostering innovation, empathy, and inclusivity. Join us to explore how human-centered game design can contribute to a more empathetic, inclusive, and globally connected future.
Amber Dewey Schultz amber@illinois.edu is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Design in the Department of Theatre and an affiliate faculty member of the Game Studies & Design program at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She also leads the Academic Programs Department at UIUC’s Siebel Center for Design. As an experience designer, she specializes in interactive narrative experiences, developing and teaching the design of escape rooms, tabletop RPGs, and playable theatre experiences. Notable designs include I Wish: A Theatrical Puzzle Room (Illinois Theatre), The Heist: A Theatrical Escape Room (Illinois Theatre), “Thank You, Five!” (a stage management-themed board game), and “Murder on Klein Island” (a Zoom-based LARP mystery). Amber holds a BFA in Design and Production from UNC School of the Arts and an MFA in Experience Design from Miami University.
Conference Hosts
Lisa Bievenue, bievenue@illinois.edu, M.A., M.P.H., is Director of Informatics Programs in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She directs the cross-campus interdisciplinary Informatics minor and Ph.D. programs, the CU Community Fab Lab, and the Game Studies & Design minors (undergraduate and graduate) and is guiding the development of a new Master of Science in Game Development. Since 2000 most of her education research efforts have been directed toward research and project evaluation of education and outreach projects in computer and computational science.
Judith Pintar jpintar@illinois.edu, PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor, and faculty Director of the Game Studies & Design Program at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She directs the Playful by Design campus initiative. In 2020 she was named an Illinois Distinguished Teacher Scholar. Her research includes gameful pedagogies, studio-based learning, immersive storytelling, and science and technology studies (STS). She is the author of Information Sciences: the basics (Routledge, 2023).
Joao Alves de Sousa joao.alves.de.sousa@ulusofona.pt main research areas are game design and animation in the context of scientific, technological and artistic-cultural production. PhD in Science and Technology of the Arts, Specialization in Interactive Art from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, he has been working in recent years on the link between education and entertainment (edutainment). As a researcher at HEI Lab, he has worked on several multimedia applications, such as VR Nmesis (2021 – under development) and VR Decision Making Training (2020, used by Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses – OPP). As director of the degree in Video Games and Multimedia Applications at Universidade Lusófona do Porto, he won the “Fazer + 2021” award for Best Innovative Pedagogical Practice.
Dr. Katryna Starks kmstarks@illinois.edu is a Game Studies and Design academic at the University of Illinois, where she specializes in curriculum development, serious games, game design, narrative, and psychology. Holding both an M.S. and a PhD in Psychology, her research focuses on promoting health behaviors through video games, and how game design affects player identity. She co-developed a Bachelor of Serious Games degree and designed the Interactive Narrative minor within that program. Her most prominent research includes “Cognitive Behavioral Game Design: a framework for creating Serious Games.
Dan Cermak dcermak@illinois.edu brings 30+ years of experience in the video game industry to teaching Video Game Design and Production classes as part of the Informatics department. He has co-taught a VR/AR class in CS and has been part of the university since spring 2018. Prior to teaching, Dan spent almost 15 years with Volition, a Champaign Illinois video game studio that was known for creating high end console and PC video games, as the Vice President of Production and acted as General Manager for 6 years before leaving in 2017. He is active in assisting the development of various educational experiences on campus and started the stu/dio as an initiative to improve development processes on campus.
Lara Orr has been with Informatics for over 6 years serving as the communications and summer camp coordinator. Recently she completed her second master’s in social work and looks forward to utilizing her new skills. In her free time she enjoys supporting her two kids in their sports endeavors, running, reading, gardening, and art.
