The Project Manager Game - A learning game for project management
Master thesis
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2411526Utgivelsesdato
2016Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
Sammendrag
The goal of this study was to design and develop an enjoyable strategy/simulation game that focuses on teaching project management, and evaluates how this game affects the players. Through a literature study, we found that previous research on the topic of project management learning games lacked a clear focus on the enjoyment that is needed to create motivation. We also found that there was a need for a mean that could combine enjoyment and reflection without interrupting the flow of the game.
The game was developed with an iterative process, while focusing on creating game mechanics that could lead to interesting challenges, and encourage the player to use strategy. In addition, we used theory from the literature study to guide the development. To ensure that the game could be enjoyable, we included playtesting as a part of the process. The main choice of technology includes HTML5, Pixi.js, and TypeScript.
As a result of this process, we created a single player game called "Project Manager", where the player take the role of a project manager in a software company. The main activity in the game is to assign employees to work on tasks, improve their skills, and attend to their mood. Learning in the game is presented through challenges that the player has to deal with, and textual descriptions at different places in the game.
The game was evaluated on 18 participants through a questionnaire, interviews, and observations. This evaluation showed that the game was considered enjoyable and that the participants seemed to use different strategies when playing the game. It also showed that there was a lack of interest in reading the textual descriptions. However, the participants seemed to able to remember how they played the game in detail, meaning what kind of strategy they had used. This suggests that strategy has a potential for effective learning. Furthermore, through testing and developing the game, we found Pixi.js and TypeScript can be suitable options when creating a web game.