Game Design & Game Hacks for City Design
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This document discusses using game design and game mechanics to engage citizens in civic processes like urban planning. It provides examples of games that have been created for this purpose, such as Cards Against Urbanity, a card game started as a joke that is now used at conferences. The document covers basics of game design, elements of games, and how mechanics from different game types like board games, card games, and Euro-style games can be applied to civic issues. Specific mechanics discussed include role playing, deck building, area control, and network building. The document advocates that games can make civic information and processes more accessible, fun, and promote cooperation. It provides advice on game design and provides examples of games that have been created or could be
Game Design & Game Hacks for City Design
- 1. GAME DESIGN | GAME HACKS for CIVIC ENGAGEMENT CARDS | BOARD GAME | GAME NIGHT
- 2. About Us – GreaterPlaces + DotankDC • Urban Planning tech startup in DC • Named one of Planetizen’s Top 10 urban planning resources (like Strong Towns!) • Working on mobile app and new print products • Stumbled into game design
- 3. WHAT WE WILL COVER • Simple game design and solving problems • Game design backgrounder & basics • Examples of game hacks already out there • Game design and mechanics • How can you hack card and board games for your work? • WILL NOT COVER – Video game design & super complex strategy games (at least not now)
- 6. GAMES FOR CITIES: FLIP CITIES* * needs its own hack
- 7. CARDS AGAINST URBANITY STARTED AS A JOKE AT NEW PARTNERS for SMART GROWTH CONFERENCE
- 8. CUSTOM GAME NIGHTS AROUND THE COUNTRY … RICHMOND VA ARLINGTON VA SMART GROWTH CONFERENCE - PDX NERD TRAIN CONGRESS FOR NEW URBANISM NY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS Young Professionals in Transportation (YPT)
- 9. WHY ARE GAMES HOT NOW? • Games of all kinds are hot • Video/phone games • Kickstarter + Pinterest • Game and Trivia nights in restaurants and bars • Participatory Planning & Open Government on the rise • Game Design already creeping into processes
- 10. WHAT IS IT ABOUT GAME HACKING FOR CITIES? • Fun (expand # & type of participants) • Portable (try lugging a projector for PowerPoint) • Relateble • Co-creation game ideas part of the game • Incidental learning stealth education • CHEAP – get game supplies online & Pinterest; or companies that now specialize in cards/games • Let’s take a look…..
- 11. WHAT PROBLEMS NEED SOLVING? ENGAGEMENT • Participants not informed and/or don’t know what they want • Going into new structures • People come in late to the process • Same people – same echo chamber • People tired of same tactics (Dot visual preference surveys) • People inundated with information • Well organized disruptors • Language and age barriers • WHAT WOULD YOU ADD? (USE THE CHAT BOX)
- 12. ELEMENTS OF A GAME Player(s) + Information + Action + Payoff SUB-ELEMENTS OF A GAME Motivation + Engagement + Meaningful Interaction Autonomy - Meaningful Choices Competence - Mastery Relatedness - Connections
- 13. TIMING Game as part of a process used: • For a process (a new tool) • As co-creation - participants develop game • As icebreakers before • To “blow off steam” after an event
- 14. GAME HACKS - ICE BREAKERS Cards to start conversations – city trivia Game Elements Audience: All • Memory/Knowledge • Timing/Race – answer Trivia question first • Connections
- 15. GAME HACKS - ICE BREAKERS Cards to start conversations – similar to Table Topics Game Elements Audience: All • Connection – answers questions connecting people to: • process • place • each other
- 16. GAME HACKS – SCRAPS NEIGHBORHOOD - BARCELONA “Baseball cards” for places + stickers (collect ‘em all) Game Elements Audience: Families with kids • Race (time element) • Mapping – location based scavenger hunt • Deck Building • Completion (fill out sticker sheets for a prize)
- 17. World Resources Institute (WRI) How to turn 200 page pdf into an accessible, interactive product GAME HACKS - SAFE ACCESS TO TRANSIT MANUAL – INDIA
- 18. Why Turn Manuals into a Game? • Taxpayer investment • Don’t want sitting on a shelf • Competing interests with limited budget • Graphics & “game rules” in place Need: Make sure everyone’s needs heard and considered
- 19. Players assume different roles in planning transit stations Game Elements Audience: Stakeholders planning transit station areas • Role playing • Trade-Offs • Area Control • Network Building • Conflict into Cooperation
- 20. GAME HACKS - METHOD CARDS Used by web designers to communicate using visual, scannable information Game Elements Audience: Public (teaching) or professional (brainstorming, strategy) • Deck Building • Puzzle – what combination of cards a best fit for task • Common vocabulary & mastery
- 21. METHOD CARDS FOR PLACEMAKING
- 22. TURNING METHOD CARDS INTO A GAME
- 23. GAME HACKS FOR REGULATIONS Center for Urban Pedagogy Los Angeles CA
- 24. QUESTIONS?
- 25. GAME MECHANICS for CITIES Applied to cities…. Role Playing (Eminent Domain) Builds empathy, understand constraints Deck Building Strategic combinations Area Movement & Control Area planning, regulatory Cooperative Play Stakeholder interaction Economy Management Constraints, Budgets, tradeoffs Pick up and Deliver Transportation, logistics Hand Management (Pandemic, Exploding Kittens) Optimal sequence/grouping Network Building (Catan, Ticket to Ride, Airlines Europe) Transportation network building
- 26. GETTING STARTED - RESEARCH • Audience • Needs & Goals • Player goals • Your goals • What are their constraints in meeting full potential? • Preferred playing style (solo, cooperation, competition)? • Who is everyone playing with? • What interactions do they enjoy? • What metrics do players care about?
- 27. GAME MECHANICS – CLASSIC BOARD GAME • Board or path • Usually driven by luck/chance • Graphically simple • Fun experience drives game • City hack: Point A to Point B, regulatory process, vocabulary
- 28. GAME MECHANICS – SIMPLE CARD GAMES • Word play or matching • Fun experience drives game • Key - explainers • City hack: Vocabulary building, placemaking matches
- 29. GAME MECHANICS – EURO BOARD GAME • Heavy on strategy • Resource constraints • Mitigate “bad luck” • Players expected to collaborate or compete • City Hack: Mimic complex processes (training, resource allocation, build out)
- 30. EXAMPLE: STREETCARS & STROADS STEPS 1) Graphic design package & printer (18” x 18”) Or Search “printable template” for Chutes & Ladders 2) Funnest: Coming up with squares to send forward/back 3) Cost: ~$10
- 31. NEXT - TOD: THE BOARD GAME
- 32. EXPLODING KITTENS - EXPLODING PUBLIC MEETING How Exploding Meetings Work 1) Meetings stocked with “well organized opposition” (WOO) 2) Unless – you know how to handle said WOO 3) Facilitators have strategies to lessen the chance of exploding meeting How “Exploding Kittens” Works 1) Deck packed with kitten cards – cause player to explode 2) Unless – you can defuse said kitten 3) Deck also has strategy cards to lessen chance of drawing kitten card
- 33. RECAP • Participants not informed and/or don’t know what they want • Going into new structures • People come in late to the process • Same people – same echo chamber • People tired of same tactics (Dot visual preference surveys) • People inundated with information • Well organized disruptors • Language and age barriers
- 34. WHAT’S NEXT FOR US? HIRE US! • Game design for facilitation, planning and civics • Custom Method Cards • Traditional town planning + smart cites THE APP (Soft Launch @ CNU) Tech+Data driven urban design • Content • Community • Connections • Commerce (Marketplace)