Paper Information
| Title | Diminutive Subjects, Design Strategy, and Driving Sales: Preschoolers and the Nintendo DS |
| Presenter(s) | J. Alison Bryant, Anna Akerman and Jordana Drell |
| Session | Alternative platforms for learning games |
| Time | Thursday, October 9, 2:45p-3:45p |
| Location | Green Room |
| Format | Paper Presentation |
| Description | The gaming industry is constantly evolving - new platforms, new mechanics, and new consumers. From a game creation standpoint, innovation is usually thought of as coming from a strictly creative/artistic place - the brain child of one or two tech-inspired folks who think of research (if they think of it at all) as an afterthought. We see this consistently in the video game market, where research on games is typically done in two places: 1) sometime close to the end of the product cycle in order to get feedback from consumers so that marketing can develop a strategy; and 2) at the very end of the product cycle to "fix bugs" in the game. While both of those types of research are important, neither tends to aid in the innovation process or to aid in designing games for new consumer markets.
In the spring of 2007, our game producers had a hunch that the Nintendo DS -- with its new features, such as the microphone; small size and portability; and its relatively low price point -- was ripe for creating games for preschoolers. There were a few games on the market at the time which had characters that appealed to the younger set; but our game producers did not think that the game mechanics were appropriate for preschoolers or beginning gamers. What exactly preschoolers could do with the system, however, was a bit of a mystery. This will chronicles the research and design process that our preschool games group has developed over the past two years, discussing the roles of both exploratory and formative research in creating new titles for this youngest set. Moreover, in addition to a set of best practices from a process perspective, we also discuss our key findings and design tips when it comes to preschoolers and their cognitive abilities, motor skills, and design preferences. By understanding the unique needs of preschoolers, we can continue to improve the games that we create for them, and to better integrate educational and other "serious" content into games for them. |
| More | View PDF of full paper |