Narrative Game Design
Narrative game design is different from typical eLearning games and gamification, and it's more than text and plot. It's about creative storytelling, game design, game mechanics, and creative design elements such as character and environmental design. The user/learner becomes part of the story, rather than watching a story from one character's point of view at a time and choosing an action (like this example).
Narrative design results in a more immersive, engaging and compelling learning experience because it puts the learner at the center of the game play--as opposed to a "forced" game just to earn points as we see with so many learning games.
Narrative design also requires different tools to properly mix the elements of story and narrative, so hiring an instructional designer with those skills is critical for a successful narrative learning product.
Onboarding can be such a pain for the software engineer who wants to get right to his or her superpower: coding.
Get to Code can be played in one of two ways: As an interactive chatbot game, or as a VR game quest that will have you pit your cunning and wit against a matrix of HR commandos, secrets, and spies.
You play as Bailey, an intrepid newly-hired software engineer who has been trapped by HR Onboarding Camandeers and transported to a mysterious land called NewHire. Baily must learn to masterfully maneuver through this world and its inhabitants if he is ever to fulfill his mission to Get to Code. If he fails, the company's much-anticipated new product will never make it to market, leaving a void in the world of secure data transfer.
Explore and conquer the strange creatures, barriers, and surprises of this bizarre new onboarding land. Gather resources, outwit, and craft survival items (using code, of course!) as you unravel and conquer the mysteries of this NewHire world.
Due to client trade secrets being part of this game, I am not able to show the chatbot game nor the VR script. But below are a few Dialogflow screenshots from the chatbot portion of the game.
The Claims Adjuster is a virtual reality caper mystery game where you use your sleuthing skills to combat fraud, flimflam, and red herrings.
You play as Justin, a newbie claims adjuster who comes to the insurance field from a short-lived career as a military sniper. (He had an unfortunate but comical unplanned run-in with an unusual adversary that cut short his spy career. You'll learn more about that as the game unfolds.)
Justin has an eagle eye for things that seem out of place (thanks to his high-magnification optics training from his spy days) and is a master at registering subtle human behaviors that belie spoken connotations.
But Justin must learn to, shall we say, improve his diplomacy skills. Let's face it; snipers aren't known for their political correctness.
Navigate the world of a fire-ravaged home to suss out what's real damage and what's planted to get the payout amount right. To do that, you'll need your spy skills, plus improved communications.
Due to client trade secrets being part of this game, I am not able to show the game nor the full script. But below is part of the Twine layout for the narrative game.
