Course: Open Resources for Serious Games and Business

Open Material for Serious Games and Business
This is an excerpt of the course
It is freely available for you. In case you need to attend the full course with activities, which require identification of the learner, or if you want to earn credits or a certificate, please contact Oulun ammattikorkeakoulu (Oamk) to find out when the next full course starts.

Introduction
- Learning objectives
  
  After completing this course the students will understand different aspects of serious games business.
  
  The students will get familiar with the concepts serious game and gamification. The students will learn what are monetization and funding possibilities for serious games. They will also find out the distribution channels for serious games. Finally they will understand the process to design and implement a serious game.
  
  Language: English
  
  Certificate: No certificate available
  
  Rights: Copyright by Oulu University of Applied Sciences, (oamk.fi). Most of the course material licenced by Creative Commons.
  
  Provider: Oulu University of Applied Sciences, (oamk.fi).
- Serious game and business glossary
  Here you find some of the keywords concerning serious games, gamification and business.
Serious Games and Gamification
What is a serious game? What is gamification? Why are they considered to be important?
- What is a serious game? (2:08) URL
- What is gamification (9:23) URL
- Serious Games & Gamification (2:39) URL
- GamifyCon13: Mario Herger - Enterprise Gamification (49:19) URL
  At the Gamify Conference 2013, Mario Herger provided an inspiring talk about gamification and its potential for enterprises.
- Serious Gaming Demystified (White Paper by Company) URL
- QUIZ - What is a serious game and gamification?
  Watch the videos above, read the Serious gaming demystified document and test your learning.
- Serious Game Design Canvas File
  You fill the top and bottom parts of the canvas in this course. They have the gray background in the first page of the canvas.
  
  The middle part of the canvas is not used because this course is not a game design course.
  
  At first you should decide your game. The game design is defined in the top row of the canvas.
- Discussion Page
  At this point, there is a discussion in the course, but not here in the open material.
- Based on the discussion and your own ideas your should be able to fill the top three boxes of the Serious Game Design Canvas: Goal/Aim, Experience and Player/Target Group. Justify your design decisions, too. At this point there is no need to submit the canvas. You will continue to fill it as the course progress.
Business Model and Monetization
In what way you are going to make profit with your games or games production.

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value.

Monetization is the process by which a game product returns money for those involved in its creation or copyright ownership
- Monetization and Business Model File
  In this document there is introduction to monetization and business model. You should read this document at first to get overview about the topic.
- Next you should watch at least one company interview video from the playlist and based on that you should do at least one quiz.
- Playlist of Company Interviews URL
  The playlist contains 9 expert interview videos of companies Playsign, Ludocraft and Ikoni Innovations. There are three parts for each company as follows:
  Part 1. Serious Games Business
  Part 2. Testing of Serious Games
  Part 3. Serious Games Design and Gamification
- QUIZ - Serious Games Business - Case Playsign
  Watch YouTube video of Playsign (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from the beginning until 05:32 and answer the questions.
- QUIZ - Serious Games Business - Case Ludocraft
  Watch YouTube video of Ludocraft (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from the beginning until 07:21 and answer the questions.
- QUIZ - Serious Games Business - Case Ikoni Innovations
  Watch YouTube video of Ikoni Innovations (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from the beginning until 03:55 and answer the questions.
- More to read about monetization.
- Game monetization URL
- App Monetization: 6 Bankable Business Models That Help Mobile Apps Make Money URL
- Understanding the realities of video game monetization URL
- Discussion Page
  At this point, there is a discussion in the course, but not here in the open material.
- Based on the discussion and your own ideas your should be able to fill the box Monetization for your game. Select and justify two possible ways of monetization. At this point there is no need to submit the canvas. You will continue to fill it as the course progress.
- Serious Games and Business Model
- RAGE project: Realising an Applied Gaming Ecosystem URL
- QUIZ - Serious Games Markets and Business Models
  Read chapters 2 and 7 of the article by RAGE project - Realising an Applied Gaming Ecosystem - and answer questions of the quiz. This quiz you can do just once.
- Business models for Serious Games developers (Academic Article) URL
- QUIZ - Business Models for Serious Games Developers
  Read the article Business models for Serious Games developers and answer quiz questions.
Funding
Funding is the act of providing financial resources, usually in the form of money, or other values such as effort or time, to finance a project.
- Funding of games and software File
  In this document there is introduction to funding of games and software. You should read this document at first to get overview about the topic.
- Next you should watch at least one company interview video from the playlist and based on that you should do at least one quiz.
- Playlist of Company Interviews URL
  The playlist contains 9 expert interview videos of companies Playsign, Ludocraft and Ikoni Innovations. There are three parts for each company as follows:
  Part 1. Serious Games Business
  Part 2. Testing of Serious Games
  Part 3. Serious Games Design and Gamification
- QUIZ - Serious Games Funding - Case Playsign
  Watch YouTube video of Playsign (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from 05:33 until 10:41 and answer the questions.
- QUIZ - Serious Games Funding - Case Ludocraft
  Watch YouTube video of Ludocraft (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from 07:22 until 13:06 and answer the questions.
- QUIZ - Serious Games Funding - Case Ikoni Innovations
  Watch YouTube video of Ikoni Innovations (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from 03:56 until 06:15 and answer the questions.
- Some of the most-known funding sources for getting game funding in Finland
  - Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation (Tekes)
  - Employment and Economic Development Office (TE-palvelut)
  - Finnvera
  - Finnish Industry Investment (Teollisuussijoitus)
  - Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY-keskus)
  - The Promotion Centre For Audiovisual Culture (AVEK)
  - Sitra
  - Finnish Business Angels Network (FIBAN)
  
  Some questions about funding a game:
  - What would be the funding source of the game?
  - What is the process of getting funding?
  - Are there different forms for funding? If so, what are those?
  - What are the requirements for getting funding?
  - Is there a maximum amount of funding, is there a typical amount of funding?
  - What seems to be a biggest challenge for getting funding?
- Discussion Page
  At this point, there is a discussion in the course, but not here in the open material.
- Based on the discussion and your own ideas your should be able to fill the box Funding for your game. Justify also the selected funding source or sources. At this point there is no need to submit the canvas. You will continue to fill it as the course progress.
- More about funding
- The Real State of Learning Game Funding URL
  There is no need to read the whole article but you can glance it through before the next step.
- The Evolving Reality of Funding Learning Games (Podcast, 17:07) URL
  After reading the article listen the podcast.
- QUIZ - Serious Games Funding: Case Learning Games
- In the following articles you find more detailed information about funding in Finland.
- 10 Years of Funding and Networks for the Finnish Game Industry URL
- Starting up a game business: Travelguide into Finnish public funding URL
- ‘We need funding’, says Finnish serious games report URL
- Finnish Serious Games Industry Report 2016 URL
- Some sites, news and articles about Kickstarter crowdfunding if you wish to have more information
  - Kickstarter
  - How to Successfully Fund Your Game With Kickstarter
  - These 10 games are so good, you’d never know they’re from Kickstarter
  - Kickstarter seeing steep decline in money pledged to video games in 2016, says analysis
  - Crowdfunding Concerns: Should We Keep Funding Kickstarter Games?
  - Crowdfunding for video games was way down in 2016
Markets and Distribution Channels
Marketing is the activity and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients and partners.

The concept of a market is any structure that allows buyers and sellers to exchange any type of goods, services and information.

Distribution channel is the path through which goods and services travel from the vendor to the consumer or payments for those products travel from the consumer to the vendor.
- Markets and distribution channels File
- CROSSWORD - Markets and Distribution Channels Game
- Next you should watch at least one company interview video from the playlist and based on that you should do at least one quiz.
- Playlist of Company Interviews URL
  The playlist contains 9 expert interview videos of companies Playsign, Ludocraft and Ikoni Innovations. These videos are the source material for quizzes listed below. There are three parts for each company as follows:
  Part 1. Serious Games Business
  Part 2. Testing of Serious Games
  Part 3. Serious Games Design and Gamification
- QUIZ - Serious Games Markets - Case Playsign
  Watch YouTube video of Playsign (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from 10:42 until the end and answer the questions.
- QUIZ - Serious Games Markets - Case Ludocraft
  Watch YouTube video of Ludocraft (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from 13:07 until the end and answer the questions.
- QUIZ - Serious Games Markets - Case Ikoni Innovations
  Watch YouTube video of Ikoni Innovations (Part 1, Serious Games Business) from 06:16 until the end and answer the questions.
- Discussion Page
  At this point, there is a discussion in the course, but not here in the open material.
- Based on the discussion and your own knowledge your should be able to fill the box Platforms and distribution channels in the canvas. Define the platforms the game will be implemented and what distribution channels you plan to sell/distribute the game. What will be the costs of distribution channel? Justify your decisions. At this point there is no need to submit the canvas. You will continue to fill it as the course progress.
Game Production
At first you study some basic things about game production. Watch the videos
- Game Design Process (7:06) URL
- Jobs in a game industry (0:24) URL
- Game Development Overview (2:33) URL
- QUIZ - Game production
  Study some game production basics, after answer the quiz. You can do this quiz twice.
- Discussion Page
  At this point, there is a discussion in the course, but not here in the open material.
- Based on the discussion and your own knowledge your should be able to fill the box Resources in the canvas. Justify your decisions. Now the required boxes in the canvas should be filled and you are ready to submit it.
Pitching
A sales pitch is a short presentation given to spark the interest of a potential investor, customer, business partner etc. A good pitch is built to persuade and impress and it is crafted carefully for its audience. The pitch presents the problem and the need behind the product, showing that there is a demand and a potential user group. It then shows an innovative solution to this need.

It is also vital to show how the product, for example an applied game, would fit in the existing market and compete there (Unique selling point/proposition). Finally the pitch shows how the solution will be executed and what is asked from the audience of the pitch. For example an investor pitch would describe what kind of funding the company is looking for and how this funding would be used to create a product or service to give maximum return of investment (ROI) to the investor.
- Pitching material
- Guy Kawasaki's 10:20:30 pitching rules. URL
- The basics of pitching: Need, Approach, Benefit and Competition by NABC URL
- Thomas Henshell. 12 Tricks to Selling Your Ideas, Your Game & Yourself URL
- Gamasutra. A vast resource of game development and gaming business related articles. URL
- Discussion Page
  At this point, there is a discussion in the course, but not here in the open material.
Introduction to Project Management
Games are designed and implemented in projects especially in agile projects. What are the features of an agile project? Scrum is one type of agile projects.

A product owner is a very important person in a project. What are his/her responsibilities and what way does he/she help the project?
- Knolskape. Introduction to product management (5:00) URL
- An agile project
- Tutorialspoint.com. Agile Project Management URL
- Jonathan Rasmusson. Agile in a nutshell. (5:49) URL
- QUIZ - Project and agile concepts
  Study project basics, after answer the quiz.
- Scrum and Kanban
  
  Scrum is a framework, not a method for an agile project.
  
  Kanban is also an agile framework originally designed in Toyota car manufacturing factory. For software development a Kanban board was designed. This Kanban board is quite often used in Scrum sprints.
- Uzility. Introduction to Scum (7:51) URL
- Axosoft. Scrum in 10 minutes. (8:52) URL
- Axosoft. Scrum Diagram URL
  Axosoft released this Scrum Overview Diagram under the Creative Commons 3.0 license.
- Axosoft. Scrum reference. URL
- Axosoft. Introduction to Kanban board. (4:08) URL
- QUIZ - Scrum and Kanban
  Study Scrum and Kanban basics, after answer the quiz.
- Product owner
  
  Product owner is perhaps a most important person in any project. He/she has the ideas about the new product to be designed and implemented.
- Henrik Kniberg. Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell (15:51) URL
- QUIZ - Product owner
  Study Product owner basics, after answer the quiz.
Serious Games Resources
Here are some extra resources about serious games business area.
- Serious Gaming Cluster Finland URL
  The Serious Gaming Cluster Finland (SGC Finland) is a network of companies developing products with a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. SGC Finland is working within sub-clusters of learning, wellbeing, environment, gamification and simulation.
- Serious Games Institute URL
  The Serious Games Institute (SGI) is an international centre for excellence in serious games applied research, business engagement and study. SGI is an operating division of Coventry University and supported by European Union.
- Serious Game Industry URL
  The Serious Game Industry is the destination site for the business of gamification and serious gaming.
- Serious Games Society URL
  The Serious Games Society (SGS) is the think tank where the future of games for learning can be discussed and put in practice. The mission of society is to bring together the cutting edge companies, institutions and individuals researching on and developing serious games.
- Serious Games Network URL
  The main objective of the Serious Games Network (SEGAN) is to create a stable consortium to exchange ideas and experiences related to serious games. Project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
- Serious Games Classification URL
  This site is a collaborative classification system suited to serious games, based on multiple criterias. The games are classified according to their gameplay, their purposes, their markets and target audience, alongside with user-contributed keywords.
- The Center for Digital Games Research URL
  The Center for Digital Games Research is focused on how people process game experiences and how to design more impactful and effective games. The serious game archive of this institute includes over 400 health games.
- RAGE project URL
  RAGE (Realising an Applied Gaming Ecosystem) aims to develop, transform and enrich advanced technologies from the leisure games industry into self-contained gaming assets that support game studios at developing applied games easier, faster and more cost-effectively. Project is funded by European Union.
- BEACONING Project URL
  BEACONING (Breaking Educational Barriers with Contextualized Pervasive and Gameful Learning) focuses on "anytime anywhere" learning by exploiting pervasive, context-aware and gamified techniques and technologies, framed under the problem-based learning approach. Project is funded by European Union.
- Game Learning Analytics: Learning Analytics for Serious Games URL
  A book about serious games learning analytics. Keywords: Serious games, Game learning analytics, Learning analytics, Game analytics and Educational standards.
- The International Journal of Serious Games URL
  The International Journal of Serious Games (IJSG) publishes original papers of significant and lasting value in all areas related to design, development, deployment and assessment of digital serious games.
- Game Development Value Chain Page
  Sites and articles about value chain of game development.
- Phaedra Boinodiris. Playing to Win: Serious Games for Business URL
  Five steps to serious gaming.
  (suunnittelukurssille tai sitten tähän osioon harjoitustyöhön)
- Merrilea J. Mayo. Bringing game-based learning to scale: The business challenges of serious games URL
  Article presents business challenges of serious games like, for example, sustainability, distribution, and customer acceptance. These topics are discussed under categories of K-12 and higher education.
- Serious Games at Work URL
  A serious gaming site including information, examples, success stories and resources.
- Serious Games Examples File
  Collection of serious games. Examples of this document have been presented or mentioned in following books:
  Dörner, R., Göbel, S., Effelsberg, W. & Wiemeyer, J. 2016. Serious Games. Foundations, Concepts and Practice. http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319406114
  Routledge, H. 2015. Why Games Are Good For Business. How to Leverage the Power of Serious Games, Gamification and Simulations. http://www.palgrave.com/la/book/9781137448965

Open Material for Serious Games and Business

Introduction

Learning objectives

Serious Games and Gamification

Business Model and Monetization

Funding

Markets and Distribution Channels

Game Production

Pitching

Introduction to Project Management

Serious Games Resources