Collaboration and Team Composition in Applied Game Creation Processes

Abstract

In this explorative study, the collaboration and team composition within applied game creation processes is investigated. Applied games are games that are deployed for purposes like training, education, persuasion, physical exercise etc., i.e. all games that bring about effects that are useful outside the context of the game itself. Ten Dutch applied game designers were interviewed and asked about the creation process of one recently finished applied game project. There are three tendencies that surfaced from these interviews: 1) a domain expert or Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the field one is making a game for is to be involved when creating an applied game, 2) this SME is typically the client - or working for the client - which can lead to unbalanced games and 3) although one could expect otherwise, there is usually no expert on transfer involved in the applied game creation process. In the final section, topics for further research are suggested.