Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Cheat Sheet
As we discussed in Chapter 1, the cheat sheet is a ixture of this topic.
This acts as a chapter summary that goes over all of the scary psych
stuff we've discussed throughout. Again, this is meant to be clipped
out or compiled together—put it on your office wall, make 1000 paper
cranes and have a wish granted, fold it into a little hat, have fun with it.
Context Relevance: Context relevance refers to providing instruc-
tion that makes sense within a given situation. When climb-
ing onto a boat, for example, giving you instructions about
how to cook homemade churros is probably context irrelevant .
On the other hand, telling you how to put on your life vest
is probably context relevant . In games, this means that our
instructions must match our mechanics.
Didactic: This is an educational term and it refers to instruction that
is direct, informational, and traditional. It is often used as
a dirty word today, due to its roots in more harsh, classical
instruction. In games, this kind of tutoring is direct and data-
only, like controls on the loading screen, or pop-ups telling
the player what the buttons do.
Exploratory: Another educational term that is effectively the oppo-
site of didactic, exploratory learning refers to those kinds of
education that require the learner to go looking. Allowing
players to make mistakes and learn from them in games like
Super Mario Bros. or Contra could be considered an explor-
atory learning strategy.
Instructional Design Strategy: An instructional design strategy is
a type of educational construct that dictates specific meth-
ods of teaching. Whether knowing it or not, all games
employ one of these. The one most often applied is stochastic
(read: random). There are a whole bunch of these, and you
should definitely read all you can about them to decide
which is best for your game.
Learning Theory: A learning theory is a cognitive psychology, cog-
nitive science, or educational psychology construct that pos-
its a particular way by which people learn things. What this
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