A unique approach to mobile games – mGames Slovenia
Mobile games are a wave of the future that swept the kids, teenagers and adults by their simple ideas and addictive gameplay. Although geared towards the casual gamers the mobile game industry can also be used to educate the user. That is why this year on the 28th of May in Maribor, Slovania designers and game enthusiasts from 5 different countries met to discuss mobile games.
The meeting took place in Narodni Dom and was organized by the Association for Culture and Education: KID KIBLA. The main project coordinators that made it possible were National Student Information Center (NSICC) and Computer Art Society (SCAS) from Bulgaria. The partner organizations which sent the participants were Arbeitskreis Ostviertel e.V. from Germany, Orientare from Italy and Manko from Poland. Before getting the details needed to develop their own games the participants took their time to discuss and critique the already created games by the SCAS . The games were Event Master, Green Skills and Culture Trip. All had the aim to educate the player in: entrepreneurship, recycling and geography. The games had simple but clear, attractive to the eye graphics, melodic music and interesting gameplay. But different from the other causal games was also their aim. As the makers say about them: “The aim of the project is to develop methodology and training games for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) suitable for the youth work on the topics: entrepreneurship, intercultural learning and green skills. The project also trains youth workers and trainers how to use mobile games in their training or consulting activities. The project also trains youngsters and youth organizations how to develop mobile games for non-formal educational purposes.” That is why the teachers and workshop trainers should look at these games as tools to enhance their classes and help demonstrate and teach the above mentioned skills.
The next step was to show the members of the group the steps needed to create and develop their own game. There were no designer tutorials or coding lessons but instead the main organizer of the meeting Rosen Petkov proceeded to demonstrate what needs to be done to plan the game development. He enumerated the steps which were: scenario creation, coding, testing, uploading on the app store and promoting. Afterwards the groups planned writing the manual. They were divided into 5 teams and each one had to write one chapter in the near future. The book itself was going to be a helpful tool that could inspire and make designing educational games easier. The meeting finished with the summary of its events and confirmation of who will do what and what the deadlines are for each of the parts of the project.
The m-games meeting proved to be a helpful and inspiring gathering in which everyone could get to know the process and the hardships of creating a game from scratch. While the partner organizations have different skills and visions, it is safe to say that all of them are enthusiastic about the future plans of mobile gaming. While the technology improves day by day and while it’s easier to convey your vision from start to finish some creators need the help. And that is what the contributors of the Association for Culture and Education KIBLA meeting want to do. Let’s hope that the future of mobile gaming will be a great one.
Grzegorz Konopski
