ABSTRACT
Applied game designers use their design knowledge to devise game systems that have a purpose beyond entertainment. Designing a good entertainment game is already a difficult task; designing a game applied to a specific domain with specific goals is even more so. The challenge comes from the game designer needing to balance the realities of multidisciplinary game development, managing co-designers, and balancing the design expectations. With no unified applied game design (AGD) theory or standard set of best-practices existing, how does an aspiring applied game designer get a formal education? The didactic approach presented here combines theory, conceptual design tools, and didactic format that aims to help minimize the complexities of serious game design, maximize the creative freedom of the serious game designer, and provide a setting for students to learn these concepts.
