SGS Feature: 'Educational Game Development'

Today's main feature written for Gamasutra sister site Serious Games Source, which deals with games created for training, health, government, military, educational and other uses, features a look at the serious games market as seen by K-12 school districts. Specifically, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Brock University, David Hutchison, Ph.D. presents a summary of his recent presentation concerning the relationship between education and serious games development at the 2006 Toronto Independent Games Conference. In this excerpt, Hutchison offers advice to potential developers interested in creating serious games for the educational space: “It is certainly possible to develop a formal proposal and then pitch it to the head of a school district's Media department, but for independent game developers without a track record, partnering with an individual school is likely to meet with greater success early on. Your key contact here is the school principal who has (limited) access to discretionary funds. Partnering with one or more teachers in the school who are especially keen on your idea is also crucial. Target schools that are already investing heavily in computer related instructional programs. Not only do they probably have access to the latest technology, they are also more likely to be receptive to your educational game proposal.” You can now read the full Serious Games Source feature on the subject, including more pointers from Hutchison concerning the development of educational serious games (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).