Game-Design-Driven Knowledge. When prototypes unpack and reframe conventions

Abstract

This paper explores the implications of conceiving, designing and prototyping location-based mobile games (LBMGs) that bridge the real and the digital into fascinating and unexpected hybrid worlds. The distinguishing traits of these games make them pop up as a compelling contemporary field for design research and practices, where design knowledge is informed in multiple ways: from posing the questions of relating to/embedding technology, to addressing design issues, from ruminating and dealing with UX and UI, to assessing communicative aspects. Moreover, being situated in a specific context and addressing unpleasant topics in the meanwhile, these games prove to be further challenging. The result from our study is that especially when the design activity pushes the line beyond playing within a formal structure, becoming a way to play with structures and a way to celebrate experimentation, prototyping has a crucial role in nurturing awareness and knowledge. In the light of this reasoning, designing, prototyping and testing of LBMGs are framed from a design perspective, exploring their potential in terms of design education.