Treffer: Fort Ancient, Ohio: a Curricular Approach to Developing Mobile Games for Tourists.

This work in progress presents a course that was developed for digital design students who have received no prior training in game theory or production methods. The curricular goal is to teach creative thinking skills, collaborative learning models, iterative design methodology, and simple objective-c programming. The students were asked to develop a series of simple games that promote learning and social interaction among visitors at the Fort Ancient archeological site. The Fort Ancient archeological site is a collection of American Indian mounds built by the Hopewell Indians (100 BC-500 AD). With three and one-half miles of earth walls, the 100-acre complex is the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in the United States. Located near Cincinnati Ohio, it is now a state historical park and designated as a National Historic Landmark. The challenge was to develop mobile games that encourage visitors to interact with each other as they explore this large landmark. Because there is limited signage available at the Fort Ancient site, students also addressed problems with way finding and lack of historical information at the site. The 10-week course included a brief overview of game theory with assigned activities that explored various aspects of game design such as balance, feedback loops, and other core game mechanics. After these exercises were complete, students performed on-site research, ideation, and development. The development process included writing a game treatment, paper prototyping, and simple user testing. While the students performed these tasks, they were given a series of class labs on objective-C programming and iPhone development. The final project involved developing a poster and a working prototype of their game. Currently, the students are collaborating with the Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archeological Sites (CERHAS) at the University of Cincinnati in an attempt to expand the topic to include other historic landmarks on the Ancient Ohio Trail. This process will also include further development and refinement of initial student projects with extensive user testing and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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