Josh M
- Research Program Mentor
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Expertise
game design, user experience research, human-computer interaction, game development, instructional design
Project ideas
Design-Based Research: Creating a (Very Small!) Game
Developing games can be research too! Through design-based research (DBR), you can make a game that has educational value, or a game that helps players contribute to science (called citizen science games), or even just a game that does something unique that hasn't been done in a game before! Making a game is a usually a huge undertaking, so this project would have a very small scope and focus on time management, workflow, design, and iteration, with a proof-of-concept outcome. Some example game ideas could be: - a puzzle game about practicing algebra - a citizen science game about identifying birds - a game you play with your toes - a story-rich game about OCD - a party game you can play on Zoom
Game-User Experience Research Study
Explore the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) and games user research (GUR) with a small research study that you design. We'll go through forming a research question and hypothesis, designing a qualitative and/or quantitative experiment, collecting and analyzing data, and writing up a report. This could even result in a scientific publication! Some example research questions could be: - How can game developers avoid unhealthy, "dark", and exploitative patterns of game design? - Are games becoming more open to LGBTQ+ topics? - What do players think about moral systems in games?