Summary: If you've been thinking about designing learning games, but haven't quite figured out how to frame the experience, you will enjoy this interview with John Ferrera. John is the creative director of Megazoid games and author of the book <a href="http://theelearningcoach.com/recs/playful-design.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Playful Design</a>. He shares his knowledge and experience in this in-depth conversation.<br> <br> <a href="http://theelearningcoach.com/recs/playful-design.html"></a>John has been thinking about games, playing games and designing games for a long time. His nutrition education game, Fitter Critters, was a top prizewinner in the Apps for Healthy Kids contest, an initiative of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign. John’s background is in user experience design, and he’s been designing games that achieve great things in the real world since 2001. You can follow John on Twitter at @playfuldesign.<br> <br> WE DISCUSS:<br> <br> <br> * Why people get pleasure and satisfaction from playing games<br> * Characteristics of games<br> * Looking at games through a user experience perspective: avoiding boredom and frustration in games<br> * Unique qualities of games that make them a good medium for learning<br> * Research on the effectiveness of games in learning and who is doing the research<br> * Learning through failure<br> * Guidelines for designing persuasive games that change minds<br> * How to create game prototypes<br> * Tools for game development<br> <br> TIME: 44 minutes<br> <br> <br> RATE: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-elearning-coach-podcast/id592110281" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rate this podcast in iTunes</a><br> <br> TRANSCRIPT: Download the [Download not found].<br> <br> RESOURCES MENTIONED:<br> <br> * <a href="http://unity3d.com/unity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unity Programming Language for Games</a><br> * <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hopscotch-programming-designed/id617098629?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hopscotch for iPad</a><br> * <a href="http://www.tinytap.it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tiny Tap</a><br> * <a href="http://www.instituteofplay.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Institute of Play</a><br> * <a href="http://glasslabgames.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glass Lab</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Get The eLearning Coach delivered to your Inbox every month, with ideas, articles, freebies and resources.<br>
