Strategies On Level Design Of Online Educational Games Based On Flow Theory

Educational gaming,withthefeatures frombotheducationalsoftwares and digitalgaming,isnotonlyfunto play, butalso abletodevelopthelearning abilityoftheplayers. Thisgivesrise toitsadvantageofbeing entertainingandenlightening simultaneously. However, as a contrastto thestatusquoofcommercial gamingmarket,which enjoys remarkableexpansion andpopularity, theeducationalgamingmarketappears tobelukewarm.Thereasonsare:1)Thedevelopers haveplacedtoomuch emphasis ontheacademiccontentwhileneglecting theentertaining aspectandpresentationofthegames;2)thecurrent educationalgameshaveexhibitedthe problematicphenomenonofdisjointedness amongresearch, developmentandusage;thismeans,whiletheresearchers,gamecompaniesandteachersexcelrespectivelyin theirtheories,technology andacademicarena,theseresourcesarenot fullyintegratedwithone another.Toresolvetheaboveissues,1)ithasbecomea necessity tosystematically learnfromthesuccessfulcommercialgamingdevelopersinordertoguidethedevelopmentofeducationalgaming;2)it iscriticalto prioritizeand integratetherelevant elementsof thedesign and developmentofeducationalgames.By employingtheleveldesign oftheonlineeducationalgames as theresearchobject,thispaperuses thecasestudy methodandcontent analysistouncoverthemechanismarisen fromthegameinduction immersionexperience and presentthemethod ofintegratingFlowTheoryintogamelevel designthroughanalysis ofthesuccessfulcommercialgames. Furthermore,this paperproposesthestrategy ofincorporating gamelevel designintoacademiccontentand teachingprocessbyanalyzingtherelevantelements ofeducationaldesign reflectedin thefeatures ofonlineeducationalgames.In spiteofthefactthat theproposedstrategy isyet tobetestifiedinexperimentalcases andstillremainsat strategiclevel, itbridges educationalgamingtheoryanddevelopmentona theoreticallevel, as wellas providing theeducationalgaming designers apracticalguidance.Thefirst chapterofthis paperintroduces thebackground, thecurrent situation,the content,thepurposeand themethod ofthisresearch.Thesecondchapter, step bystep, analyzes therelevant definitionsofgaming fromtheliterature. It formalizestheconcept andspecifies thecharacteristics ofonlineeducationalgames.In addition,thechapterdefinesthecontentand scopeofGameLevelDesign andelaborates onFlowTheoryindetail.Thethird chapterpresentsa comprehensive caseanalysis ontheuniversally renownedonlinegameWorldof Warcraftwithreference toFlowTheory, revealing themechanism fortherelevantelementsofFlowTheory toinduceimmersionexperienceduring gamingforgameplayers.Thefourth andfifth chaptersarethecoreofthisstudy. Thefourth chapter,targeting atonlineeducationalgamesforlearning,presentsa detailed analysison thecharacteristics and practices ofteachingprocess design.On thisbasis, thechapterproposes thestrategyofincorporating gameleveldesign intoteachingcontentintheaspectsoftask structure,processflow, stepsand plot.Thefifth chapterfinalizesthecaseofcombiningFlowTheoryandgameleveldesign.Furthermore,it proposesthestrategy ofonlineeducationalgameleveldesign, which offersthedevelopersa processflowdiagramwithhigh practicabilityandoperability.Thesixth chaptersummarizesthe results,the innovativepoints and drawbacksof thisresearch,and points outthedirectionforfurtherresearch.