Leveraging Pedagogical Innovation for Prevention through Design Education: Lessons Learned from Serious Game Development

Serious games are often considered effective teaching and learning tools due to their ability to engage players through interactive and simulated environments. The authors developed a 3D serious game, SafeDesign, to provide a prevention through design concept training environment in which students assume the role of a construction manager and walk the scenarios to identify potential safety hazards and solutions during pre-construction. In order to develop serious games, game engines demand the knowledge and experience of a game developer who knows how to employ such technology for its particular usage and customize game assets to be created by 3D game artists. These requirements can make game development a costly investment that many educational institutions are not willing to spend in the absence of a convincing evidence of the effectiveness of a particular game. Therefore, the authors critically analyze the state of the art resources for game development and will delineate guidelines for lecturers and trainers to create serious games on their own, without the need for specific programming skills. The paper also offers insights for instructors on how to avoid common pitfalls in the game development process and use low-cost or free resources to rapidly author serious games for education.