Serious Gaming: Empowerment through Play

This research project is an opportunity for undergraduate students (as partners) to design a game experience to teach future readiness skills. Our partners, Press Start Academy, will mentor and guide a small group of students on the journey to learn the principles of game design, ideation, prototyping, and experience design.

Participants are expected to host a final play session of their games for the HKU community. Students will gain hands-on experience creating games, develop facilitation and design thinking skills, and produce a unique portfolio work to enhance your resume.

No prior skills are required. Please note the project is not a coding or computing skills workshop. As a prerequisite for participation, students must be committed to attending face-to-face sessions as follows:

  • Kick-Off Session – Friday Feb 10, 2:30 pm – 4:30pm
  • Design Stage 1: Foundations – Friday Feb 17, 2:30 pm – 4:30pm
  • Design Stage 2: Details – Friday Feb 24, 2:30 pm – 4:30pm
  • Playtest I: Gameplay – Friday Mar 3, 2:30 pm – 4:30pm
  • Design Stage III: Iterations – Friday Mar 10, 2:30 pm – 4:30pm
  • Playtest II: Facilitation – Friday Mar 24, 2:30 pm – 4:30pm

Students are required to commit to at least 35 hours of total work.*

If you have any questions, please contact the project coordinator Dr Jack Tsao (jtsao@hku.hk) at the Common Core. The cost of this game design program is fully subsidised by the Common Core and students must be committed to completing the programme.

Places are limited.

 #pressstarttobegin

The deadline for application is 6 Feb 2023 (10am).

* Students are eligible to earn a certificate and apply for one (1) non-graduating academic credit through HKU Horizons (The credit is transcriptable but does not count towards your GPA). The total hours includes all time spent in workshops, meetings, self-study, assignment preparation, and final presentation.

Collaboration Partner:

Press Start Academy is an education consultancy reimagining learning through play and games. Through a unique, interdisciplinary, fun-first curriculum, Press Start Academy builds hands-on, engaging and compelling learning experiences for students aged 4 and above. Press Start takes inspiration from concepts like learning through play, gamification, inquiry-based learning, and design thinking to foster a lifelong love of learning, develop real-world and academic skills, and cultivate mastery and skills focused on the “6C” approach to 21st-century learning.

Refer to the Commitments and Conduct for research projects.