Fourth Interview Questions

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

My other mentor, Sean Bouchard, is a possible candidate for my interview. I've yet to interview him, but it would be sensible to choose him since he specializes in educational games. I haven't cemented who I will be interviewing yet.

2.  Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ.

1. What is a common theme you find in good learning games?
2. What aspects of a learning game do you find the most important in the design process?
3. What common flaws do you find in learning games?
4. How do you try to avoid making a boring educational game?
5. What is the most difficult part in designing educational video games?
6. Why did you decide to specialize in this area?
7. What is your particular design process when making video games?
8. When commissioned/granted to make a learning game of a subject you aren't familiar with, how do you go about it?
9. What are some examples of your favorite effective learning games?
10. Where do you draw most of your inspiration from when making educational video games?
11. Some might think that educational video games are somewhat rigidly-structured. How do you incorporate your creativity into it?
12. What do you say is easy about making educational video games (relatively speaking)?
13. What do beginning game designers tend to do (flaws or strengths)?
14.  How to you ensure your educational game is unique and not a glorified test?
15. My independent component is about teaching and giving awareness about mental illnesses. What is your advice on how I've approached it so far?
16. Straightforward: how do YOU think we should maximize player learning experience with minimal expense to the entertainment?
17.  What sources do you recommend I look into for my Senior Project topic?
18.  If you could turn back time to when you were first starting out, what would you do differently in your work in this field? (Basically, what are your regrets?)
19. What advice do you have for aspiring game designers, whether or not their focus is educational? 
20. What are you most proud of in your own learning games that you have made? Do you have one project you are most proud of?

Blog 14: Interview 3 Preparation

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?
I plan to interview either Sean Bouchard or Elizabeth Swensen, who are my mentors and professionals in game design. They are two associates at the University of Southern California, and both specialize in educational video games. 

2.  Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 
Our next mentorship day is tomorrow, and it will likely take time around 4:00 PM.

3.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.
- What materials helped you most when you were still a student learning about educational video games? Why were they helpful?

4.  Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).
- When you were first starting out in this genre of video games, what creative projects relating to them did you have yourself make?

5.  Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 

- What would you say were the biggest weaknesses you had in your first developments of educational video games?

- In your words, what would you say are the most important components in an educational video game?

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

There are actually currently three mentors I have along with Clerisse, all of whom are prospective interviewees for this upcoming session:

As mentioned multiple times in my previous posts, my foremost established mentor is Tracy Fullerton, a seasoned experimental game designer, director of the USC Game Innovation Lab, author of the textbook Game Design Workshop, and Associate Professor of the Interactive Media Division. By description alone, she should have proven herself several times over to be a credible source of expertise for my topic, game design. Her primary work space is in the USC Game Innovation Lab, where she coordinates with multiple teams in designing multiple projects. She teaches several courses for game design students at the university. Her past developments include flOw, and she is currently working on The Night Journey as well as Walden.

Elizabeth Swenson and Sean Bouchard have been our go-to mentors on days where Tracy isn't around, but at this point, they have earned the right to be deemed mentors, full stop. Both are also staff of the Game Innovation Lab in USC who love designing educational games, but their talents are not limited to those genres. Both Swensen and Bouchard have received Masters of Fine Arts (MFAs) in Interactive Media, and are currently working on a game that simulates the field work of researching primitive life forms beneath the earth. Swensen and Bouchard have their own websites with information of their game productions, respectively here and here.

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

- In brief, what college courses/internships/etc. did you take when you were first entering this field of work?

- In your opinion, what traits are most indispensable for a game designer to be well-off in what they do?

- What would you change about the journey you had taken to where you are now? 

- What were the biggest obstacles did you come across when you were still in training and/or academics? What are the biggest obstacles now?

- Who/what do you feel helped you the most to guide/motivate you to your current position in career?