GDC 2025 Session Viewer
Mental Maps, Mastery, and Metacognition: Game Design Lessons from Education
Ben Schneider (Professor of Practice, Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Location: Room 2005, West Hall
Date: Thursday, March 20
Time: 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Design
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: Video
Audience Level: All
Learning and playing have quite a lot in common. They might even be two sides of a single coin! No surprise then that there are plenty of valuable lessons education has to offer the craft of game design. Ben Schneider shares what he's learned about learning from three years as a professor at WPI's IMGD program and what light it shines on his previous twenty as a game designer. This talk lays out the ways that learning factors into games beyond the tutorial, how players actually absorb information and acquire skills, and how we might make game experiences more memorable and meaningful.
Takeaway
After this talk, attendees can expect to know how to make use of mental mapping and human skill acquisition to teach and challenge players, and to use learning challenge to sustain player engagement and find better endgame gameplay.
Intended Audience
This talk is for anyone who practices or is interested in game design. Especially any game designer who's ever wrestled with what the player can do, figure out, get confused by, accomplish, or feel satisfied with. Anyone can benefit, but some familiarity with common came design concepts and terms is helpful.
