What are Games for Designers?
Games for Designers are interactive activities and experiences designed to challenge the skills and understanding of experienced players who have an expertise in the field of design. These games can be used to help educate and motivate design professionals to level-up their designs and become better problem-solvers.
Benefits of Games for Designers
The main benefit of Games for Designers is that they can be used as both a source of entertainment and an educational tool. Playing a game forces players to think through different design problems, come up with creative solutions, and evaluate their performance along the way. This kind of self-testing and evaluation helps players identify areas of improvement and expand their design knowledge. Additionally, Games for Designers can be used to foster teamwork and collaboration, build critical thinking skills, refine decision making abilities, and promote creative problem-solving.
Types of Games for Designers
There are a wide range of Games for Designers ranging from board games, card games, and roleplay activities to video games, digital brainstorming sessions, and scavenger hunts.
- Board Games: Examples of populardesigner board games include Arkham Horror, Barbarossa, Castle Panic, Small World, Thebes, and Ticket to Ride. Board games are interactive and strategic experiences that are perfect for stimulating and testing design skill sets such as problem-solving, analytical thinking, collaboration, and strategy.
- Card Games: Popular card games for designers include 7 Wonders, Concordia, and Splendor. Card games are perfect for stimulating creativity, as players are presented with different combinations of cards and challenged to come up with the best solutions.
- Roleplay Games: Roleplay games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowrun are excellent for facilitating teamwork and collaboration. As players assume the roles of characters and navigate different scenarios, they are required to work together to come up with creative solutions to problems.
- Video Games: Popular video games for designers include Monument Valley, Journey, and The Room. Video games are incredibly interactive experiences that require players to think creatively to solve puzzles and progress through levels.
- Digital Brainstorming Sessions: Digital brainstorming sessions such as Hackathons and Design Jams are designed to encourage group creativity and collaboration. During these sessions, designers come together to brainstorm ideas, develop solutions, and prototype their designs.
- Scavenger Hunts: Scavenger hunts are great for encouraging exploration and experimentation. By sending players on scavenger hunts to find hidden items and solve puzzles, they are challenged to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions.
Tips for Playing Games for Designers
When playing Games for Designers, here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Set limits on the playing time.
- Come up with a unique scoring system to track progress.
- Encourage players to collaborate and communicate.
- Create a “safe space” for experimentation and exploration.
- Resist the urge to impose your own judgment on their ideas.
