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Serious Games Toolkit By Games 4 Change


Via: PRESS ANY KEY - Games for Change Launches Serious Games Toolkit

Serious Games Source - AMD Releases Social Issue Games-Focused Toolkit

PRESS ANY KEY reports that Games for Change (G4C) has just launched an interactive Flash toolkit, Let the Games Begin, as introduction to and resource for the development of "Serious Games".

This toolkit is designed for non-profit organizations and others who are interested in understanding what it takes to make a social issue digital game, facilitating the creation of serious game applications focusing on topics such as energy consumption, poverty, health, and environment issues. The toolkit was made for people who are new to social issue digital games but intensely curious about their impact.


Let the Games Begin was produced with assistance from AMD's Changing the Game initiative.


Changing the Game is a youth-focused program that equips disadvantaged students with the tools necessary to create Serious Games, in order to promote critical education and the learning of life skills.


The initiative had previously provided support to nonprofit organizations such as Girlstart, Global Kids, and the Institute for Urban Game Design."


AMD Changing the Game has created excellent opportunities for students to express their views on the world while learning important life skills through the experience of creating digital games," said Allyson Peerman, president of the AMD Foundation.

Through the extensive use of video from a workshop held in June 2008 and the inclusion of downloadable resources and guides, as well as links to relevant articles, sites and books, the toolkit breaks down the topic into seven main sections:

  • Urge - Why Make a Game?
  • Concept - Envisioning the Game
  • Design -What Are the Rules of Play?
  • Production - Managing the Process
  • Distribution - Reaching the Audience
  • Evaluation - How Do You Measure Results
  • With the seventh being Barry Joseph’s great case study of Ayiti: The Cost of Life, a game about rural life in Haiti that Global Kids developed with GameLab.
Video material for the LET THE GAMES BEGIN A toolkit 4 Making Social Issues Game is taken from the Workshop on Making Social Issue Games organized by Games 4 Change and held at Parsons The New School For Design in New York City on June 2, 2008.

The Let The Games Begin toolkit is an important resource to inform and educate organizations that are interested in using games as a medium for communicating about important social issues.


Let the Games Begin: A Toolkit 4 Making Social Issue Games is available as a free download from Games for Change's website. Included with the program are several example social games applications, along with a series of video presentations by game design experts.