The heuristics have been organized along five dimensions:

  1. Game general design, which refers to issues related to the overall game design process.
  2. Control / Flexibility, which is a basic dimension of system usability, that with respect to the games considered in this paper, also refers to helping players to be aware of the effects of their choices on the game execution.
  3. Engagement, which informs on how to provide an experience that captivates the players, by providing hints on how to structure the game, which tools to adopt, etc.
  4. Educational Aspects, which informs on interweaving of learning content into the game context, so that the game can have a valid learning influence on the players,
  5. Social Aspects, which concerns the interaction among the players, role allocation etc. (the underlying assumption is that social activity, e.g. competition, can act as a motivational factor).

Download the design heuristics as a handy 2-page pdf file.

The last column contains links to related design patterns.

Dimension Heuristic linked to pattern
1. Game general design
1.1Exploit metaphors from real-life games, activities, storiesBased on videogames
Based on street games
Based on performance
1.2Minimize the changes to the physical places (e.g. modifications to the physical structure, installation of special equipment like projectors, big displays, etc.)
1.3Create a multidisciplinary design team (including e.g. HCI, cultural heritage, educational experts)
1.4Perform formative evaluations and pilot studies to check if tasks’ difficulty is appropriate for the intended playersTarget group
1.5Consider the social conventions of the place (e.g. not laughing in a church)
1.6Consider to extend the game experience beyond the game session (e.g. participating in a web community)
1.7Consider to include activities/events that are not part of the game, but happen in the real world (e.g. the ceremony of change of the guard at noon)
1.8Consider to include a game master (e.g. tutor, supervisor, coordinator) and her role: e.g. enforcing the rules, narrating the storyNarrative
Coordinator / game master
2. Control / Flexibility
2.1Let players become familiar with the equipment and the game rules/structure (e.g. by including an introductory phase)Help and support
Balance challenge and available options
2.2Facilitate game learnability (i.e. tasks, rules, constraints, etc. should be easy to understand and to learn)Help and support
2.3Player should be free to switch between different tasksInteractinng with the digital world
2.4Reflect on whether to allow players to correct their mistakes: it could be useful to force them to evaluate the consequences of their actionsInteractinng with the digital world
2.5Provide help or hint mechanisms to assist playersHelp and support
2.6Consider to provide increasing difficulty levels (either automatic adaptation or human-generated adaptation)
2.7Prevent rule breaking by either discouraging it (e.g. with penalties) or by incorporating cheating into the gameRewards / penalties
2.8Make clear the game goals (e.g. earning points, completing tasks, being the winner)Player goals
Ending condition
2.9Make clear the game ending condition/s (e.g. maximum time, target score, end of resources, …)Competing for limited resources
Score
Against time
Ending condition
2.10Consider to provide alternative ways for performing a task or completing the gameActions influence narrative
2.11Make clear the goal of each task and its effects on the overall gameInteractinng with the digital world
Player goals
2.12Provide immediate feedback about task execution showing its impact on the overall gameInteractinng with the digital world
3. Engagement
3.1Consider to integrate a back-story that is at the basis of game tasksNarrative flow
Narrative
Climax
Non-player character - NPC
3.2Consider to exploit role-playing (i.e. impersonating a character) to meaningfully link tasks to the back-story (if any)Player differentiation
Narrative
3.3Provide contextual cues linked to specific places or events to convey additional information (e.g. sounds reproducing noises of daily activities in an ancient city)
3.4Consider to allow players to interfere with competitors (e.g. stealing points, sabotaging, bluffing etc.)Competition
Stealing
Bluffing
Sabotaging
Obstructing
Strategy
3.5Let players practice different skills by including in the game a variety of tasks, such as: perform a quest, identify/visit certain locations, shoot a picture from a specific angle, videotape a route, search for a certain object, perform a certain action/gesture, search/identify a physical mark, answer a question, collect and classify a materialPrimitive actions
Puzzle
Against time
Locate and/or identify an object
Exploring
Dexterity
Path finding
Hot-cold
Stealing
Transporting
Bluffing
Sabotaging
Collecting
Co-locality
Economic transactions
Combining
Obstructing
Interacting with the physical world
Immersion
3.6Minimize the interaction with the game tools. Players' attention should be focused on the game and the environment insteadInteractinng with the digital world
Interacting with the physical world
Equipment
Tools
Immersion
3.7Tune the level of awareness of other players' activities (hide/provide/delay information, e.g. showing the score and the progress of competitors)Competing for limited resources
Competition
Information awareness
Fog of war
Score
Common space
Ending condition
3.8Consider to include rewards in order to improve players' motivation/satisfaction (e.g. providing multimedia information as a prize for a successful task); integrate rewards tightly with the game tasks and back-story; consider when to provide the rewards to the players (during/after the game)Narrative flow
Narrative
Actions influence narrative
Rewards / penalties
Motivation
Target group
4. Educational aspects
4.1Consider to include a pre-game activity to prepare players (e.g. some lessons in classroom explaining the historical context in which the game is set)Target group
Interacting with the physical world
Spatial structure
Temporal structure
Learning trajectories
4.2Game should emphasize either vertical or horizontal exploration of a place/topic, i.e., deeply exploring a limited space (or few objects or a specific topic) vs. more superficially exploring a broad space (or many objects or several topics)Learning trajectories
4.3Tasks should require players to link areas, locations, physical objects to concepts, topics, etc.Learning trajectories
4.4Balance between competition and knowledge acquisition. Too much competition may have a negative impact on knowledge acquisitionBalance cooperation and competition
Competition
Cooperation
Learning trajectories
4.5Include a debriefing phase after the game to allow players to reflect on the game experience. Design it as an individual/collaborative game/activity that supports players to clarify and consolidate the game experienceCooperation
Temporal structure
Learning trajectories
5. Social aspects
5.1Team players (if any) should be selected based on players’ social relations (e.g. friends to maximize collaboration) or according to their skills. Involve in this process a person that knows them very well (e.g. a teacher)Competition
Player differentiation
Team forming
Target group
Coordinator / game master
5.2Assign responsibilities and tools (e.g. mobile devices, maps, etc.) among team members to induce collaboration. Consider to force, forbid or allow responsibilities exchange among team membersPlayer differentiation
Cooperation
Equipment
Tools
Strategy
5.3Consider to permit, force or neglect the competition among players/teams Balance cooperation and competition
Competition
Cooperation
Competing for limited resources