Browsing by Author "Jacobs, Nathaneal"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Towards a framework for developing serious games for urban planning in the Western Cape
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Jacobs, Nathaneal; Du Plessis, Danie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Serious games can be defined as games that are designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. Electronic games are essentially created for entertainment purposes. Although serious games have an element of entertainment it is not the primary purpose. Serious games are a fairly new concept in the world and even more so in South Africa. The purpose of this study is to create a brief framework for developing serious games for urban planning. Policy documents are scrutinized and the goals that each policy document aims to achieve in support of sustainable development are identified. A survey was conducted though questionnaires which were distributed to working professionals within the Western Cape Province to determine urban and regional planners understanding of serious games. The survey also assessed whether the respondents would use this technology and what urban planning principles must be considered when designing serious games for urban planning problems. The author also conducted formal interviews with two professional game developers. The reason for having interviews was because of their understanding and experience of working with institutions that developed serious games and to establish what information must be included in a game development brief. Games such as SimCity (also classified as a serious game), enables players to experience complex urban relationships. In SimCity, game players take command of a city and must run the city by balancing several urban elements such as population growth, environmental issues, urban and economic development issues and multiple social issues such as crime and transportation. Several serious games have been developed over the last number of years. However, due to the lack of a framework for the development of serious games, it is hard to validate whether a specific serious game meets the expectations from an urban and regional Planning point of view. This study provides a basic framework outlining urban planning goals that urban and regional planners should focus on when creating a serious game.