Last week I gave my Gamification 101 presentation to the local Refresh Dallas meeting. This was the second meeting since bringing Refresh back, and I was glad to see around 40+ Designers, developers, and other creative types attend.

Here was the description for the talk:

Gaming is at a tipping point, never before have games effected our day-to-day lives in such a substantial way. From entertaining yourself on the subway with Angry Birds, to solving the world’s greatest problems – gaming is quickly becoming a mainstream way to explore, communicate, connect, and work. See how these trends are effecting e-commerce, entertainment, and even non-profit organizations.

Jeremy will be presenting the latest trends and news around Gamification – updated from his Big Design presentation earlier this year.

Here’s my presentation:

or view on speakerdeck to download PDF.

And here are some photos from the event:

See all photos of last weeks Refresh Dallas meeting.

When talking about Gamification in regards to UX/UI Design there are two sides: the surface UI view of Gamification – where you add elements to your project to make them more game like, but without the underlying understanding of “why” an element may or may not work. Then there is the very deep psychology understanding of what makes us tick. Why we do what we do, and how to effect us to do something different. You can do one without the other, but you’ll end up with something that fades quickly.

Ready to dive in to the world of Gamification? Stop by Refresh Dallas for some good conversation!

Refresh Dallas

Thursday October 13, 2011
7:00PM to 9:00PM

Improving Enterprises
16633 Dallas Parkway, Suite 100
Addison, Texas 75001

Hope to see you there!

This week the local Dallas UPA held a Big Design Preview event, where 40+ people got to hear 10 minute previews on some of the great upcoming talks here at the GameStop office.

There was a large turnout – and as always, the Dallas UPA is a great place to meet new people, get introduced to the local User Experience community, and hear from peers on new methods, books, resources, and more.

After the opening mixer, we heard from:

@BrianKSullivan
Designing for Awareness

@digitalcandy
Remove the Suck: Lessons in Product Differentiation

@mattdonovan
Defending Creative Designs

@marcelosomers
Use the Force To Build Your Strategy

@suredoc
Narrate This: How You Can Own Your Own Story

@schubox
Critical Thinking for Creatives: How to Make Decisions Faster

@AdamtheIA
Innovation: Ideas are Just the Beginning

Be sure to check out all the great speakers at this year’s Big Design: http://bigdesignevents.com/speakers

I also previewed my talk:

Game On: Everything you need to know about how games are saving changing the world

Gaming is at a tipping point, never before have games effected our day-to-day lives in such a substantial way. From entertaining yourself on the subway with Angry Birds, to solving the world’s greatest problems – gaming is quickly becoming a mainstream way to explore, communicate, connect, and work.

With “Game On” Jeremy Johnson will take you on a tour of gaming trends – which includes everyone’s favorite gaming buzz words: gamification, gameful, game layer, gamestorming, game mechanics, gameplay, game theory and good old video games. How’s that for a extra helping of games? Let’s top it off with a Call of Duty deathmatch – who’s game?

Along with the preview I handed out a list of books that will go well with this talk:

(Download PDF)

Big Design is this month! Get you’re tickets, and get ready for the biggest meetup of Designers, coders, technologists, and social media gurus in the DFW area!

Did you know many of the games you play – from core shooters, to super casual iPhone and Facebook games were created, designed, or supported by Dallas area companies? Games like Duke Nukem, Rage, and Words with Friends?

D Magazine recently wrote an article titled “Video Games Score Big For Dallas-Fort Worth” where they say gaming adds around $490 million to the Texas economy – much of that in Dallas.

Dallas is also home to a masters degree program at SMU for digital game development where since 2005, they’ve been sending game developers to some of the top companies in the industry.

And lets not leave out game sellers ;-) GameStop is located in Grapevine, TX – and has over 6,500 stores across the globe and has an awesome website!!

Most of the companies below speak for themselves – many of the games produced by these companies were some of my favorites growing up – amazing how long companies can stay relevant in such an evolving industry.

And here’s the list:

Newtoy, inc
Chances are if you’re reading this, you play Words with Friends, and did you know they’re here in the DFW area? They were also recently purchased by Zynga, the 800 lbs gorilla of social gaming:
http://www.newtoyinc.com/wp/

Bonfire Studios (aka Zynga Dallas)
A collection of game designers with titles like Civilization, Age of Empires and Halo Wars on their resumes make up this game studio acquired by Zynga. They released the iOS title “We Farm” in July of 2010.
http://venturebeat.com/2010/10/05/zynga-buys-bonfire-studios-and-sets-up-dallas-game-studio/

3D Realms (legal name Apogee Software, Ltd.)
Heard of Duke Nukem? The originators of this iconic series – now working with also local game publisher Gearbox Software to release Duke Nukem Forever
http://www.3drealms.com/

Apogee Software
As they say “Back in action” – Apogee is really the originator of independent game from the days of getting your gaming via floppy disk. They’re currently working on Duke Nukem for the Nintendo 3DS. Duke Nukem is a big deal to Dallas.
http://www.apogeesoftware.com/

Gearbox Software
Home to Borderlands, Counter Strike, Half-Life, and… wait for it… Duke Nukem Forever! This local game studio even has ties with the original Halo franchise.
http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/home/

id Software
One word “Doom”, and how about another “Quake”, and don’t forget Wolfenstein – transforming the gaming industry is what id does best. Their current project Rage, is an upcoming next-gen console release – with a preview game already available on both iPhone, and iPad – but it’s also a new gaming engine that will power games for years to come. They also run the yearly free Quakecon conference here in Dallas.
http://idsoftware.com/

Mumbo Jumbo
Billed a “Premium Casual Games” – both a publisher, and creator – they created the Luxor series of games which can be found on iOS devices.
http://www.mumbojumbo.com/

Robot Entertainment
Currently working on Orcs Must Die, robot has roots in games like Age of Empires Online and Halo Wars. Not only do they have a rocking website, their studio looks like a great place to work!
http://www.robotentertainment.com/

Terminal Reality
All I need to say is “Star Wars for Kinect” – there done. Based in Lewisville, their last two games were Def Jam Rapstar, and Ghostbusters (which I loved!). Again “Star Wars Kinect” here in my backyard!
http://www.terminalreality.com/

Nerve Software
They’ve recently released Burnstar for the iPhone, but also worked on last years #1 selling game of all time Call of Duty: Black Ops.
http://www.nervesoftware.com

Barking Lizards
Working with some great properties like Shrek and Spongebob, it looks like they’re currently working on some mobile games.
http://www.barkinglizards.com

Method Solutions
Focusing on Facebook games and mobile casual gaming – they’ve created some great mobile games from EA, like Yahtzee HD and Sim City Deluxe. They’re currently featuring Viva Mall for Facebook.
http://www.method-solutions.com/

Windstorm Studios
With titles like Hydro Thunder, and Offroad in their past – they’re currently working on a new MMO.
http://windstormstudios.com/

Controlled Chaos
A new game studio working on iOS games like the popular “Texting of the Bread”.
http://cchaosmedia.com/

I know there are probably more – please leave anything I missed in the comments.

Last, this year’s Big Design Conference will have a gaming theme running through many of the tracks – with gamification a very popular UX topic – gaming in general is getting more and more important to what we do as UX Designers, where the lines between games and tools we’re creating blur at times.

O’Reilly Radar recently put it as “…is iOS then still to be judged primarily as a communications device platform? Or, as a low-end gaming disruptor to Microsoft Xbox or Nintendo Wii in the living room?”. And I agree, if we’re seeing a shift to a more casual gaming scenario where more and more people will pick up a game if it’s easy and natural what better platform then the one in your pocket? Or the one on your current laptop? This reduces the barrier of entry to gaming to zero, or at least .99.

“For One Quarter of Users, the iPad is a Game Machine”, which I again agree with. Not only is it capable of great visuals – it’s convenient, comparably inexpensive, and touching is a great way to interact with games “naturally” (like a Wii remote or the Xbox Kinetic). The article goes on to say “38% of iPad owners responding to the survey indicated that they had no desire to purchase a different mobile gaming device.” – and for some, I’m sure this is their only gaming device.

Gaming apps continue to take the top spots on mobile devices: “Gaming apps once again took the number one spot for and accounted for 41 percent of apps on the network in June” – this article also mentions iOS growing 36% to 56% of the total US smartphone mix.

Titles like “mobiles are the consoles of the future” are becoming more common, “by the end of this year, there will be 120 million iOS devices in circulation – only 20 million shy of the most popular console of all-time, the PS2, which has sold 140 million units.” – again, not everyone is playing games on their mobile devices, but with these numbers comes great potential!

Data from Resolve Market Research shows that after owning an iPad, you’re 38% more likely to NOT by a portable gaming device (like DS or PSP). Which makes iOS devices like iPad and iPhone prime targets for Nintendo and Sony (as if Sony isn’t already going after Apple).

I think the iOS devices have shown that they’re not just for Snake and Tetris. First person shooter games like Archetype, show how “console like” online mobile gaming can work. And Words with Friends, and other turn based games excel on mobile “go with you anywhere, always connected” devices.

When Google announced the Chrome App Store, a majority of the non-Google app were games. Even demoing “Lego Star Wars”, which is a pretty rich console game. While I don’t think it’s total clear yet, Google is moving to a web app strategy – and we’re already seeing HTML5 gaming engines – like Aves, show some promising demos. And games like Pie Guy have been out for awhile now, showing some basic HTML gaming on the iPhone.

What’s also interesting is Apple’s “here’s the platform, let’s see what people do” attitude – and people gamed, and now they’re releasing their “Game Center” hub that will better connect players to their games.

Personally I love gaming on the iPhone, and iPad – and just last week was excited about, and waiting for a game to come out – Star Wars: Battle for Hoth. But then happy finds, like Helsing’s Fire shows me innovation with touch based gameing is far from over!

A lot of these smaller, fun games also bring down the cost, from million dollar blockbusters to something that can be made in 72 hours, with a small team.

My 5yo also really enjoys games, and has recently been enjoying Monkey Island on the iPad, and Star Wars on the iPod. With a busy lifestyle – riding in the car, small chunks of time here and there, a mobile gaming device is perfect.

We have, and love the Xbox 360 (check my raptr account!), but our leisure time is being shifted from console, TV, movies, and more to mobile, and what we have on our devices.

So what does the future of gaming hold? Probably something in your hand.