Foreword
General Introduction
Part 1. Learning More About Agriculture and Landscape Board Games in Order to Improve Their Design
1. Key Concepts Before Designing a Game
1.1. What do game studies (ludology) and the science of play say?
1.2. The five dimensions of the game
1.3. What is a serious game?
1.4. What is a board game?
1.5. Playing as a medium for revealing and transforming social space
2. The Specificity of Agriculture and Landscape Games
2.1. Playing with agriculture: a classic
2.2. The many complexities of agricultural activity
2.3. Playing with the landscape adds new layers of complexity
3. Board Sets Designed for Agriculture and Landscape: an Attempt at a Typology
3.1. Level 1. Learning or raising awareness via board games
3.2. Level 2. Knowing and recognizing oneself in order to develop the ability to “work together”
3.4. Level 3. Cooperating and committing oneself to “making a project”
3.5. Level 4. Preparing and experiencing real-world practice
Common Theme - Part 1
Part 2. Designing and Manufacturing a Game Dealing with Agriculture or Landscape
4. Before Starting
4.1. What is the game about?
4.2. What are the game’s objectives?
4.3. Which audience is the game targeting?
5. Simplification of the Reality via Modelling
5.1. How to prepare the conceptual frame of the model?
5.2. How to organize knowledge as a system?
5.3. How may spatial dynamics be taken into account?
5.4. How may social phenomena be taken into account?
5.5. Where to include decision-making centers?
5.6. How to calibrate the model?
6. Creating the Game’s Universe
6.1. Who are the players? Who are the agents?
6.2. How do the players interact: competition or collaboration?
6.3. How to convey spatial dimensions via the board set?
6.4. How to include temporal dimensions into the game?
6.5. What room for chance and the pleasure of playing?
7. Converting the Model into a Game
7.1. How to switch from the model to a game board?
7.2. How to represent and manage the material and information flow?
7.3. How to define the rules of the game?
7.4. How to spice up the game?
8. Testing the Game and Coming up with the Necessary Improvements
8.1. Is the game’s “driving force” working properly?
8.2. Are the rules of the game clear?
8.3. Does the game offer a smooth playing experience?
8.4. Are the game’s components practical?
8.5. Is the playing time reasonable?
8.6. Is the game efficient?
9. Turning an Effective Game into a Popular Game
9.1. Why should one be attentive to graphics?
9.2. Sad games: a specific situation
9.3. Are the graphics consistent with the game’s message?
9.4. Does the game reach its audience?
Common Theme - Part 2
Part 3. Animating, Assessing and Distributing a Game about Agriculture or Landscape
10. Animating a Game Session
10.1. Some theoretical background
10.2. Preparing the game session
10.3. The role of the animator
11. Game Assessment
11.1. A few validity principles to grasp reality
11.2. Defining one’s assessment. Grasping reality.
11.3. Defining the various levels of assessment
11.4. Assessment tools
12. Building a Game Distribution Strategy
12.1. Valorizing one’s game: questions to ask oneself and questions to anticipate
12.2. Step A. Characterizing the game to adjust valorization and define a plan of action
12.3. Steps B1 and B2. Who is the owner of the game and how to protect one’s serious game?
12.4. Step C. Distributing one’s game
Common Theme - Part 3
Conclusion
