MASTER OF DESIGN (RESEARCH) – EXEGESIS Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Design(Research) Written and submitted by Mo, Juexiao School of Design Creative Industries Faculty 2018 Statement of Originality The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge & belief, the project contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. Signature: QUT Verified Signature Date: April 2018 1 / 110 ACKNOWLEDEGMENT This work would not have been possible without the incredible support and encouragement I have received over the years from my supervisors, my friends and my family. First, I would like to thank my principal supervisor, Dr Deb Polson, who has mentored me and always support me. Words cannot express the thanks I have to Deb, who first inspired me on the ARG when I was doing my MCI degree. Without your encouragement and support this research would never have been possible. I am thankful for the great attention you showed whenever we met, and your words of wisdom over many meetings, emails and phone calls. I would also like to thank you for your mountains of support on this project. Second, I would like to express my thanks to my associate supervisor, Dr Gavin Sade, who provided valuable feedback and advice in editing and writing this exegesis towards the end of my research journey. Many thanks for your support and amazing attention to detail, a wealth of theoretical knowledge and a helpful guiding hand. A special thanks to MCI students who played the ZOOMBREAK game. Their participants, insights and feedback was critical to the refinement of this project. Moreover, this research would obviously not have been possible without the support of Soochow University and Southeast University. Many thanks to the special permit on the campus investigation. I am also very thanks to Giovanna Shakhovskoy, who is the owner and designer of Escape Hunt Brisbane, sharing the valuable experience on game development. I would like to specially recognize the support of my friends En Bo and his wife Enya, Zhitian Luo and his wife Binyi Li, helped me revise the final draft of this exegesis, and their recommendations and corrections made it much better than I could have alone. Vivian, Sara, Bike, Sally, Cora, Kuan Chen, Linda, Peter, thank you for all your love, support, guidance, consultation, words of encouragement and extreme patience. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their unending support and encouragement over the years, within and outside this project. 2 / 110 ABSTRACT ZOOMBREAK is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) designed to support the orientation of new students to Chinese universities. This project was designed and tested according to the iterative design-based research process. It draws inspiration from interactive techniques prominent in Real Escape Games (REG); and takes into account the recent popularity of ARG among China’s youths, through the proliferation of such games in reality TV shows. The purpose of the project is to establish an effective and playful orientation and induction to improve student’s engagement with the environment and help students gain confidence in transitioning into the University culture. ZOOMBREAK offers new students useful information about University locations and services, and at the same time promotes communication and interaction. 3 / 110 TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDEGMENT ............................................................................................................... 2 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 3 TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................................................... 4 SUPERVISORS AND THEIR CREDENTIALS ................................................................................... 5 ABBREVIATION .......................................................................................................................... 5 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 6 2. LEVEL 1: DESIGN APPROACH AND PROCESS........................................................................... 8 3. LEVEL 2: CONTEXT REVIEW AND CASE STUDY ANALYSIS ................................................ 11 3.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND .......................................................................................... 11 3.2 CONTEXT REVIEW .................................................................................................... 12 3.2.1 Literature .................................................................................................................... 12 3.2.2 Case Study Analysis ............................................................................................... 13 Case Study 1: "Who is Herring Hale?" ..................................................................... 14 Case Study 2: 'Blood on the Stacks' ......................................................................... 17 Case Study 3: SCOOT ............................................................................................... 19 Case study conclusion ............................................................................................. 21 3.2.3 Research Problem and Aim................................................................................ 21 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 23 4. LEVEL 3: GAME DESIGN AND PLAYTESTING .......................................................................... 24 4.1 GAME DESIGN ......................................................................................................... 24 4.1.1 Game Model: Real Escape Game ................................................................ 24 4.1.2 Game Themes: Detective Role-played Game ....................................... 25 4.1.3 Game Scenarios: Background Story and Rules-sketch of Game . 28 4.1.4 Game Resource: Graphics and Artefact Design .................................. 30 4.2 PLAYTEST AND FEEDBACK ....................................................................................... 35 4.2.1 Pre-game: Setting the Scene .............................................................................. 36 4.2.2 In-game: Playtest Process ................................................................................... 38 4.2.3 Post-game: Feedback Summary and Analysis........................................... 46 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 48 5 LEVEL 4: REGIONAL CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS ....................................................................... 49 5.1 CAMPUS INVESTIGATION ........................................................................................ 49 5.1.1 Soochow University (Suzhou) .................................................................... 50 Design considerations: .................................................................................................... 64 5.1.2 Southeast University (Nanjing) ................................................................. 64 Design considerations: .................................................................................................... 79 Campus investigation conclusion ............................................................................ 79 5.2 RELATED CHINESE TV SHOW ................................................................................... 80 5.2.1 The Run for Time ARGTV .................................................................................... 80 5.2.2 The Crime Scene ARGTV ..................................................................................... 88 Design considerations: ............................................................................................ 93 4 / 110 Regional context conclusion:................................................................................... 93 6 LEVEL4: GAME REFINEMENT ..................................................................................................... 95 7 REFLECTION ..................................................................................................................................... 98 8 REFERENCE LIST.......................................................................................................................... 100 9 VISUAL CREDITS .......................................................................................................................... 104 10 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................. 106 SUPERVISORS AND THEIR CREDENTIALS Dr Deb Polson (QUT) – Principal Supervisor Senior Lecturer, Interactive and Visual Design School of Design, Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology Dr Gavin Sade (QUT) – Associate Supervisor Assistant Dean (Academic) Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology ABBREVIATION ARG – Alternate Reality Game RPG – Role Play Game REG –Real Escape Game 5 / 110 1. INTRODUCTION The design-based research project - ZOOMBREAK,