WE DESIGN TRAINING GAMES AND SIMULATIONS FOR COMPANIES AND ORGANIZATIONS

GAME DESIGN

We design games in order to integrate the knowledge, processes and competences involved in HR processes and engage employees in the objectives, changes and development of their organization. We create educational games for business, public administration and institutions which involve students and citizens in learning and public life.

TRAINING GAMES – what’s worth to know?

The first step is to define the game’s purpose and to articulate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors you want it to convey.
The physical form of the game is tailored to best suit its content and purpose – e.g. is it a board game, an online game, a game for outdoors, etc?
The design process typically takes between one and three months.
Game design adheres to all international standards.
We thoroughly research the organization and its processes prior to designing the game.

An effective tool for HR departments

Training games and simulations can simplify, integrate and save time on HR processes. They are effective tools in onboarding programs, productivity workshops, projects for implementing new organizational values and in client and employer branding programs. We can run games on your behalf within your organization or alternatively train your own internal trainers and facilitators.

We are the winners of internationals competitions of game design and simulations for business and a member of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA) and North-American International Simulation and Gaming Association (NASAGA).

See our rewards

Tailor-made games can be used in:

Onboarding programs
Productivity programs
Business education, e.g. sales or distribution
Implementation of new organizational values
Partner and customer education
Employer branding programs

Why do organizations need games?

The game plot is tailored to reflect and deliver the skills needed at your organization
The skills training process is expertly woven into an interesting plot
Games can teach employees at all levels, providing cohesive training in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors
Participants take their newly acquired training directly into their organization
Games provide a positive and stimulating means for engaging employees in learning and supporting change processes
Games reduce the time taken to implement HR processes

GAMES DESIGNED BY PRACOWNIA GIER SZKOLENIOWYCH

Archipelago

Objective: a tool supporting the distribution of a complicated IT service and implementation of the CRM system
Designed for Microsoft

Sales / Marketing

ProfitQuest

Objective: to learn and understand the business mechanisms that govern the organization

MBA / “finance for non-financiers” type trainings

Strike Fighter

Objective: training of negotiating skills with strengthening the attitude of cooperation

Managerials trainings

A Matter of Time

Objective: understanding the importance of proper planning and anticuipation upcoming events

Time management trainings

EkoSkrzaty

Objective: promoting pro-ecological attitudes

Designed for Centrum Komunikacji Społecznej Urzędu m. st. Warszawy

Everest – Fashion and Style Lab

Objective: educational game about ethical management of social economy entites
Designed for Diecezjalna Fundacja Ochrony Życia

Game-X-Reactivation

Objective: educational board game about behavioral addictions
Designed for Diecezjalna Fundacja Ochrony Życia

Pilgrim

Objective: promoting sacerd monuments of Polish-Cech border area
Made in cooperation with Diocese of Opole and Ostrava-Opava

DESIGN TRAINING GAMES

If we cannot (and generally we really cannot) grasp all the spectrum of the complex reality we are immersed in because the situation is too dynamic or full of details, then the games are the solution to look at reality from an easier to understand and ‘survive’ perspective.

What is designing training games all about? It is basically about making the decision which elements of the complex reality should be reduced in order to retain only the stable and changeable ones that refer to the essence of the problem. Or, in other words, a good game designer knows how to translate a real-life problem into simplified game elements which are focused on the merit. The idea behind game designing is to use this ‘cone of abstraction’ efficiently.

‘The cone of abstraction’ is a theory illustrating the possible degrees of complexity of real life. From the real life, through its reduction to the level of a serious training game to a completely abstract and disconnected from reality environment. A good example is the work of a city mayor. If we limit it to the most important activities such as building utilities, we can include it in a game about public budget management, gaining inhabitants’ satisfaction, operating with limited resources, winning stakeholders over, etc.

‘The cone of abstraction’, games and simulations desingn

If we wanted to abstract the mayor’s work even more we could present it in the form of a jigsaw puzzle, i.e. to the same level as chess representing a battle.

WHY IS WORTH TO DESIGN A GAME WITH US?

Are training games and simulations the same?

So far we have been using the concepts of simulation and training game alternatively, but it is not very precise. Although the difference between games and simulations is quite fluent, let’s see what this discrepancy is all about.

The difference between a game and a simulation, though very fluid, results from the degree of representation of real life. Simulations are much more literal and their main objective is to represent reality 1:1, while training games aim at educating, transferring knowledge, patterns and behaviors. Their primary objective is to introduce change and achieve results that are beyond fun and limited determinants of a single problem

That is why it is so important in designing training games to attain the adequate distance from reality not only on the level of game mechanics but also in the plot, which doesn’t have to exist in every game. By using a metaphor rather than representation the game becomes for the players a completely separated world from their professional reality, without the everyday routine and obligations but still understandable. It becomes a world where universal rules and interactions apply and which can be easily adopted by various individuals and communities. To refer to the example of the city mayor – managing such a complex organism as a city has a lot of problems in common with other organizational units. When managing a garage repair shop human resources or taking care of clients’ satisfaction have the same importance. Therefore it is simple to transfer experience from this deconstructed and metaphorical fiction.

That is why it is a very good idea to prepare trainings in collaboration with the with the client. In this case a tailor-made solution is invaluable. That is also why every training based on games should take into account the universal character of mechanics and particular Experience of its participants.

This article was written basing on interviews with Pracownia Gier Szkoleniowych game designers: Joanna Rezmer, Grzegorz Szczepański and Łukasz Kozak and an article written by Gandziarowska-Ziołecka J., Stasiak D., Simulation and Gaming for Policy Advice. [w:] Falk S., Glaab M., Römmele A., Schober H., Thunert M. (eds) Handbuch Politikberatung. Springer Reference Sozialwissenschaften. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2017.