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Involving players earlier in the game design process using cultural probes

This paper reports on how the cultural probes method was used to generate games. The paper reviews cultural probes and how we applied the method. It also provides a detailed description of the probes designed for this project and how the output informed the design process.
 We have used a user-centered methodology with game related content at the stage of conceptualization for a digital game, with a mixed audience (parent-children) to gain insights into what game elements would interest them or motivate them to play. In the paper, researchers and designers of games or other interactive media can find inspiration for their own probes or decide whether or not to use cultural probes in their own projects. The cultural probes approach can be applied to evoke personal, situated responses from the participants, responses that may serve as concrete focus points for group brainstorming of game mechanics and themes. It is important to discuss these types of approaches in the games community. Game design as a practice is still relatively under-documented compared to other design discipline. Although similar methodological experiments have taken place, we have not encountered any in-depth reports involving cultural probes yet.