Hexostasis: A Transdisciplinary Approach Towards Educational Gaming and Game Design

Abstract

This paper focuses on a research project that propose a transdisciplinary method towards problem solving strategies by designing a video game that displays the potential of weaving together elements of conventionally separated disciplines. This happens through a curation of discipline-associated thinking strategies with the intention of creating a more extensive and transdisciplinary approach toward problem solving. This method is studied through a puzzle video game named Hexostasis which is specifically designed for this research. The disciplinary practices that Hexostasis brings together are; design problem and action centered design approaches from the area of design, critical play approach from art education and abstraction and decomposition from computer science. During the execution of this study, design-based research and mixed methods approaches are used. As a design based research study, the game development process is at the center of this project and the research itself. The goal of this study is to showcase this transdisciplinary approach to urge more educators and game designers to use the tools that they have, especially when they hold the potential of creating something that can evoke diversely beneficial results for their users.