Welcome to SERIOUS GAME!
This Slideshow briefly explains the game and shows the key gameelements the player needs to know.
{%load static%}
This Slideshow briefly explains the game and shows the key gameelements the player needs to know.
This game is a turn-based multiplayer game where you take control of your own software company. Your main goal is to earn more money than your competitors before the last round ends by cleverly securing contracts and efficiently managing your team of software developers. The picture shows the players company and its attributes and ressources highlighted
The game is played in rounds with a timer ticking down (top right corner). In each round, you can hire workers on the workermarket and submit bids for Orders on the ordermarket. This is where the competition comes into play: only the player with the best offer gets the Order when the round ends.
During the game, you'll receive E-mails (blue button top left) that inform you about events that happened during the rounds end. This is where you'll also have to react to potential Special Orders or set Engineeringmodels for Orders that you received on rounds turn. You can only react to those E-Mails for ONE ROUND until the default Model will be set or the Special Order will get ignored.
The choice of software engineering models is crucial. You have to choose the Engineeringmodel for each order. Pay attention to the hint-description provided with the order, when choosing a model. Some customers want a flexible project! Note that your workers have preferred models and work more efficiently when working on Orders that align with their preferences.
While working on Orders, Special Orders can appear by chance (The chance is linked to the customer description!). Those can earn you bonuses if you are using a flexible Model. If your company uses an inflexible Model, you can handle Special Orders by using resources, but ignoring them will result in penalties.
Each player or player group plays as a Company. This Company has specific attributes that influence the game's progression and determine the winner. Additionally, player resources and game-related values such as the number of rounds and a timer are displayed in the Company tab. By responding to E-mails, cross-round events are communicated and reacted to (see E-mails).
Attributes | Description | Range |
---|---|---|
Name | This is the name of your Company (for the Standings at the end) | - |
Money | With Money you can hire Workers and train them. It is the wincondition for this game. | - |
Worker Satisfaction | The Worker Satisfaction directly impacts how good the players Workers work. Reducing this stat below 100 will result in direct penaltys to ALL of the players Workers effective stats. A Worker Satisfaction of 50 will result in Workers working with HALF their Skillstrength and so on. | 0-100 |
Customer Satisfaction | The Customer Satisfaction influences the players offers on Orders. Reducing this stat below 100 will result in direct penaltys to the players offers to Orders. [Calculation: CustomerSatisfaction / offeramount] | 0-100 |
Workers are the primary resource of a Company for completing Orders (see Order). Players should pay special attention to the Skilled Model attribute when selecting their Workers, as it can result in many bonuses or penalties.
Attributes | Description | Range |
---|---|---|
Name | The Workers Name | - |
Skilled Model | The model, which the Worker prefers. Working on an Order with this Engineeringmodel will result in Workers Skill getting multiplied with his Amplifyer. Working with the wrong model might apply penaltys (see Enngineeringmodel). | ModelChaotic ModelV ModelSpiral ModelScrum ModelWaterfall ModelHeyJoe |
Amplifyer | The Multiplyer for the Workers Skillstrength if he works on an Order with The matching Skilled Model. | 1.0-1.6 |
Salary | The Workers Salary will be subtracted from the players Companys Money after EVERY round. | 1750-5200 |
Happyness | The Workers Happyness is similar to a "lifebar". Dropping below 55 will result in increasing chance for the Worker to quit working for the players company. Every point dropped below 55 will result in a 2% increasing chance. | 0-100 |
Sick | Workers will get sick at chance. Sick workers can not be interacted with, but will still get paid their Salary | True False |
While on the Workermarket, Workers will appear like this when clicked.
At the Workermarket players can hire their Workers. Each Company has their own Workermarket, which resembles Workers applying for Jobs at the players Company. There are 5 Workers to choose from, differing every round.
Orders are job listings from companies that ALL PLAYERS can apply to with an offering amount. ALL PLAYERS in the lobby compete for the Orders. The best offer is accepted, with only offers that are within 20% above or below the given Estimated Profit considered. Customer Satisfaction also factors into the calculation of the best offer, which forces players with lower Customer Satisfaction to offer lower prices if others are bidding.
Attributes | Description | Range |
---|---|---|
(Estimated) Profit | The amount of money the company receives on Order completion. While in Workermarket, this is an estimate to control the amounts players can offer (max. 20% higher or lower). | Estimated Range: 40000 - 100000 |
(Max) Rounds | Amount of Rounds this Order remains in the Companys Order tab. Will get reduced by 1 every round it is in the Sompanys order Tab. | 3-13 |
Workload | The Workload the players Workers have to work before the Order is finished and the Profit gets collected. The WORKING Workers Skillstrength will get subtracted from this amount every Round, including potential Amplifyers from Workers Amplifyer or bonuses and penaltys from the Engineeringmodels. | 38 - 488 |
Engineeringmodel | The Orders Engineeringmodel will have to be set the round after an Order was added to a Company (offer got accepted). Setting the Engineeringmodel for an Order will happen via an E-Mail event (see E-Mails). Keep your workers Skilled Model attribute in mind while setting this Order attribute. | ModelChaotic ModelV ModelSpiral ModelScrumh ModelWaterfall ModelHeyJoe |
Hint | The Orders Hint gives the player a clue if the customer is likely to wish for a Special Order (see Special Orders) or not. The player should keep this in mind when choosing the Engineeringmodel for their Order. | - |
Orders in the Ordermarket will appear like this when clicked
In the Ordermarket, players can offer on Orders. The Ordermarket is GLOBAL, and ALL PLAYERS compete for available Orders. Key factors to consider when bidding include Customer Satisfaction (see Company) and the offered Profit (see Order). The lower your proposed Profit for completing the Order, the more likely you are to win it. However, there are limits, with bids only being valid if they are within 20% above or below the Estimated Profit displayed in the Workermarket.
Actions are a controlmechanism for the player. Some interactions create Actions in the Action-tab (bottom row). Players can cancel Actions or view queued Actions before the round ends. At round end the Actions will occure.
The E-Mails update the player about important events that have occurred during the round transition. The player should make sure to review all E-Mails in a round, as some of them require a response. The MOST IMPORTANT E-mails requiring a response are outlined below.
Description | Options | Ignored | |
---|---|---|---|
Offer for Order accepted | The players Offer for an Order got accepted by the customer. The player has to choose the Engineeringmodel the Workers will work with completing this Order THIS ROUND. | ModelChaotic ModelV ModelSpiral ModelScrum ModelWaterfall [Ignore] | Ignoring the option to choose an Engineeringmodel will default choose The ModelChaotic, resulting in penaltys for Workers and the Company (see Engineeringmodel). |
Special Order wished | The customer wants a Special Order to be completed. Working with a flexible Engineeringmodel will result in higher benefits from this occurence, if the player chooses to deliver (see Special Order). | - | Ignoring the Special Order will result in applyed penaltys. (see Special Order) |
The Special Order E-Mail
Set the Engineeringmodel with this E-Mail
The Engineeringmodel is the key Attribute in this game. Choosing the right model for orders the players Company is working on and choosing Workers accordingly is integral for the Companys success.
ModelChaotic | ||
---|---|---|
Description | ||
The chaotic model is equal to not choosing a model (default). It is not a model used in softwareengineering, but signals that your workers will work uncoordinated. Working like this will make your workers more insecure in their work and company. | ||
Positives | Negatives | |
this model doesnt bring positives | workers dont like volatility in their workplace [-20 workerSatisfaction, -10 happyness all workers] | |
missing structure leads to inefficient work [+10% workload] | ||
workers are not prepared for flexibility [extra work for SPECIAL ORDERS] |
ModelWaterfall | ||
---|---|---|
Description | ||
The model waterfall is a software engineering model that organizes the workload in five phases: analysis, design, implementation, integration and production. The phases will be worked through sequentially and going back phases is not intended. Using this software engineering method is most succesful for short and well defined products, since it is very unflexible and therefore it is hard to respond to customer requests. Due to its straight forward nature with closed production phases it is easy for workers to work with and the production completion is relatively predictable. | ||
Positives | Negatives | |
workers appreciate the easy usage and predictability [+10 workerSatisfaction, +10 happyness all workers] | low flexibility due to preplanned phases [extra work for SPECIAL ORDERS] | |
straight forward planning and clear responsibilities [-10% workload] | low customer involvement and late feedback [-10 customerSatisfaction] |
ModelV | ||
---|---|---|
Description | ||
The V-model uses a sequential approach with multiple phases, such as specification, system modeling, component modeling, implementation, component testing, integration testing and validation. The first four phases are constructive phases (creating code), while the last three phases concentrate on project quality and testing. The name originates from the fact that the phases are often represented as a V, with the development phases (descending left side of the V) facing the quality assurance (ascending right side of the V). Since each developmnet phase has a corresponding testing phase, assuring good project quality is a basis of the V-model. Planning the project in closed phases also makes the project easier to plan than than it would be with more flexible apporaches. The downside of the model is, that preplanning phases will make change of requirements difficult and building the project from bottom up will make prototyping hard to achieve. | ||
Positives | Negatives | |
the preplanned phases give workers a good roadmap for their work [+10 workerSatisfaction, +10 happyness all workers] | low flexibility due to preplanned phases [extra work for SPECIAL ORDERS] | |
multiple validation phases ensure a high quality project [+10 customerSatisfaction] | the emphasise on testing and validating each development step can cause extra workload [+10% workload] |
ModelScrum | ||
---|---|---|
Description | ||
Scrum is an agile software engineering model for incrementally and iteratively developing software. Key elements within Scrum are short timewindows, designated to specific functionalities (Sprints), planning tasks beforehand in a so called product backlog and daily meetings to keep every involved workers updated on current problems and changes. This makes Scrum a highly flexible model with the ability to update customers frequently and reach good project quality. The downside is, that workers have to get familiar with the working principles and predicting the conclusion of a project can be hard due to the high flexibility. | ||
Positives | Negatives | |
high flexibility and iterative work in closed production iterations (sprints) [bonus on SPECIAL ORDERS] | the high flexibility makes predicting project conclusion hard [random workload shift between 1% and +20%] | |
workers familiar with Scrum work efficiently with it [+20% on skills if skilledModel is Scrum] | workers not familiar with scrum are overthrown by the new structure [-40% on skills if skilledModel is NOT ModelScrum] |
ModelSpiral | ||
---|---|---|
Description | ||
The model spiral is an agile software engineering model that organizes the development of a software product in multiple iterations. Each iteration implements a portion of the project and creates a product prototype with more functionality than the previous iteration, growing the product bigger with each step. Succesively improving the project with each iteration makes finding errors early on in the project easy and naturaly brings prototyped versions, which will make updating and communicating with customers easy. The downside is, that this can lead to work redundancy, recoding functionalities and retesting, which makes predicting the conclusion and costs of the project hard. | ||
Positives | Negatives | |
high flexibility and regular prototyping within production [bonus on SPECIAL ORDERS] | multiple iterations can lead to work redundancy and recoding functionalities [+10% workload] | |
easy customer involvement and feedback through the production process [+10 customerSatisfaction] | workers will be unhappy with the redundant work [-10 workerSatisfaction, -10 happynes all workers] |
ModelHeyJoe | ||
---|---|---|
Description | ||
The HeyJoe Model is an organizational method in which the manager organizes the team through daily instructions. Users and customers communicate directly with the manager to access team members. Team members are deployed flexibly to where they are most urgently needed, and their tasks, such as analysis and design, vary depending on the daily instructions. The Model brings a lot of flexibility while working with customers, but workers involved are working in a highly volatile work environment. Switching the tasks daily makes it hard to get a good workflow, which increases the work needed to finish the whole project | ||
Positives | Negatives | |
due to tasks varying every day, flexibility in project inkrementation is easy [bonus on SPECIAL ORDERS] | workers dislike the high volatility in their daily work [-15 Worker Satisfaction; -15 happyness all workers] | |
customers like the easy way for them to influence the project by contacting the manager [+30 Customer Satisfaction] | Switching tasks daily leads to more workload due to workers having to adjust to new tasks [+20% workload] |
The Special Order is an occurance that happens by chance while a Company works on an Order and resembles a special customer wish. The player can choose to fulfill that wish (handle) or ignore it, resulting in different outcomes for the Company. The outcome of handling the Special Order will differ, depending on the chosen Engineeringmodel.
Option | Valid Engineeringmodels | Outcome |
---|---|---|
handle (with agile Engineeringmodel) | All flexible Engineeringmodels (ModelScrum, ModelSpiral. ModelHeyJoe) | [+20 Customer Satisfaction; +10 Worker Satisfaction; +20% Profit on Order] |
handle (without agile Engineeringmodel) | All not flexible Engineeringmodels (ModelWaterfall, ModelV, ModelChaotic) | [+30 Workload on Order; -20% happyness all Workers; -10 Workersatisfaction] |
ignore | All Engineeringmodels | [-20 Customer Satisfaction; -20% Profit on Order] |
The options for players to choose from while playing are displayed here.
Offering for an Order is a competition between all players in the game. Only the best Offer will get accepted. Calculation: x = Customer Satisfaction / offered amount. The highest Faktor x wins the Order.
When an Offer gets accepted IMMEDIATELY choose a fitting Engineeringmodel for the Order THIS ROUND (keep an eye on the customer description).
When the player chooses to cancel an Order or the order runs out of rounds, no money will be gained and the Company looses 30 Customer Satisfaction.
Hiring Workers has no competition involved. A press on the hire button in the Worker-view will queue an Action to hire the chosen Worker. Salary will be paid every round.
Workers inside the Company can be trained in a skill of choice by ten points, blocking that worker for the current and the next round.
Workers can be fired by queueing a fire-Action, but the salary will still get paid for the current round.
Players can assign Workers to an Order by klicking an Order in their Company and choosing assign ressources. Keep in mind that Workers with the same skilled model attribute as the Orders model will work better (amplifyer). Workers with not matching attribute will lose 5 happyness each round. The skills will reduce the workload each round, collecting the money when hitting zero.
Special Orders occure by chance. Chossing the reaction an occuring Special Orders is important, as it can result in huge penaltys for the Company (see Special Order).
Actions queued in the Action-Tab can be canceled, if the player chooses to remove it from his rounds choices.