DEVELOPING A SERIOUS GAME FOR CONSTRUCTION PLANNING AND SCHEDULING EDUCATION. Saeed Karshenas 1, and David Haber 2

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1 2042 DEVELOPING A SERIOUS GAME FOR CONSTRUCTION PLANNING AND SCHEDULING EDUCATION Saeed Karshenas 1, and David Haber 2 1 PhD, PE, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI Phone: (414) , saeed.karshenas@marquette.edu 2 PhD, Construction Consultant, Milwaukee, WI ABSTRACT Serious games are computer games designed for education and training purposes. A large number of investigators have studied the effectiveness of serious games. The results of the studies show that only games that incorporate sound educational principles and have appropriate user interfaces are effective tools for learning. A serious game for construction planning and scheduling education must provide an authentic environment for gameplay. To achieve this requirement, the game environment must be created from CAD drawings of a real project. The game engine must have components for providing timely scaffolding and support to the user. Storing the vast amount of data for a real project requires data structures optimized for fast rendering at the same time easily accessing and manipulating building elements and element data. This paper discusses a game engine developed for creating construction planning and scheduling educational games. The game engine is designed from scratch for performance and flexibility. It includes a component for directly importing data from a Revit model for building the game environment, interfaces Microsoft Project for scheduling, includes a feedback module, and a scoring system for measuring user performance. INTRODUCTION In certain disciplines providing students with authentic, hands on learning experiences are too expensive, too dangerous or are otherwise impractical or impossible. As a result, students in these fields are underprepared for the careers for which they are studying, and they must rely on on-the-job training after becoming employed to make up for their learning deficit. In civil engineering, practical experience is particularly important for construction planning and scheduling courses. These courses provide students with planning and scheduling knowledge but do not adequately expose students to practical applications of their knowledge on scenarios involving real-life project conditions and constraints. Providing students with project management experience requires exposing them to myriad real-life project types and conditions; however, this is not feasible for universities because of time and resource limitations. A common practice in teaching planning and scheduling is to provide students with drawings and specifications of a construction project and requiring them to prepare a plan and schedule for its construction. This requires a large amount of time-consuming, repetitive work that leaves very little time for students to perform what-if analysis, to evaluate alternative plans and to reflect on their work.

2 2043 Exposing students to the same experiences that they will face in the workplace improves their learning results (Duffy, 1996). According to Brown et.al (1989), knowledge is acquired by doing and meaning is situated and developed through activity. Aldrich (2009) divides learning into two categories: learning-to-know and learning-to-do. Learning-to-know is through stories, lectures and books and learningto-do requires hands-on practice and experimenting. According to Aldrich, deep learning requires a balance between these two methods of learning. However, the advent of the technology of writing and many subsequent discoveries such as printing, books, theaters, recordings, movies and Google have shifted the balance to learning-to-know methods. Traditional learning-to-do has been predominantly a oneto-one activity that does not scale well. Aldrich believes that the advent of computer games and flight simulators has finally introduced technology and examples of media around learning-to-do that can scale and restore the balance between the two types of learning. Computer simulations and games can lend themselves to contextual-based learning experiences. Exposing students to simulated learning environments that embody the kind of knowledge and skills needed in the real world will allow them to practice applying their new knowledge with limited real-world consequences and try out different courses of action and see the consequences of their choices. The latest computer graphics and multimedia technologies provide the capabilities to build learning tools that augment the current instructional practices. The latest computer graphics and simulation technologies have made it possible to easily create 3D virtual learning environments that provide contexts where students can plan and schedule virtual projects created from 3D CAD models of buildings. Three dimensionality, smooth temporal changes, interactivity, learner support and feedback are important features of an effective 3D learning environment. This paper discusses an on-going effort in developing a computer game for undergraduate civil engineering and construction management students to practice construction planning and scheduling. It is designed to be used on standard personal computer hardware and supplement traditional lecture-based courses. Developing an educational game for planning and scheduling is a major undertaking and requires expertise in a number of areas including construction management, learning science, computer science, and animation and game technologies. The results presented in this paper are based on: (1) a review of some of the literature on learning science and the main characteristics that make a virtual environment an effective learning tool, (2) the first author s expertise in construction engineering and management education and software design, and (3) the second author s vast practical expertise in construction management and project planning and scheduling. A planning and scheduling course has a number of learning objectives. Obviously, developing a comprehensive game that supports all learning objectives is a time-consuming process. However, the work can be done gradually by concentrating on one learning objective at a time. For gradual refinement and extension of a game it is essential to have flexible game engine architecture and full control over the engine for future expansions. Based on these considerations, it was decided not to use a commercial game engine in this project and create the game engine from scratch using open-source software.

3 2044 The prototype application discussed in this paper is designed to allow students practice project logic development and scheduling. The project logic is developed inside a virtual model of a building under the same conditions that project managers face in the real world and must satisfy various safety and industry best-practice rules. The application is called a serious game because it uses a 3D, interactive virtual environment (like entertainment games) but it is developed for educational purposes rather entertainment. The application (1) if necessary, provides the user help and support during logic development, (2) informs the user of any rule violations, and (3) performs user evaluation using a built-in algorithm that takes into consideration number of errors made by the player, play duration and final project duration. LITERATURE REVIEW A number of researchers have investigated the application of games in construction education. The applications developed use commercial game engines such as Torque Game Engine (Shiratuddin, et al, 2011; Lin, et al, 2011), Unity Game Engine (Kumar, et al, 2011), Second Life (Ku, et al, 2011), Deep Creator and Irrlicht (Nikolic, et al, 2011). Some of these game engines have major restrictions when it comes to importing building CAD models or adding pedagogic content. Some of the restrictions are explained by the authors. The design review application developed by Shiratuddin, et al (2011) cannot directly import CAD models; 2D CAD models must first be imported into 3ds Max software and then the output from 3ds Max is imported into the Toque Game Engine. Lin, et al (2011) do not specify how they import CAD building models into Torque Engine for visualization; they do state 3D graphics assets created in 3ds Max or MilkShape 3D software are exported to the game engine. Ku, et al (2011) also report difficulty directly importing 3D CAD models into Second Life; they had to use AC3D software and Notepad files in order to get a 3D model into Second Life. To export 3D building models into the Unity Game Engine, Kumar, et al (2011) had to transform Revit files to FBX format. According to the authors, an FBX file when imported into Unity Game Engine loses all model textures, material and lighting characteristics. The game design team had to re-apply texture, material and lighting to the imported model. Nikolic, et al (2011) used Irrlicht Game Engine for developing a construction scheduling educational program. The paper does not explain how a CAD model is imported into Irrlicht. Difficulty in directly importing 3D CAD data severely restricts scalability of the application. DEFINITION OF A SERIOUS GAME To properly discuss the efficacy of serious games for learning, the concept of serious game must be defined. Sauvé, et al. (2010), performed a systematic literature review to establish definitions of games, simulations, and simulation games, and to relate the definitions to the serious game concept. They specify essential properties of an educational game as: (1) representing a fictitious or artificial situation, (2) with one or several players, (3) players are in position of conflict and competition with other forces, (4) the extent and nature of the players actions are governed by a set of rules, and (5) players try to reach a set of predetermined goals (win) and achieve educational objectives.

4 2045 On the other hand, educational simulations offer environments that simplify reality and allow learning without the risks inherent in live situations. Simulations do not necessarily imply conflict or competition, and the person using it does not try to win, as is the case in a game. A simulation is distinguished from a game by its model, which is compared with reality and by its correspondence with the system that it is supposed to represent; a game is created without reference to reality (Sauvé, et al., 2010). Simulation games, according to Sauvé, et al. (2010), include the critical attributes of a game together with those of a simulation. Simulation games include (1) a simplified model of a real or hypothetical system, (2) one or more players, (3) elements of competition or cooperation, (4) rules that specify possible players actions, and (5) predefined goals. Serious games are defined as video games with the same main characteristics as simulation games (Sauvé, et al., 2010). Zyda (2005) defines a serious game as a mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules that uses entertainment to further government or corporate training, education, health, public policy, and strategic communication objectives. According to Zyda (2005), serious games combine story, art, and software with pedagogy: activities that educate or instruct, thereby imparting knowledge or skill. It is the addition of pedagogy that makes games serious. In this study a serious game for construction planning and scheduling is defined as an interactive 3D model of a construction project with one or more players, well-defined learning objectives and built-in industry rules, support and feedback for the user, schedule preparation and optimization goals, and a scoring system. GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING AN EFFECTIVE SERIOUS GAME Developing an environment that fosters learning requires a good understanding of what learning is and what factors influence the learning process. A number of theories have been advocated by various learning experts about how people learn. Whitton (2009), after a comprehensive review of learning theories and successful educational games, has compiled a set of guidelines for creating computer games for higher education. The guidelines cover both the pedagogic design and the interface design of educational games. A summary of the six criteria identified by Whitton(2009) for effective educational design are: Support active learning by encouraging exploration, providing opportunities to test ideas and gain feedback. Induce engagement by providing clear and achievable goals, supporting a high level of interactivity and providing sufficient control over the learning environment. The game must be appropriate for the subject matter. Game goals must be aligned with the required learning outcomes. Support structured reflection. Account for differing prior knowledge of the game type. Provide equal opportunities to participate. Provide on-going support.

5 2046 The six criteria identified by Whitton (2009) for effective interface design are: Provide flexible interaction by ensuring that all interactions are purposeful. Provide timely and meaningful feedback. Build in performance indicators. Support player community. Provide transparent navigation. Make navigation tools clear and consistent. Ensure the help functionality is obvious. Provide an overview of the player position in the environment. Provide user control by making game pace and level adjustable and making instructions obvious and clear. Make it easy to recover from errors. Provide context-sensitive help and hints. Provide functionality to save and return at a later time. Provide appropriate visual design. Make interface simple. Provide information in accessible chunks. Ensure graphics and rich media is purposeful and textual information is clear. Most of the above guidelines have been incorporated in the serious game for planning and scheduling discussed below. BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR A PLANNING AND SCHEDULING GAME To identify the basic requirements for a planning and scheduling serious game it is necessary to review the planning and scheduling process for a construction project. Figure 1 shows the main steps in breaking up a project into activities, planning activities and entering activity information into a scheduling program. Because of the size and complexity of construction projects, effective management of a project requires that the project be divided into a group of subprojects. Each subproject must be simple enough to be planned, scheduled, installed and monitored individually; completion of a project requires successful completion of all subprojects. A simple subproject is also referred to as an activity. The activities that include physical construction of building elements are referred to as production activities. Since, in general, there is not a one-to-one relationship between building elements and schedule activities, a planning and scheduling game must allow the user to visually combine model elements when building schedule activities and allow fast revision of previously defined activities. A construction project also requires procurement and administrative activities. Procurement activities are required to ensure material or equipment is available at the

6 2047 site when needed. Administrative activities include activities for getting the necessary permits as well as inspections by local or federal regulatory agencies during construction. Since procurement and administrative activities do not have physical representations in the project model, a planning and scheduling game must provide the interface to add this type of activity to a project schedule when necessary. After a project is divided into activities, the order that activities will be executed (activity relationships) and activity lag times must be determined in order to build the project logic. A planning and scheduling game must allow the user to easily build activity relationships and assign lag times. A planning and scheduling game must also have a built-in industry-rule database to detect any project logic mistakes the player makes. The game must be able to interface a project scheduling software such as Microsoft Project to digitally transfer activity information to the scheduling software. The interface must be able to check the validity of activity information using the industry-rule database before committing the information to the scheduling software. If a rule is violated, activity information must not be committed to the scheduling software, the player must receive an error message with an explanation of the error, and the player must be allowed to correct the error before proceeding to other activities. ARCHITECTURE OF THE DEVELOPED GAME The main components of the serious game for planning and scheduling (SGPS) are shown in Figure 2. SGPS is an extension of a scheduling system developed by Karshenas (2009) and Karshenas and Sharma (2010). SGPS currently can: (1) interface with Revit Architecture for extracting model geometry and material information, (2) use the information to create a 3D visualization of the project model, (3) interface with Microsoft Project for schedule

7 2048 creation, querying a schedule for information necessary to enforce an industry rule, and 4D simulation of the constructionn process, (5) allow user to interact with the virtual project using keyboard and mouse, (6) allow two-way communication with a relational database for storage and retrieval of activity geometry and material data, (7) provide contextt sensitive help and feedback explaining user errors, and (8) at the end of a play calculate a score that measures user performance in terms of errors made, schedule preparation duration and other factors deemed important by the instructor. The scoring algorithm may be edited by instructor. The graphics engine uses a number of cameras for navigation and inspection of the virtual environment t. The cameras include a first-person camera for walking inside the model and a third-person camera for orbiting or flying over the model. The application communicates with Revitt software using Revit API. Revit API allows fast access to Revit element geometryy and material properties. The MS Project Interface component allows two-way interactions with a Microsoft Project document for transferring activity information to the document and importing schedule information from a Microsoft Project document forr rule checking and 4D simulation. Figure 3 shows several aspects of the application s userr interface. It shows the view inside a building during a walkthrough. During a walkthrough, the user can point to a building member and select it as an activity or as a predecessor to an activity. In SGPS, color is used to distinguish activities from activity predecessors; an element s color turns pink when selected as an activity and turns blue when selected as a predecessor. In Figure 3, the pink colored column footing is selected to be included in a project activity. Figure 3 also showss an example of feedback provided to the user when a new activity is rejected for violating an industry rule. Figure 3- A snapshot of the game with a rule violation message.

8 2049 When an activity and its predecessors are selected by the user and inspected by the game engine for conformance with industry rules, it is submitted to the scheduling module. Figure 4 shows a dialog box designed for reviewing the activity information before it is committed to the project schedule. The list of selected building elements is shown in the top-left corner of the dialog box. If more than one element is being added to the project schedule, all elements are combined and submitted to the schedule as a single activity. To the right of the element list there are two textboxes for assigning duration and a title to the new activity. In the middle of the dialog box is the list of building elements selected as predecessors for the new activity. The two textboxes to the right of Preceding Element list allow the user to select a relation between the new activity and its predecessors from a dropdown list and enter a time lag for the relation. Activities in a schedule are usually organized into categories or outlines. SGPS allows the user to create activity outlines for a new schedule. The outlines selected for a project are listed at the bottom of the dialog box in Figure 4. A new activity should be assigned to an appropriate outline before it is sent to the project schedule. Figure 4- Activity review dialog box STUDENT EVALUATION The developed game has been used by a few civil engineering students for scheduling a 2-story building. Student feedback has been very helpful for improving

9 2050 the game interface and navigation system. Students were asked about the advantages of the game approach over the current manual planning and scheduling practices. Among the most important advantages cited were: The game approach makes the process of becoming familiar with a project a lot faster and more enjoyable than using paper drawings. Visually defining project activities and activity predecessors is a lot more intuitive than the current manual approach. Fast retrieval of activity dimensions from project CAD files and digital transfer of activity information to scheduling programs are among the most time-saving and useful features of the game approach. The ability to quickly revise activity definitions makes schedule refinement easier than the current manual methods. Some of the improvements suggested by students are: Make it possible to divide a model element into two or more activities. Expand support and rule databases. Create a network version of the game to allow collaborative work on a project. - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Hands-on experience is important for gaining expertise in construction planning and scheduling. A common practice in teaching planning and scheduling is to provide students with drawings and specifications of a construction project and requiring them to prepare a plan and schedule for its construction. This requires a large amount of time-consuming, repetitive work that leaves very little time for students to perform what-if analysis, to evaluate alternative plans and to reflect on their work. Exposing students to several construction projects each representing a different combination of contract conditions and resource restrictions requires new approaches to construction planning and scheduling education. This study uses computer game and simulation technologies to create 3D virtual learning environments for practicing planning and scheduling. To be an effective learning tool, a computer game must have well-defined learning objectives, provide help and support when demanded by users, a feedback and scoring system, and game activities that are related to the learning objectives. The game discussed in this paper concentrated on one learning objective: developing a project logic that satisfies industry rules defined in the game s rule database and preparing a schedule based on the developed logic. The developed application directly imports building model data from Autodesk Revit Architecture files for creating the game environment. This makes it easy for instructors to create numerous game scenarios each representing a unique set of construction conditions. A player can navigate the game environment and visually define construction logic for the project and digitally submit the project logic to scheduling software. This eliminates repetitive, mechanical work and allows students to concentrate on schedule refinement and project cost optimization activities.

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