Serious Game Design with Minnetrista

Student working on game design at a laptop

Spring 2019: A multidisciplinary team of undergraduates has worked with Minnetrista to develop an original, interactive, educational video game about food preservation. We have tied our research and development process into Minnetrista’s revision of Oakhurst, the historic home where the original Ball Blue Book canning recipes were developed. The team worked together to create a game for families who visit the museum, to get them working together in an exciting simulation of canning.

Fall 2018: The students in this semester’s Honors Colloquium on Serious Game Design worked with Minnetrista to create original games that explore regional history, culture, and themes. The students began the semester by studying fundamentals of game design with an emphasis on transformative and educational games. This included a formal analysis of Minnetrista Fairy Trails, a game created by an immersive learning course in Spring 2018. In the second half of the semester, each student identified a particular theme to explore through iterative game design and produced the playable prototypes that are presented at the showcase. Between semesters, faculty and staff from Ball State and Minnetrista will evaluate what was learned this semester to choose a project for production in a Spring game software production studio course.


Spring 2019

Faculty Mentors: Paul Gestwicki
Departments: Computer Science
Community Partners: Minnetrista Cultural Center
Students: Jawad Al Mamoon, Lauren Binnewies, Chris Bucker, Gabrielle Hogan, Makayla Hughes, Nick Manis, Lindsey Murphy, Eli Sokeland, Tanner Stanley, Austin Tinkel, Hunter Wallace, Julie Xiao


Fall 2018

Faculty Mentors: Paul Gestwicki
Departments: Computer Science
Community Partners: Minnetrista Cultural Center
Students: Ryland Babusiak, Lexi Benakovich, Katie Grieze, Nathan Hahn, Zachary Hughes, Sarah Humphrey, Kyle Jones, Ariel Meece, Mathias Miles, Eve Miller, Alex Ross, Samantha Stapleton, Christopher Zurisk

Scenery in Space

In this project, a diverse group of students partnered with Muncie Civic Theatre to assist in the development of stock scenery. This scenery will be used within their regular production season and will be a significant upgrade in safety and efficiency over their current stock.


Faculty Mentors: Kerry Chipman, Mickie Marie
Departments: Theatre and Dance
Community Partners: Muncie Civic Theatre
Students: Sam Buchholz, Kathryn Burke, Chrstine Gordon, Jade Grady, Madeleine Hollinger, Jay Jeffcoat, Kali Marquart, Nicholas Maurer, Carlee Miller, Logan Niccum, Amanda Pecora, Laura Pierson, Amber Riggle, Mitch Smolek, Valerie Stoffer, Ashley Talcott

Muncie Arts and Culture Council Video Project

Local art projects are a way for communities to create dialogue, share cultural experiences, solve problems and build relationships that enhance quality of place and local economic development efforts. Part of the Muncie Art and Culture Council’s (MACC) mission is to serve as an arts alliance that builds community among artists and arts organizations, and is a resource for professional growth and opportunity among Muncie artists. In this project, student teams created video to help MACC document Plyspace, its artist-in-residence program and promote other local art projects.


Faculty Mentors: Suzanne Plesha, Tim Pollard
Departments: Immersive Learning, Telecommunications
Community Partners: Muncie Arts and Culture Council
Students: Oscar Arriaga, Jacob Barajas, Matt Carson, Jason Franchville, Connor Hillestad, Grant Mountcastle, Benjamin Ritter, Melody Smith, Parker Stewart, Mason Whitis

#keepmuncieweirdandwhimsical

This project was an immersive, service learning opportunity where students met with residents of the community to teach creative writing techniques and to collaboratively write a text. Objectives of the project included the enrichment of the creative writing students through engagement in the local community, scholarly study of memoir through relevant essays about creative nonfiction writing pedagogy and community engagement, and through the use of critical and creative examinations of the student’s own work and end project was a publish anthology of the writing generated by the students and residents along with several public community readings around Muncie. In the anthology, Muncie area residents shared their experiences, their memories, and their love of what makes Muncie unique.


Faculty Mentors: Darolyn Jones
Departments: English
Community Partners: Muncie residents
Students: Claire Bauserman, Audrey Bowers, Charlie Cain, Alyssa Clemento, Pam Fancher, Katharyn Fletcher, Vanessa Haro-Miracle, Nikki Kendall, Janie Obrochta, Eileen Porzuczeck, Kayln Reyer, Aidan Sacks, Matthew Swain

Book Arts Collaborative 2018-19

Book Arts Collaborative is a community letterpress and book bindery located in the Madjax Building in downtown Muncie. Each semester, we preserve and teach apprentice-taught skills and run a small business. Students are taught analog design skills, business skills, and professionalization of all majors.


Faculty Mentors: Rai Peterson
Departments: English
Community Partners: Tribune Showprint Posters, Inc.
Students: Jodi Aleshire, Danielle Borst, Jessica Bowles, Lane Cary, Erin Davenport, Marie Drascic, Sarah Fox, Rachel Haywood, Morgan Kaufman, Carolyn Kelley, Whitney Kendall, Rayah O’Rear, Katie Obryan, Carrie Pawlovich, Bonnie Prindle, Aaron Stephens, Simeon Stults, Taylor Townsend, Kelli Turkupolis

Summer & Fall 2018 Ball State Immersive Learning Projects

Ball State faculty, students, and community partners worked together this summer and fall on a number of immersive learning projects in and around Muncie.

Book Arts Collaborative 2018-19
Faculty Mentor:  Rai Peterson, Department of English
Community Partner:  Tribune Community Showprint Posters

Bringing in and Branching out: Recruiting Employees and Building Community Connections
Faculty Mentor:  Peggy Fisher, Department of Communication Studies
Community Partner:  Open Door Health Services

The Brownfields to Brightfields Project Phase II:  Analysis of Solar Potentials for Brownfields in East Central Indiana (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Sanglim Yoo, Department of Urban Planning
Community Partner:  Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter

Computer Science for Middle Schoolers (CS4MS ongoing) 
Faculty Mentor:  Dave Largent, Department of Computer Science
Community Partners:  Northside Middle School, Daleville Junior/Senior High School and Burris Laboratory School

Finding Voices: Mentorship in Forensics and Argumentation
Faculty Mentor:  Dallis Pike, Department of Communication Studies
Community Partner:  Muncie Central High School

#keepmuncieweirdandwhimsical
Faculty Mentor:  Darolyn Jones, Department of English
Community Partner:  Muncie residents

Let’s Build (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Jennifer Warrner, Department of Construction Management & Interior Design
Community Partner:  Longfellow Elementary School

Muncie Action Plan 3 (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Dunaway, Department of Urban Planning
Community Partner: Muncie Action Plan

Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Carla Earhart, Department of Management
Community Partner: Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab, Ball Brothers Foundation, IU School of Medicine-Muncie

Muncie Arts and Culture Council Video Project 
Faculty Mentors:  Suzanne Plesha, Office of Immersive Learning; Tim Pollard, Department of Telecommunications
Community Partner:  Muncie Arts and Culture Council

Old West End Action Plan
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Dunaway, Department of Urban Planning
Community Partners: Old West End Neighborhood Association, Friends Memorial Church

Preliminary Study of Lead (Pb) in Muncie (PSLM) (ongoing)
Faculty Mentors:  Carolyn Dowling, Department of Geological Sciences and Jessi Haeft, Department of Natural Resources Environmental Management
Community Partners:  United Way of Delaware County, Muncie Action Plan

Purple Cow: Moving from Ordinary to Extraordinary Care for Children (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor:  Stacey Allred, Department of Elementary Education
Community Partner:  Kidz Korner Child Care Center

Reading the Wor(l)d Critical Literacy and Culturally Responsive Classroom Libraries
Faculty Mentors:  Kristin Cipolione and Susan Tancock, Department of Elementary Education
Community Partners:  Whitely Community Council, Longfellow Elementary School

Rehabilitating Houses (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Janet Fick, Department of Construction Management and Interior Design
Community Partner: Greater Muncie Habitat for Humanity

Scenery in Space
Faculty Mentors:  Mickie Marie & Kerry Chipman, Department of Theatre and Dance
Community Partner:  Muncie Civic Theatre

School Safety, Data-Driven Evidence-Based Findings, and Recommendations
Faculty Mentor:  Bryan Byers, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Community Partners:  Muncie Community Schools, Burris Laboratory School

Serious Game Design with Minnetrista
Faculty Mentor:  Paul Gestwicki, Department of Computer Science
Community Partner:  Minnetrista Cultural Center