IdeAM: A serious game to foster creativity in Additive Manufacturing

This study investigates the potential of serious games (SG) to enhance creativity in additive manufacturing (AM). While AM offers unique opportunities to explore complex designs, traditional manufacturing methods often limit designers’ creativity due to cognitive biases formed by years of using conventional processes. This research aims to introduce IdeAM, a SG designed to foster creativity in AM and help overcome these cognitive constraints.
The IdeAM game was developed using the DICE framework (Define, Imagine, Create, Evaluate) with iterative feedback from both users and experts. The game immerses participants in creative scenarios through its content, rules, and aesthetic, encouraging the exploration of AM’s 4 key complexities as defined by Gibson: shape, hierarchical, functional, and material complexities.
To evaluate its effectiveness, participants were divided into focus and control groups. The performance was assessed based on 3 aspects: creative solution generation, AM technical potential use, and participant experience. The results show that IdeAM significantly improved participants’ creativity and their ability to explore AM’s technical potential. Additionally, participants reported higher motivation and engagement compared to the control group.
The originality of this work lies in its novel integration of creativity in AM into a serious game, an area that has received limited attention in existing literature. The impact of this study extends to future SG initiatives in AM, with implications for both educational and industrial applications.