Modeling storytelling to be used in educational video games

Including storytelling in educational video games is currently a highly studied field as it is one element with which to maintain students' motivation. From previous studies, we have confirmed that including changes in the story changes the way in which students perceive the video game. In this paper, we present an extension of our previously defined VGSCL (a reference model for educational game development incorporating collaborative activities), in which balanced ludic and educative contents were designed. With this extension we focus on the storytelling itself, highlighting elements included in the story composition, attributes to be defined and relationships to be specified in order to integrate this proposal in the existing model. In addition, due to our target group being aged from 3 to 7, we have introduced some considerations to adapt the general rules to these children. Finally, we present the process followed to incorporate digital storytelling in the educational videogame "Ato's Adventure", the educational goal of which is to train grapho-motor skills. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.