Using frugal education principles and the RPG Maker MV game engine to aid the co-creation of digital game-based learning resources

The exploration of digital game-based learning (DGBL) as an educational practice has been received relatively well amongst learning practitioners, particularly from a theoretical standpoint. However, when it comes to original content creation, there are multiple barriers to entry from a digital games design and development perspective. Digital games are typically resource heavy for new adopters who face issues such as: a lack of specialist skill; financial backing; personnel; time allocation; and access to essential technologies and infrastructure. At the same time, the pressure on Higher Education authorities to 'do more with less' without providing the tools and opportunities to do so, leaves little room for experimentation with new pedagogies, such as DGBL. In response to these pressures the paper introduces Frugal Education as a concept for fostering sustainable innovation in education and applies the emerging principles to a design case study. The authors present the design methodology of 'Book Runner: A Library Induction' game created in RPG Maker MV alongside evaluation results from developer/ facilitator-based interviews conducted to assess the tool, development process, and validity of the game. The authors conclude with a discussion on how these results align to our mission of lowering the barriers to creating DGBL experiences and furthers our understanding of Frugal Education within the field of Game Science.