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The Incubator: A Serious Game to Study Decision-Making in Product Development.

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Title: The Incubator: A Serious Game to Study Decision-Making in Product Development.
Authors: Letting, Cynthia1, Ahmed, Nour Ali1, Masters, Bart1, Dudas, Patrick M.1, Parkinson, Matthew1, Menold, Jessica1
Source: Journal of Mechanical Design. May2026, Vol. 148 Issue 5, p1-10. 10p.
Subjects: New product development, Simulation games, Negotiation, Acquisition of data, Resource allocation, Simulation software, Design thinking
Abstract: The study of design decision-making, specifically, and design cognition, more broadly, is dependent upon the researcher's ability to balance the authenticity of the research task and the level of intervention needed to accurately measure the construct of interest. They must either commit to ethnographic long-term studies of design teams, which require extensive time and resources and are not feasibly scaled, or commit to smaller, more controlled studies that often sacrifice the authenticity of the design task itself. To mitigate some of this research burden, researchers have explored alternative methods for data collection, one of which is serious games. Serious games have emerged as a novel way to study human decision-making and provide a controlled yet flexible environment to conduct studies and automate data collection. Little work has explored the use of serious games as a platform for design studies. The objective of this technical brief is to introduce a novel simulation environment, "The Incubator," a serious game that mimics the product development process under controlled conditions. The Incubator provides a data-rich platform for analyzing how designers allocate resources, negotiate trade-offs, and adapt to changing constraints during new product development. The goal of this technical brief is to describe the theoretical and computational underpinnings of the game and encourage the use of The Incubator as a platform to study design decision-making at large scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Mechanical Design is the property of American Society of Mechanical Engineers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
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  Availability: 0
Header DbId: egs
DbLabel: Engineering Source
An: 192950421
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PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22New+product+development%22">New product development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Simulation+games%22">Simulation games</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Negotiation%22">Negotiation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Acquisition+of+data%22">Acquisition of data</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Resource+allocation%22">Resource allocation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Simulation+software%22">Simulation software</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Design+thinking%22">Design thinking</searchLink>
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  Data: The study of design decision-making, specifically, and design cognition, more broadly, is dependent upon the researcher's ability to balance the authenticity of the research task and the level of intervention needed to accurately measure the construct of interest. They must either commit to ethnographic long-term studies of design teams, which require extensive time and resources and are not feasibly scaled, or commit to smaller, more controlled studies that often sacrifice the authenticity of the design task itself. To mitigate some of this research burden, researchers have explored alternative methods for data collection, one of which is serious games. Serious games have emerged as a novel way to study human decision-making and provide a controlled yet flexible environment to conduct studies and automate data collection. Little work has explored the use of serious games as a platform for design studies. The objective of this technical brief is to introduce a novel simulation environment, "The Incubator," a serious game that mimics the product development process under controlled conditions. The Incubator provides a data-rich platform for analyzing how designers allocate resources, negotiate trade-offs, and adapt to changing constraints during new product development. The goal of this technical brief is to describe the theoretical and computational underpinnings of the game and encourage the use of The Incubator as a platform to study design decision-making at large scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Mechanical Design is the property of American Society of Mechanical Engineers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Text: English
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        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Simulation games
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      – SubjectFull: Negotiation
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      – SubjectFull: Acquisition of data
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      – SubjectFull: Resource allocation
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      – SubjectFull: Simulation software
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      – SubjectFull: Design thinking
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            NameFull: Ahmed, Nour Ali
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              M: 05
              Text: May2026
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              Y: 2026
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