Embracing Fun: Diving into game design
Research and ideation for an educational game promoting awareness off interpersonal skills
While we were ideating more broadly during the next sprint, we started to narrow down more during this sprint in order to focus on fun game experiences that promote effective learning of personal and interpersonal skills.
Based on our previous research insights, we came to the conclusion that creating a game was the most non-confrontational way to incorporate change. If a student is naturally motivated to play a game because it is fun, they are more receptive to any learning that might take place compared to if they were forced into a mandatory learning activity such as a goal setting exercise.
Navigating the stigma around game-based learning
Based on our in-person research at South Fayette High School, we found that a huge challenge in creating a game is navigating the stigma around educational games, and how the aspect of introducing learning into a game makes it seem more “boring” or “uncool”.
“I don’t like educational games because it feels like something my mom would force me to do”
— Quote from high school student interview
Based on this insight, we looked toward insights from subject matter experts and existing research from the domain of educational game design.
CMU faculty member Geoff Kaufman introduced us to the Embedded Design Model, which is based on his work in the field of behavioral psychology. The model gives strategies for how to embed educational/learning objectives in the design of a game, without making it seem offputting or “too educational” to the player.
Looking at the Transformational Games Framework
Another resource we referred to as an invaluable pillar of existing research was the Transformational Games Framework, which gives a guideline for how to design a transformational game.
Through the Transformational Games Framework, we determined that our central player transformation should be specific and measurable. Therefore, we decided to focus on increasing motivation and awareness to work on personal/interpersonal skills as our central transformation, instead of committing to “improve all soft skills”.
Creating initial game concepts
Besides figuring out the overall transformation of the game using the Transformational Games Framework as a guideline, we also needed to figure out the content of what the game would actually be.
In brainstorming game concepts, we had the following considerations:
- Do we want to focus on creating one game, or do we want to create multiple “minigames” for replayability and in order to drive a broader set of behavioral changes?
- Do we want to have the transformational/educational aspect be explicit to the player, or keep it hidden?
- What is the best format for our game to be meaningful? Do we want a narrative-driven game, a sandbox game, etc?
While we had rough ideas for answers to these questions, we also wanted to gather quick opinions from potential users/players across the board. We ideated concepts for several games that encompass different formats and levels of having an “educational vibe”:
- The Principal’s Dilemma: A narrative-based game where the player role-plays as a principal to make decisions for the school curriculum
- Blockage Breakers: A mobile game where the player taps to break down mental blockages and negative thoughts (shown in the game as unclogging a toilet)
- Brainstorm Bash: A party game where the player brainstorms unique interpersonal skills to compete with their friends
- Goal Diner: A physical installation/kiosk resembling a fast food kiosk, for players to get life advice and actionable steps for goals
- Terrible Workers: A card game where players take turns pitching themselves and sabotage each other with negative traits
- Play Land: A collection of minigames where players can customize their cute monster avatar and level up
Producing concept videos to test game concepts
To rapidly test our game concepts over our summer break, we produced concept/promo videos for each of our 6 game concepts. Some examples are shown below:
Besides showing these videos to South Fayette students, we also put these videos on user research platforms such as UserTesting.com in order to gather a larger volume of quantitative and qualitative data to validate our ideas and catch potential pitfalls. We made sure to limit the test participants to 18-year-olds and younger, in order to keep our data representative of our main target audience.
We will start off the next sprint by synthesizing the data that we got, giving a sense of the format of the game and our next steps in building an actual game. We are excited to further test our game concepts!
