Educational Game Design Fundamentals: A Journey to Creating Intrinsically Motivating Learning Experiences

Can we learn through play? Can we really play while learning?

Of course! But how?!

We all learn and educate others in our own unique ways. Successful educational games adapt to the particular learning needs of their players and facilitate the learning objectives of their designers.

Educational Game Design Fundamentals embarks on a journey to explore the necessary aspects to create games that are both fun and help players learn. This book examines the art of educational game design through various perspectives and presents real examples that will help readers make more informed decisions when creating their own games. In this way, readers can have a better idea of how to prepare for and organize the design of their educational games, as well as evaluate their ideas through several prisms, such as feasibility or learning and intrinsic values.

Everybody can become education game designers, no matter what their technical, artistic or pedagogic backgrounds. This book refers to educators and designers of all sorts: from kindergarten to lifelong learning, from corporate training to museum curators and from tabletop or video game designers to theme park creators!

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Designing Learning Experiences
Chapter 2 The Magical Powers of the Game Designer
Chapter 3 Pedagogy and Games
Chapter 4 The Game Core
Chapter 5 Where to Start?
Chapter 6 Let’s Make a Game!
Chapter 7 A Closer Look at Game Mechanics
Chapter 8 Games as Reflection Tools
Chapter 9 Knowing Your Audience
Chapter 10 StoryA First Look
Chapter 11 Game Interfaces
Chapter 12 Game Aesthetics
Chapter 13 Testing and Feedback
Chapter 14 Documenting and Communicating
Chapter 15 The Final Chapter