of gemstones, which you use to purchase even more valuable ones. Corrado de Sanctis of the Agile Games Factory has adapted this basic idea to focus on Agile concepts – so by implementing smaller Agile practices, you build towards being able to introduce more in-depth ones. The game, The Agile Mind, works in a similar way to Splendor but uses Agile in place of gemstones.
This can be a more advanced and complex process than the earlier options but at the simple end, adapting a game can just be about briefing and debriefing it differently, or replacing words and images with more relevant ones.
Create a bespoke learning game from scratch
The most advanced option is to create a learning game from scratch. That way, you can focus it exactly on your learning objectives. This takes a lot of time and know-how, though. It can be a tricky problem to work out the best combination of game goals, rules and obstacles to get your players practising and exploring the skills you want.
With Sarah Le-Fevre of Ludogogy, I designed a learning game called The Gift Horse. We wanted to explore how to inspire people about their personal development. The game we came up with uses a real-life animal as an inspiration. If you chose a tiger, you might ask: how would a tiger solve the issue I’m facing? This is a simple explanation – there’s more to it than that but it gets across the basic idea.
Designing a game is also a longer process than the other options. The process of playtesting and balancing the game so that unexpected effects don’t get in the way can be lengthy and many iterations of design-playtest-redesign can be needed to get a game that’s really engaging and hits the learning objectives.
Which of the above do you use, or could you use?
I’d love to hear your ideas about how to use these four options. Is this something you’ve done? Or can you think of a way you’d like to use one of these? Let me know. Or, if you’d like to talk about how I could help you to implement one of the four, book in a chat.