How can you create educational and informative games using rapid prototyping?

You can create educational and informative games effectively by using rapid prototyping. Rapid prototyping allows you to quickly test and refine educational content and gameplay mechanics, ensuring that the final game effectively conveys information and engages learners. As Thomas Edison wisely said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Rapid prototyping embraces experimentation and iteration, helping you discover the most effective and engaging ways to educate and inform through games.

Usually the fun of the game is sacrificed while making education game eventually just ends up being a cheap imitation of a game which in all rights is an educational concept gamified with some kind of level system. To rapid prototype use what the prod mans use make a MVP keeping the core and most fun mechanics and understand is it engaging enough player should come for the game and gameplay and as a byproduct learn stuff that's the only way to make a game that is true to itself provides a great entertainment value while delivering on the education aspects as well. Rapid prototype a game and then make sure to test it with users keep a strict scope and deadline for the game the user research part is most essential it can make or break it

Create a basic playable version of your game, focusing on the main learning objectives and gameplay mechanics. This MVP can be used for early playtesting with students, teachers, and your target audience, providing valuable insights into engagement, effectiveness, and areas for improvement.

Rapid prototyping is the process of creating multiple versions of a game over a very short time period. Just how rapid depends on the game, the design process, and the deadlines you are working with. This process allows you to see a game evolve over a short period of time.

The enjoyment inherent in a game often faces compromise during the development of educational games, resulting in a mere semblance of a game with a gamified educational concept featuring a simplistic level system. To expedite the prototyping process, emulate the practices employed by product managers by creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that retains the core and most enjoyable mechanics. Assess its engagement potential – players should be drawn to the game for its entertainment and gameplay, with incidental learning as a byproduct. This methodology ensures the creation of a game true to its essence, offering substantial entertainment value while fulfilling educational objectives.

Keep your learning goals in mind and choose a tool that aligns with them, even if it may seem simpler than others. Choose tools that facilitate easy sharing and collaboration. Look for platforms with feedback mechanisms, online communities, or co-creation features.

Choosing the right prototyping tool depends a lot on what type of game you are creating. Strategy/Turn-based/Tactical/etc. type games can work very well with physical prototypes (paper cutouts, mats, pawns, dice, etc.). Side-scrollers and open-world games, on the other hand, may need to be put into a simple version of the game engine you are planning on using for the final product.

Instead of simply presenting facts and figures, craft a captivating story that incorporates your learning objectives. Make your game an adventure that engages players and ignites their curiosity. Embrace the concept of "productive failure" by designing feedback loops that help players learn from their mistakes instead of punishing them. Move beyond memorization and focus on promoting deep understanding.

To design a prototype use moscow principle but for all features ask is it a fun mechanic? is it the core mechanic ? Would I want to play it hours in and hours out? Ask is it a complete experience I am designing when whole picture is done the prototype is done? ( complete experience means that a game have a start and and end goal somethingnplayer plays the game for like asphalt 9 played for car collection, racing multiplayer and a few more things but primary focus was racing) Ask for the prototype does it deliver the message and outcomes you want to deliver? At end ask is all the outcomes you said measurable and align to user research as it's predicted?

Designing a prototype comes with a lot of consideration. Mechanics and general gameplay must translate well from your intended final product to whatever prototyping format you are choosing. You must also consider the time you have for the current iteration, and whether or not a proper prototype can be created using the format you have chosen given the time you have.

Test and improve your prototype at the highest speed you can. You should test a prototype without hesitation. Minimum you only need to set some expectations and off you go. Just seeing how the prototype behaves, how users interact with it, is the core of testing. You can always test in more detail later in the proces. Once you will feel that information is not granular enough, you will need to prepare specific questions and specific usage scenarios to get the feedback you need.

Test it yourself first. If things seem to translate well, then get other people in on it. If other people can take your prototype and play it as intended (or as close as possible to as intended), then you may consider it a success. If your testers don't know how to play, or what to do, then something is wrong and you must consider how to change/fix your prototype. No mater what format you choose, make sure the routine is the same for every tester you have. Use a script to ensure each tester gets the same experience. Use a physical survey to gather data after the test.

The best way to iterate is to have a goal in mind. What should the product do first and foremost? What should the product do secondary? Having a goal will help you immensely in analysing the feedback you get from a test, but also where your priorities lie. If you make changes you can move faster by making big changes and using tests to dial in on the sweet spot. Moving to 100 in single steps takes awhile, but jumping to 50, then 75 then 100 goes a lot faster.

Once you have gathered data & general feedback from your testers (of which there should be several before moving forward), you can compile the data you have, find similarities, differences, edge case, etc. from the data as a whole. Use the feedback you gather to make changes (depending on the severity of the feedback, these changes may be minor tweaks or major overhauls) to the game.

When is something done? Is a very hard question. You can always improve something even a little. However if you have no goal you cannot say something is done. A product being done is a feeling, it is something your testers will tell you, it is your achieving the goal within a test. Being able to feel this takes practice, so make stuff and practice seeing when it is done. If you find it hard to call something done, set yourself a deadline to have a finished product. This will limit you in the amount of changes, tests and forces you to see an end result.