Jonathon Rios

Had a blast creating for the @lego-fortnite.bsky.social Summer Arcade!
We even placed within the Side Quest winners!
Island codes in the image below.
Be sure to play all the submissions
Go see why the NPCs were so cool:
youtu.be/cerpmOlDDck?...

In edutainment games, those elements are good. But for a smaller, structured learning game, this would be harmful in ensuring everyone is learning the same lesson
For ex, in my math game, you learn quad 1 of the grid first, then 2-4. RNG could harmfully introduce 3 before 1. Confusing weaker players

How would this connect with educational content the game is teaching?

Sure, I can imagine bringing in case studies of "here is a loot system and here are the odds of an item you want dropping. What is the expected amount of attempts you'll have to make until you get the item." And then provide options for boosting the odds. But that is more applied problems than GBL.

A4: Side content is tricky to implment. The overachievers will always do the content. While the average student may skip it just to get through the content. What I argue is more significant to design for is content all students crave for; Ex: Excitement, Competitiveness, Collaboration #LevelUpEDU

A3: In my area of mathematics, I would avoid luck-based mechanics at all costs. UNLESS, luck and probably WAS the lesson of the day. Then the sky is the limit on all the fun ways luck could be made into a game system. This example image below is an easy "what does more expected damage?" #LevelUpEDU

A2: This one is a challenge to come up for in math. Though, I think the best case would be to explore planets that couldn't be traveled to. Dive into the history of moon rabbits and Vulcan, the planet that never was. How old civilizations thought of the planets and the solar system #LevelupEDU

A1: I need to redo this answer. I think Hades and God of War make for good contenders of well established myths and legends that classrooms can use. Especially as a jumping off point for why the different interpretations exist and the roles each of the storys give. Does great for narrative analysis.

So the intrinsic motivation students can feel while role-playing themselves OR a character they WISH to be, allows them to engage with the content honestly. (3/3)

However, with the ability of self reflection within the game, they implicitly give themselves goals and a reason to move forward/experiment. There is no way to extrinsically design goals that every student wants to achieve, (2/3)

A2: This, I feel uniquely qualified to answer. Student identification is a FOUNDATIONAL to student (and player) engagement with difficult challenges. Students are regularly demotivated to engage with complicated systems. (1/3) #LevelUpEdu

Contraption Maker on Steam The spiritual successor to The Incredible Machine from its original designer and programmer. Play 100s of puzzles. Build and share elaborate contraptions with an huge variety of parts and critters.

The modern day spiritual successor to this game is called Contraption Maker on steam. I've also play this game for hours as a kid. store.steampowered.com/app/241240/C...

Spitballing ideas, Argument Wars from iCivics can be expanded to cover more topics in a classroom setting. A team of students are assigned to defend an unpopular opinion even if they disagree with it, and, for the roleplay, must defend their argument to a judge while the other team coutners.

A1: Several fundamental game design and role-playing senarios allow for multiple teams to verse each other to win a goal. When it comes to being a "good citizen", it's easy to assign sides and powers to different groups of players to achieve a common goal based around government powers. #levelupedu

WAIT! I JUST REMEMEBRED. The Wolf Among Us is my favorite civics game! 😂 Though, explaining why would probably take up too much character space. #levelupedu

I'm back to talk more fun digital learning games. Unforuntatly, I know too little about Civics games! I need to play way more of them. I do love all the iCivics game and Argument Wars is probably my favorite from there. Though I haven't played all of them. #levelupedu

In a way, they were the perfect test subjects. Anti-tech, non-game literate, "What does 'Press Start' mean?"-type test subjects that I needed to strengthen my own design theory on making better, more approachable, learning video games.

I got some homework to do now! 👀👀

Of course! That's what makes it great to investigate. Everyone has their own need, so figuring out which game covers their needs the best is great insight!

A4: I wouldn't mind seeing people try to answer the question "What is currently the "best" game in education? Digital or Analog." #levelupedu

I play whatever the team needs. I can honestly play them all. Though, if every necessary roll is filled properly, I find Penni, Thor, and Hulk to be pretty fun.

A2: When I did amateur UX studies and observations of my anti-gamer parents, I was able to carefully select and enthrall them with a game that was able to turn their views around. But more impressively, they were able to learn a complicated control system as long as the game was fun. #levelupedu

A1: It's rare to see online, but I do love witnessing kids enjoying themselves playing the game. There is something fundamentally gratifying in watching kids play and learn that used to be "lectured" a generation ago. #levelupedu

I never played either game. But I'm willing to bet it's Oregon Trailer that's the better edu game. There is a lot more freedome in choices you can make in Oregon Trailer that isn't present in the other game.

Name's Jonathon and I love to research and develop smarter learning digital games. Currently Marvel Rivals and Palworld got a good grip on me. #levelupedu

Finn

In order for a game to be fun, it needs to already cater to player preferences in a manner that'll have them open to new lessons and ideas necessary for them to play the game better. Sometimes, the game can be a "black box", where the only way players to get better is to seek secondary resources.

Addicting. So much more quality of life fixes and features. I just need more friends to play with.

Because games are ACTIVE engagement in 21st century skills, games actively test its players in understanding and enhancing their skillset while having fun. Books and other art can wrap up it's narrative without anyone having looked at it. Games will gladly Game Over your session if played that way.

The number ONE and MOST important aspect that games has over other all art is that games are an ACTIVE medium of consumption. In order to progress, witness, or understand content of a game is to actively interact with its content deliberately and carefully. Infinitely better than passive engagement.