When I first started this project, I had a particular idea of what educational games were (ie, the math “games” my mom would get me that were really just timed multiplication challenges and not fun at all). Through playing and making educational games, I have found that the genre is so much more expansive and delightful than I thought! I was surprised by how fun all of the games I played were, and how much fun I had making our game – I thought it would be more “serious” to make educational games, but I was delighted by how much joy is still part of the process. It sounds silly, but this project reminded me of how learning can be really fun, and how you can learn without even knowing.
I felt this especially when making our game. I had little to no experience with CBT or ANTs, so I was kind of unfamiliar with our topic – through making the game and watching others play it, I was surprised by how much I learned and how delightful it was to be learning. Watching others play and start to understand the concepts we were trying to teach was super satisfying – I felt like I really accomplished something watching them learn, and it was really similar to the feeling of teaching for me. Our game afforded mostly fellowship, discovery, and narrative as types of fun. Players had a lot of fun interacting with one another and getting into the role-play elements of the game, even without being prompted to. It was cool to see how easily people slipped into playing “Raymond Prentiss” or “Anthony Small”, as well as the strong empathy that they held for these characters.
This was also one of the biggest surprises of this project – I think that the element that really helped our game come together was the bugs. Though it came from a one-off joke (cockroach behavioral therapy!), it turned into something so much more. I was a little worried about blending the silly bug theme with the more serious issue of mental health, but hearing how players interacted with the characters and the bug nature of the game made it clear that the bugs were what made it significant to them. It didn’t hinder us from achieving the learning goals- it helped, because it drove engagement and fun and a desire to play.
This project taught me a lot about designing, both for educational games and in general. I am taking with me a huge enthusiasm for making even more educational games, and an important lesson that fun not only has a place in learning, but can encourage it.