Entrepreneurship Game 

Context

This project was completed as part of a 6 week course in the first semester of the Learning Engineering program. The course's focus was on designing games for learning. We were challenged to collaboratively design a digital game to support learning a topic of interest. 

My design partner and I chose to design a game that will support children as they develop entrepreneurial skills and an understanding of basic small business concepts.

Design Challenge 

Young learners who are intrigued by entrepreneurship often lack the necessary background knowledge or the opportunity to connect with individuals who possess that knowledge. While our aim is not to provide comprehensive business education, we have created a learning experience that offers these students a glimpse into the startup journey. 

This experience will help them understand the initial steps involved, as well as insight into the types of decisions and skills that are essential if they choose to embark on this path later in life.

Target Learners

& Context 

This game is intended to be played on a computer or tablet either at school or at home. 

Our target learners for the novice level of this game are children in upper elementary school around age 10 who have some interest in entrepreneurship or business. 

Design Solution

Game Overview

This game is a mission-based game that simulates the process of starting a business. Throughout the game, learners encounter opportunities to make pivitol decisions that impact the success of their business. These decisions mirror the choices that are made in the real-life start-up process.

Levels

The game is organized into two levels to accommodate variations in learner goals and prior knowledge. 

  • At the novice level learners build a small-scale business (ex: a lemonade stand). Players are introduced to a simplified business model and learn basic business and financial management concepts and skills, like budgeting. After completing the novice level, learners are able to build another small business or move on to the advanced level. 

  • At the expert level, learners build larger businesses (ex: a restaurant). Business concepts are introduced with more complexity, and players are guided to consider additional factors in the decision-making process.

Missions

Every mission within the game presents learners with an opportunity to explore and gather information, culminating in a pivotal business decision.

These missions serve as distinct phases within the game, strategically designed to foster the growth of the learner's business upon successful completion.

The player may be directed back to a previous mission to make adjustments if they are necessary for the learner to progress. 

Example: If in Mission 3 a learner is unable to fully fund the business, learners may be re-directed back to Mission 1 or 2 to make adjustments to reduce costs. This highlights learners autonomy over their outcomes. 

Example Mission: Need and Resources

Mission 2 requires learners to gather materials and resources for their business. 

Learners explore their house (novice level) or a supply store (expert level) and collect items they want to use.

There are multiple scaffolds learners can use to help complete the mission: 

  • Learners can call on their guide for assistance

  • Consult a checklist

  • Observe a successful lemonade stand to guide their choices. 

These elements provide learners with just-in-time support and prevent over-scaffolding the experience.

The decisions learners make impact the outcome of this level and the starting point (amount of money, materials, etc.) for future levels. Ensuring that game progression is reactive to learners' choices supports learners' sense of autonomy and the available scaffolds provide the necessary support for learners to feel a sense of competence. This help to cultivate learners' intrinsic motivation to continue engaging in the experience, and learning. 

Millionaire Mentor

The primary support in the game is the “millionaire” mentor character. This character offers support when called upon by the player or when the player is stuck. 

He offers just-in-time  hints and prompts or questions to help learners progress through their mission. 

Scaffolding Features

Red question marks indicate the availability of additional support for learners as they complete a mission. 

By clicking this symbol, learners can access vocabulary support, guidance for the decision-making process, and further explanation about the purpose of their actions. 

Collaborative Community Space 

In order to facilitate a more collaborative learner experience, we developed a learning community to support interaction among players of the game. In this space, experienced learners are able to mentor new players, invest in other businesses, and partner with others to start new businesses. Learners will earn badges for each business they successfully open.  With additional badges, learners unlock different roles in the community. 

Establishing a community where learners are able to interact with one another supports feelings of relatedness. This along with the in-game support for autonomy and competence helps to foster motivation to engage in this learning experience. 

Business Notebook

As learners complete exploration-based missions they can type observations into a business notebook. This can be accessed later as they make their final business decisions for that mission. 

For example, as learners visit potential locations they can make note of the pros and cons of each place. These observations can later be consulted as they make their final choice.