Ingenious, a serious game about design — June 2023

Context and intent

I did this project at Gamelab Oost. We received the task to improve a complex physical card game for the Master Industrial Design Engineering program at the University of Twente. Due to the limitations of using solely physical materials, we pivoted to Unity to create a hybrid game

I joined this internship voluntarily to gain practical experience with serious games. I started as a game designer, but due to the pivot to a hybrid game, I became the only developer. Due to complications, I also took over the role of team leader in this project.

Concept and outcome

The game teaches the product design cycle by guiding players through five stages. Each round introduces a design challenge, and teams select techniques to handle it. Based on those choices, players gain traits that influence their chances of success.

The system uses a bag mechanic. Chips are added based on the team’s choices, then the bag is shuffled and a chip is drawn. The color determines success or failure. Between rounds, teams can fix earlier mistakes at a cost, which adds risk and resource management.

The game was presented at the 17th European Conference on Games Based Learning in 2023.

My role

I started as a game designer and became team lead as the project developed. I also programmed the Unity game from scratch. That included the trait system, the mathematical logic, and the feedback and UI flow.

This was the first project where I really felt the merge between creative direction and technical ownership. Designing a mechanic and immediately implementing it made iteration feel fast and satisfying.

Reflection and learning

This internship taught me a lot, I spent 6 months here to learn how to create a serious game and I learned much more. Working together with many different students from all levels of eduction gave an insight into differences in problem approach.

I originally thought I would attend this unpaid internship voluntarily to only gain practical experience with serious games, but I also created connections here which landed me my current job.