Designing Educational Games and Simulations

How do you transform complex educational concepts into engaging, interactive experiences? Designing games for learning requires a careful balance between playability and instructional value. This text-only course guides you through the foundational principles of educational game design, showing you how to structure rules, roles, and mechanics that drive active exploration. By completing this course, you will understand how to design simulations that model real-world systems and write clear, effective game instructions that onboard players smoothly. You will learn to leverage collaborative dynamics to foster deeper learning and critical thinking. What you'll learn: - Understand the core principles of game-based learning and instructional design. - Design collaborative game mechanics, including cooperative roleplay and divide-and-conquer structures. - Create clear, structured game instructions and onboarding paths for players. - Apply modern simulation frameworks to model complex systems and scenarios. - Balance gameplay difficulty with educational progression to maintain learner engagement. - Analyze player feedback and iterate on rules to optimize learning outcomes. This course begins with key terminology, basic concepts, and foundational definitions of educational play before moving into practical design workflows. You will read through detailed breakdowns of successful simulation mechanics and learn how to draft your own game rules. This course is built for educators, instructional designers, and aspiring game developers. No prior programming or game design experience is required. Start reading today to design games that educate, inspire, and engage.