Learn what are Serious Games and how to develop them to your business needs in 6 steps

What are serious games?

 The expression serious game comes from the concept that emerged within edutainment as a way to optimize learning and capturing content through entertainment, using methodologies such as game based learning.

 Using a serious game to carry out a corporate team building or in an entrepreneurial education project in schools can contribute with numerous benefits , such as new skills, improving critical thinking, and greater agility in decision making.

On the other hand, developing a serious game can be a complex and challenging process, but with the right guidance and a little creativity, it becomes an effective learning tool. 

Learn how to create a successful serious game for your business needs with this straightforward guide!

Everything you need to know for a successful serious game

Before you start developing a serious game for your business needs , remember that more people will be walking down this path with you. Therefore, it is important to draw the ideal route for your journey, avoiding any errors along the way.

Think about what topics are needed to train essential skills for the organization's goal, how is the current team format (face-to-face or remote), and what budget is available to invest.

Check out the 6 steps to develop a serious game for your business needs.

1. Identify your goals

The first step is to map out the priority needs of your organization , employees or students and your target audience. With these demands identified, it is possible to define your goals. Think about the results you want to achieve with the game and clearly state what your goals are before moving forward in the development process. In this way, it will be easier for you to make decisions, as well as greater guidance to create an effective narrative that involves collaborators and students.

2. Environment

Now that you've identified the serious game goals for your organization, you need to define the environment in which the game action will take place. To do this, it is worth asking the following questions:

If the game is in person, what space will it take place in? Need some montage or scenery?

Is your team remote? Can the game be online?

Is your team hybrid? Is there any way to carry out the game in a hybrid way, with part of the remote team and the other face-to-face?

Within this, it is also worth considering a phygital experience , when the online game can take place in the face-to-face environment, making the dynamic very interesting and even more economical.

3. Platform

The platform you choose is vital to the success of your game. Various platforms can allow for different levels of complexity and contain different features, so be sure to select the platform that best suits your business needs. Common platforms for serious games include PC, console, mobile, web and much more. Research your options to determine which one will work best for you and your team.

4. Engaging Storyline or Scenario

As the game progresses, you should strive to provide new challenges, with each challenge reinforcing the learning objectives of your game. This requires careful planning and forethought, so that your players receive feedback, direction and rewards at appropriate points in their virtual journey. Creating an engaging storyline or scenario with a clear beginning, middle and end helps you to achieve this goal.

5. Intuitive Interfaces and Controls 

Developing a serious game with an intuitive interface and controls is the key to success. Players must quickly learn the controls, so they can focus on the challenges, without difficulties moving around or understanding how the game works. After all, there's nothing worse than players becoming frustrated or disinterested in your game due to clunky controls or usability efforts. Make sure the purposes and uses are clearly identified and their effects are obvious in the game to ensure a much better experience for participants.

6. Develop a Strategic Game Plan and Ruleset.

The sixth step in creating your serious game is to develop a strategic game plan and set of rules. This helps ensure that the game is designed with strategies in mind and that the outcome of each game session reflects those strategies. Define how players can win or lose, what resources they have access to, and other parameters. Having well-defined goals makes it easy to create an effective serious game that meets your business needs.

Discover the best serious game for your business or school

Now that you've learned the six steps needed to develop a successful serious game, it's time to leverage your goals and results with experiences capable of accelerating learning and essential skills in entrepreneurial education, product vision and innovation.

 Since 2017, Startup Mundi Game Experience has held workshops, corporate events, team building and entrepreneurial education in various segments, through realistic simulations about the first four years of life of a startup or innovative solution, from idea to scalability.

 Its game-based learning methodology can take place in face-to-face, online, hybrid or phygital formats, is one of the strengths of Startup Mundi, which has been among the Top 10 EdTechs for four consecutive years.

Big brands, including the most innovative organizations in the world, rely on Startup Mundi Game to achieve their goals:

• Entrepreneurial education;
• Corporative education;
• Events;
• Team building.

Played in 21 countries by more than 80 customers, the Startup Mundi Game Experience is the ideal tool to engage and empower your team, shape behaviors, validate ideas and accelerate new solutions to old problems.

Want to know more about how our game can contribute to your business needs?