Gamification of something is not just about creating a game about the subject. One could imagine gamification around a "regular" learning process:

• You could have a website where you: Give out "achievments" for actual stuff people did in in class. 
  • Answer a bonus question on a test
  • Give a short talk on an extracarricular study
• You could have leaderboards for specific class tasks
  • If these are children you need to be carefull around success/failure/competetiveness  that might arise.
• Add some unlockable content, where you can get the chance to earn extra points after you achieve some other tasks
• Add loot-boxes: You can trade in your achievments for some random in-class bonus.
• etc.. etc.. etc..

Point being: You can take regular lessons and add some enthusiasm through gamification of the learning process itself.

CJMarsh, as a math tutor I imagine you'll appreciate this.  I went to a private high school and we had a math teacher from Russia who still had a thick accent.  If you weren't understanding something he would "threaten" to teach you...

"...by time honored Russian tradition of three book method.  I hold three book over your head.  You miss question... I drop books.  Learn very quickly this way."

:-)

I love the idea! But I feel like almost any game that tries to send a message through the story of the game can teach the player important life lessons. And actually, any game develops some sort of skill.

Even poker teaches you about odds and how/where to make an investment, which is a critical life skills. We play to learn. Even if it's not obvious, we still learn. That's my take on it.

I just noticed the other day that one of my old 'games' I used on students (8th grade) is actually still online. I'm using it and some other stuff for a bigger version, but if anyone wants to train capitals, here's the proof-of-concept I did for my students: http://nakskovuniversity.com/

And yes, I know I spelled PROGERSS wrong

On 25/1/2018 at 3:56 AM, Scouting Ninja said:

My own take on it is that it's all about fooling the player into learning, without them knowing.

 

The moment you say "Learning game" your market drops mostly to parents who buy these for there kids.

Totally agree. I did have some success just making the above game very simple, though. If done right, students seem willing to distract themselves from the learning aspects of the game.

On 25/1/2018 at 12:05 PM, SillyCow said:

Gamification of something is not just about creating a game about the subject. One could imagine gamification around a "regular" learning process:

• You could have a website where you: Give out "achievments" for actual stuff people did in in class. 
  • Answer a bonus question on a test
  • Give a short talk on an extracarricular study
• You could have leaderboards for specific class tasks
  • If these are children you need to be carefull around success/failure/competetiveness  that might arise.
• Add some unlockable content, where you can get the chance to earn extra points after you achieve some other tasks
• Add loot-boxes: You can trade in your achievments for some random in-class bonus.
• etc.. etc.. etc..

Point being: You can take regular lessons and add some enthusiasm through gamification of the learning process itself.

These are the things I have been working with for some time. I use them in the small game above, too. But they seem to be more of a stepping stone to games that truly hide the lerning stuff behind a compelling gameplay. I am trying to use them as such a stepping stone...

On 27/1/2018 at 2:45 AM, cjmarsh said:

As a math tutor for over a decade and a Unity developer for almost as long this is something I've spent a long time thinking about. There is a significant trend in the education system to get technology in the hands of students but unfortunately a lot of it is directed with people who are unfamiliar with technology. Though math games, and education games in general, are directed at the kids the real audience is the teachers who would buy and install the games for their kids. When the teachers don't understand what makes a good game or even, dare I say it, how to teach the subject of math, then it becomes a tough sell to make or even to freely distribute a game about math.

Now, if I had the funding and the pull to get it distributed I'd do it in a heartbeat. Games are the real secret to learning and it's why we play as kids in the first place. There are many topics in math that would be difficult to make any more interesting than your average worksheet but equally many that would benefit enormously from having a 3D interactive environment dedicated to the task. Geometry and spacial reasoning are some of the hardest concepts to teach on a whiteboard according to the teachers I know and in a computer game they could be taught in a much more straightforward way. I hope that the education system in the United States changes to be more accepting of technology and train the teachers in it to understand it more rather than the overly obscure high level math they train with now. Until then, I suppose it's back to making another RPG or FPS...

The economics of educational games is a completely different monster... I hope to find a way to show off lesser educational games and maybe one dy crowdfund something bigger, but until then, yeah, I am fiddling with 'normal' games used in new ways. It's not ideal, but...

On 28/1/2018 at 9:27 PM, GameDevSeal said:

I love the idea! But I feel like almost any game that tries to send a message through the story of the game can teach the player important life lessons. And actually, any game develops some sort of skill.

Even poker teaches you about odds and how/where to make an investment, which is a critical life skills. We play to learn. Even if it's not obvious, we still learn. That's my take on it.

Like I just wrote, that is kinda what I do now, using 'normal' games in a twisty way to bring out the educational aspects. I do want to move beyond that, though, and tap into some of the greater potentials of games...

9 hours ago, Scouting Ninja said:

The problem I see with this isn't getting developers interested, I for one would like to make some educational games, the problem will be with populating the website with games; as it takes a very long time to make a good game.

Maybe if you had a few developers making small games while others worked on larger interesting projects. If you ever do setup the page alert us here on gamedev.net.

It is going to be a slow start, I have no illusions about that. And exactly because Content Is King, I am starting with very, very simple quiz games. I already have a test running at nakskovuniversity.com with basic versions of a training game I used on students long ago. I am, for now, expanding that concept with a few similar games and a bunch of content I am working on at the moment.