Serious & Educational Game Development
Playable learning activities and public-education games, built around your subject content, audience and delivery requirements.
XGameDev develops serious and educational games for learning providers, councils, publishers and organisations explaining a subject to the public. We build the playable software in Unity or HTML5 and work with your subject specialists on the content, feedback and assessment rules.
A serious game gives players something useful to practise or understand through play. The brief might be recognising a waste stream, exploring a scientific concept or making a decision in a scenario. Start with that task, then choose the interaction and delivery platform.
Educational games we have delivered
- The Great Waste Sort: a Construct 2 browser game for Paper4trees, using its Zero the Hero mascot to teach waste sorting. Instructions, feedback and a high-score table support the activity.
- City of Melville's interactive ad: a separate HTML5 waste-sorting activity for residents, built with Construct 2, JavaScript and SVG for the council's website.
- Compassion Dash: we took over an existing Construct 3 educational game, stabilised its structure and added shop, points and character features using client-supplied design and artwork.
- Real Body Work's anatomy quiz: a skeletal-system quiz using supplied anatomical assets, with CMS integration and SCORM reporting.
These examples show the software and interactions delivered. Learning gains or changes in behaviour need their own evaluation with the intended audience.
Scope the learner's task
A useful starting brief names the audience, the concept they need to understand and the action they take in the game. A sorting activity needs clear categories and helpful feedback. A scenario needs plausible choices and consequences. A quiz needs agreed answers, scoring and a way to explain mistakes.
Your subject experts supply or approve the factual material, reading level and assessment criteria. We turn that material into a playable interaction and test how the controls, instructions and feedback work together. For wider content sequencing and learning-platform work, see instructional design.
Browser, mobile or a connected learning product
A short 2D activity can often run in a browser using HTML5 or Construct. Unity can suit projects involving interactive 3D, an installed mobile app or more complex runtime systems. Device access, loading time, classroom connectivity and the intended session length help determine the choice.
Reporting is a separate part of the scope. A public education game may need only anonymous completion counts. An LMS activity may need scores, attempts and resume behaviour tied to a learner. We agree the required data, platform and acceptance tests before implementing that connection. Training simulation development covers projects centred on practising procedures or decisions in a simulated setting.
From first interaction to a usable game
- Define one learning or communication objective and who will approve the content.
- Build a small playable version of the central interaction.
- Review it with the client and, where arranged, representative learners. Check instructions, reading demands, controls and feedback.
- Produce the agreed levels, artwork integration, audio and reporting features.
- Test the build on the named devices and hosting or LMS environment, then document the agreed handover and support.
Accessibility requirements belong in the brief: input methods, text size, contrast, audio alternatives and any testing standard the organisation needs. We scope those requirements against the actual interaction and devices.
What affects the estimate?
Content volume, custom art, localisation, branching scenarios, accounts and LMS connections each add work. So do the number of supported devices and the amount of learner testing required. A small complete activity is easier to estimate once its rules, content and delivery constraints are known.
For a project still choosing between a full game and adding mechanics to an existing product, read serious games versus gamification. Bring a short outline using our game project brief; a finished design document is not required for the first conversation.
Can you work with our educational content?
Yes. Your subject experts supply or approve the material, answers and assessment criteria. We scope the interaction, feedback, device support and any reporting connection around that content.
Does an educational game need an LMS?
A public browser activity may not need an LMS or learner accounts. If individual progress, scores or completion must be reported, name the target platform and reporting rules before estimating.
How do you assess whether the game works?
We agree software acceptance checks and the intended learning or communication objective. Usage and scores describe activity; evaluating learning or behaviour change needs an appropriate client-led evaluation plan.
Tell us what you want to build
Share your audience, platform, project stage and the question you need to resolve. Jacques or Melanie will reply within one business day.