iDEA Foundation 30 Educational Mini-Games
2016 - 2021 / Toasted Digital
Lead Game Designer & Developer
Game Design • Development • Learning design • Story & Scripts • Animation
iDEA is a free learning platform that educates young people in essential digital skills through game-based learning. I designed and developed a total of 30 games that have been completed over three million times to date, and I helped shape the platform's learning paradigm.
Learning Design.
Each game is a set of challenges about a particular learning objective. They use a framework of foundation (introduce the topic), activation (explore the topic) and resolution (use the topic effectively). Challenges range from puzzles and quizzes to coding playgrounds and a GUI to help learners build their own game. I've designed approximately 140 gameplay levels and a range of characters.
Story led e-learning.
I have written thirty game scripts for iDEA, with the fifteen Silver award games being story led learning, sending the learner through scenarios that range from fantasy and sci-fi to real-life situations.
Development.
As lead developer I developed a scalable game framework using JavaScript and WebGL, the technical architecture, and led the team who maintain it. I've overseen regular user experience testing and continued to fine-tune the games over several years based on player feedback and behaviour. The games leverage libraries such as Pixi.js, Three.js and Phaser. The games are playable across all modern devices, from mobile to desktop.
Project Impact.
iDEA is a growing platform, with just over a million players today. In 2020, the platform was named one of the learning technologies organisations of the year.
In print.
My role in iDEA has been acknowledged in the book Personalised Learning for the Learning Person, by Rupert Ward. He is a UK National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Take a look.
Sign up here to play the games. My credits are for all Silver award games, and the Bronze award games: Interviews, Working and learning from home, Growth Mindset, BAFTA Young Game Designer, Digital Pathways, Digital Careers, Animation, Video Editing, UX, UI, Graphic Design, Cyber Spies, Fake News, Crisis Management, Digital Ethics and Safe Online.