By Krista-Lotta Ojanen and Saila Juuti
There are many ways to begin designing a game. You might start with a compelling mechanic—such as competitive team play in a multiplayer environment—or you might want to tell a memorable story with engaging characters, or build an entire game world that feels unlike our own.
When the goal is to create an educational game, however, the starting point should be different: you need to be clear about what learning outcomes you want to achieve. How will playing the game improve learning, and what exactly should players learn?
Gamification or Game-Based Learning (GBL) – What’s the Difference?
In EdTech, the terms gamification and game-based learning (GBL) are often used interchangeably, which can make it hard for educators and developers to tell them apart. For clarity: gamification means adding game elements or a game framework to existing learning activities—for example, adding points, badges, or leaderboards to math exercises to boost motivation. Game-based learning, by contrast, means designing the learning activity itself as a game: the game’s mechanics and structure are built around the learning objectives from the outset, so the experience is inherently game-like.
In practice, some EdTech products fit clearly into one category and others sit somewhere in between. Coding platforms that revolve around progressive challenges are often true GBL: their core gameplay is designed to teach coding concepts. Other products combine traditional instructional content—explanatory videos and exercises—with gamified features, such as competitive mini-games that reward progress.
Good Mechanics Are Important, But Not Everything
Many game design guides advise starting with mechanics, because intuitive controls and engaging rules are essential to keep players in the game. If controls are awkward or the rules are confusing, players will stop playing immediately. Repetitive levels with no new challenge will fail even with strong visuals or a great story.
A distinctive mechanic often becomes the foundation for the rest of the game, but with educational products the learning goals must guide design from the start. Too often we see promising games that became educational only after the core game was finished—content is patched in as pop-ups or awkwardly re-skinned assets, and players are quizzed about material they had no chance to learn during gameplay. These mismatches create a frustrating user experience and undermine educational claims.
If players’ first reaction is to walk away, the product has failed both as a game and as a learning tool.
Put Learning Goals at the Center
Education always begins by defining learning goals. What specific knowledge or skills do you want players to acquire? The pedagogical aim should shape every design decision. In practice, this means the key learning content should be something players actively do inside the game. If you want to teach counting, design interactions that require counting. If the goal is physics comprehension, let players build mechanisms, manipulate forces, or arrange planetary systems.
Complex topics can be taught this way too. For example, strategy games that simulate cellular biology can let players place defensive units and develop vaccines to prevent pathogens from reaching vulnerable cells. When mechanics and learning goals are integrated from the beginning, the result can be both entertaining and educational—a true game-based learning solution.
Balancing Play and Content Consumption
Teachers are often skeptical of educational games because they must ensure students meet curricular requirements. Games can be distracting or take too long, and some subjects require substantial factual content better delivered through text or video.
If you choose to include consumable content—articles, videos, or lectures—make sure there is a clear reason within the game for players to access it. How will that information be used in gameplay? Players should feel that reading or watching contributes directly to success in the game, not that it’s an unrelated requirement.
A useful approach is to focus on one or two primary learning goals and remove anything that complicates the experience without helping those goals. Teaching one concept effectively is a stronger foundation than trying to cover too many topics superficially.
Choosing Your Approach
The distinction between gamified solutions and GBL is often subtle and, for many customers, not the most important detail. What matters is that the product effectively supports learning and engagement. Two sensible development strategies are:
1) Create a focused GBL solution built from the ground up to develop a single skill or knowledge area—such as programming or human biology—through gameplay mechanics. 2) Build a hybrid product that combines well-crafted instructional content with thoughtfully applied gamified features, so learners benefit from both clear explanations and motivating game elements.
In either case, start with clearly defined learning goals and design mechanics that make those goals meaningful in play. That alignment is the key to making educational games that are both enjoyable and effective.
About the Authors
Saila Juuti is the founder of Education Alliance Finland. She holds a Master’s degree in Internet and Game Studies and leads EdTech quality evaluations at Education Alliance Finland.
Krista-Lotta Ojanen is Communications Manager at Education Alliance Finland. She has a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology and oversees content production and research at Education Alliance Finland.