Making an educational game is not the same thing as teaching - the goal isn’t to get them to pass some test, it’s to inspire them and fuel their love for learning.
It’s to make them feel a little joy and wonder, and look to find out more
I do agree that spongebob isn’t the best idea, but every other show would be the same thing, many episodes all exert diffrent emotions to the viewer, so what should I do in this case?
Stop trying to “learn” what kids like, and just create a solid game.
The only way you’ll succeed in “learning” what children are like is by being around them - if you really want to do this, volunteer to help in clubs where your target age group participate.
2 Likes
You don’t really see many educational games around so this could work in your favour. If you want it to get popular you will need some uniqueness about it that players will keep wanting to come back and see. Also you want to make the game to be enjoyable for ‘kids’.
If you want to make the educational aspect tie in with a fun aspect in your game then why don’t you actually make it so the players feel like they are in the exhibit. Lets say you have an exhibit with dinosaurs then players should be able to actually travel to that time period. Then if you have an exhibit about space then the player should be able to travel to space and fell like they are apart of the mission being explained about.
3 Likes
These are some really good suggestions, and would help you lean into the interactive medium of video games.
So I refrained from posting this since I noticed it was briefly mentioned by plasmascreen, but since I’ve made two other posts on this thread that isn’t solely related to your topic, I guess I’ll expand on it.
Everyone loves a reward, don’t they? I don’t know about you, but I sure do! Acknowledging a player’s effort by giving rewards would be a good idea as it gives them both a sense of satisfaction (they’ve gotten something), a sense of achievement (they’ve learnt something) and a method to brag to their friends!
Adding something like medallions that are publicly visible to everyone on the server to show how well people are doing on your game would support the above, then adding something like a currency that people gain through little minigames and parkours, etc (possibly even an optional tour around the map? I know that Cadbury World gives those who go around the site free chocolate), then allowing them to spend said currency in a store for things that they might find fun, from catalog gears (allowing them to experience what they might not be able to afford) from your own custom perks! If you really wanted to profit off it, you could also add a way for people to purchase them, but I wouldn’t advise this in the sense of gameplay, as it would discourage people to play and learn and encourage them to just spend money.
You could add medallions or badges (or anything else) for every area, with a way to view your current ones and how many you have missing, whilst currency could be given for completing minor things in an area and the actual reward once they complete the entire section. Other players could be able to view what you have and don’t have via a custom player list where you click their username or profile picture to bring up the respective UIs. A possible restriction to certain areas that you can’t access until your complete a prior area, and having to utilise what you’ve learned previously to complete that area will help add to their sense of achievement (they’re able to apply what they’ve learnt, they’ve earned something new) and, personally, as a player in those kind of settings, I’d strive to have every single thing available (that’s free), which in this scenario would be to unlock all the areas, thus promoting people to actually play the parts of your game and learn from them, allowing them to go back and revise what they’ve learnt later on as well, in case they’re unable to apply their knowledge. Adding things like hints would be a good idea so that they don’t just get stuck the moment they run into a stump that they can’t get past. There are lots of things you could do and add to improve the gameplay and player’s immersion into your game, from Camera Cutscenes to dialogue (not monologue, let the players reply! That’ll make them feel more involved in your game).
Hope this helps. 
EDIT: As a person, I love to read. This is mainly due to the fact that I’m able to envision scenes that wouldn’t normally be applicable in this world, or to me at least. From flying through the sky in fantasy settings, to even the most cliché of romance novels. You could try and incorporate things like that - referencing books in some way, whether within your game (your own books) or outside of your game (books written by authors) could also promote reading, for example one of the previous egg hunts, which was based in a library.
Extensive monologue or dialogue between NPCs will often bore your younger audience, which is where allowing your own players to be able to “converse” (through fixed choices) to your NPCs would make it feel less dull, with maybe something abrupt happening between dialogues, causing you to go into an event? Maybe even make it so it’s like a “pick your path” kind of book, where rather than one correct path, you can have your choices impact (whether largely or not) your experience within the game, such as having a solo boss battle vs gaining an ally to fight the boss, which would promote people to think more about their decisions in life and not act so whimsically.
6 Likes
I am not reading through all the other posts so I don’t know if this has been told yet. Do a night at the museum kinda game. In the day they could learn and at night interact all the things. Although this could be difficult scripting side. Just an idea.
1 Like
Could you elaborate please? I don’t understand.
what movie? And I understand what your trying to say.
Night at the museum is the name of the movie.
@GoldStorm950 You shouldn’t tell people to watch a movie to understand your post, not everyone has the time and some people don’t even have access to the movie.
I think he means something along the lines that at day, all the inanimate objects, from dinosaur exoskeletons, to cavemen etc, start to become animate, i.e. start to move. What they would do and their purpose for moving escapes me, though hope that helps elaborate a bit.
3 Likes
I think what @GoldStorm950 was trying to get at with that was an example. You would be surprised how much inspiration comes out of movies and books for Roblox games.
1 Like
Perhaps different age groups gonint dofferent portals to learn to their grade level, though dont label them “Grade 1-3” or “Grade 4-6” As that would be asking for personal information, instead do “Easy” “Medium” “Hard” or “Extra Hard”, thats a good way to visualise what kids/teens would more be into than everyone participating in grade 1 work when they are in grade 5 or 6.
3 Likes
Museums in real-life already make it fun by adding interactive elements to their displays. For example, a rotatable solar system or an animation of a historic event. Even just letting them try out old historic weapons or allowing them to build circuits will let them have fun and learn at the same time.
2 Likes
They have time to at least watch the trailer, which sums up the concept well enough on its own
This topic sure built up some replies. I think the idea is great, of course you should make it interactive. But I think it’d be really cool to make your settings amazing.
Musuem- Base it off the louvre in paris
- Base it off egyptian pyramids
Aquarium- Research famous aquariums, I think theres one called two oceans in like Africa where u swim through the aquarium and glass has the fish on the other side.
Give it a great sense of adventure
4 Likes
Ya it would also definitely be smart to check out some of the apps in the App Store that do something similar and see what type of problems they give for specific grade levels.
1 Like
If you for example make the player answer a question to shoot another character, that could be fun. But if there is no gameplay and just l questions, learning etc. It will get boring.
1 Like
A lot of kids (including myself) hate school and anything related to school. Learning things that aren’t in a person’s general interest is a chore.
However, if you hide the educational part, it would work. Gameplay has to be good if you want a good game. If you incorporate the educational part with the gameplay in a not-so-obvious manner, kids will stick around and not dislike the game.
1 Like
Focus on interactive setting that is cool and engaging.
A fun hang out place when one can share interests with other people who like the same things. Like a Lobby.
Start with a single theme like real life attractions.
(you can expand after getting mechanics to be successful)
- Museum of Airplanes
- Museum of Dinosaurs
A place should have interactables and easter eggs. Make the interactions themselves be meaningful, shows how something actually works not just movable.
Reward players for having learned, don’t try to teach them. It’s an internet game they have google at their fingertips.
e.g. Puzzles and search games where the clue is related to a piece of knowledge. (you can pass faster if you know something about the topic)
Have signs people can read more if they want, some people like reading, some don’t and having a source of learning within the game is a plus.
e.g. plaques in front of displays.
I know I said Google is there, but you want your game to be able to be self contained.
You don’t want to force people to read something, difference between a hand-holding tutorial that everyone hates and a control reference page that can be pulled up to refresh.
As for core gameplay, I think it centering around opening new rooms and unlocking achievements would be good.
Theme would be difficult to pick 
maybe make a few single rooms with themes then watch stats on which theme gets most play time and expand it first?
Best choice is always something you are interested in since you are developing it.
You are going to know the fun factoids and such.
TL;DR I personally would like to see more games be secretly/underlyingly(making up words) educational instead of just repetitive clicking. So I think it is a great idea, execution is tricky though.
3 Likes