AR Educational Board Game Experience
Board Game Design
BYJU'S
April 2022
8 months
👀 Overview
A POC for an Augmented Reality Board Game for young learners, to make their educational videos interesting by making a game around it. this was due to the fact that completion rate for videos watched was low, and kids were loving the Osmo AR Worksheets.
My Role
Game Design
Journey Mapping
Interaction Design
Experience Design
Team
1 Product Managers
1 Senior Game Design
1 Game Design Intern
Art Team
Engineering Team
For Byjus Early Learn
BYJU'S Osmo worksheets are interactive workbooks that use Augmented Reality (AR) to bring learning to life.
These worksheets support simples shapes, ticks, arrows, and match the following activities.
These worksheets contain Disney BYJU’s content as well as BYJU’S early learn content, making studying fun!
For age: 6 - 10 years
💡Solution
The proposed solution involves a standalone augmented reality (AR) board game featuring an enchanting storyline set within a magical castle. The gameplay revolves around rolling a dice, advancing tokens, acquiring keys, and exploring various rooms. Upon entering these rooms, players are presented with either educational videos, earning them spell books, or engage in quizzes to conquer monsters and advance to higher levels.
D4 Device
Castle Piece
Dice
Key
Token
Doors- after unlocking doors, player plays quizzes or watches videos
Physical board
BUT
because I like the worksheet so much, I don’t like watching the rest of the videos
I wish they were as interesting as the worksheets
I do not like studying
It makes me super sleepy because its so boring
And that’s why I don’t score well in school
But then my parents got me BYJUS Worksheets
Now, I study with Jax and Jane and my favourite Disney characters
Jax and jane
Video content
Quizzes and Tests
Disney narrative
Worksheet
Action having a reaction on the screen
Performance Reports
i wish i could go out and play
why is my mom so controlling
this is so boring
the videos are too long
why is this not detecting
the dbl content
finish you work for today
no play time, study first
no play time, study first
this is so boring
Why am i doing this
i dont like books
What do they
What do they
Say?
Hear?
What do they
What do they
Think?
See?
Size
Design Language
D4 Device
Production Constraints
Cost of Production
Flat packaging
Resources
Fresh Concept
Timeline
Jack and Jane
Budget Constraints
Facilitator Of Content
Solo/ Single Player
Pictorial
Fun
Motivation
Simple Interaction
Design
Familiarity
Retention
Simplicity
USER
TECHNOLOGY
BUSINESS
User friendly material
Relatability
Replayability
Easy
Detectable Area
Colour palette
Device placement
Size of the game
2d forms
Icons
Shape
Gestures
Emotion
JOURNEY MAP
AWARNESS
ACTIONS
REVIEW
Opens BYJUS app
Solves the Quizzes
Watches the video Content
Gets Bored
Doesnt Study
Performs poorly in exams
Study Time
THIS IS SO BORING
YAYY! i CAN PLAY GAMES NOW
MOM WILL BE ANGRY
WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS
I DONT FEEL LIKE STUDYING
Understanding the User
Various tools were applied to really understand the user and their pain points.
Trying to look at problems through the lens of the user, and really empathising with them
Comparing the video watching and quiz experience to the OSMO worksheet experience from the perspective of the user I gained valuable insights
Mapping constraints from Business, Tech and User POV helped narrow down approaches.
🔍 Market Research
Looking at different games that this demographic of students will be familiar with, be it PC, board games, paper games, intangible games or phygital
Mechanic Exploration
After market research, I deconstructed various games into elements and mechanics. Then I laid them out and mixed and matched to make various iterations of game concepts.
Path Building
Decoding Games
Flicking Games
Token
Used to move around the board
Star Cards
Prompts for the player to do in the game
Key
Used to open the doors
Door
Open to watch videos and fight quizzes
Number Dice
Tells the player to the number of steps they can take
Direction Dice
Tells the player to how and where to move.
Roll Dice
Open doors
Succeed in Quizzes
Win spells
Path Building
Selected Idea
Game Experience
Assistance
The assistive character will guide the user as to what to do
Roll the dice
Direction
On outcome, the path will highlight on the board
Key and Door
It will also indicate if any key can be collected or a door can be opened
Star Card
the screen will showcase what the card says, and indicate what can be done.
Collect a key
Level Design
Made further levels to keep the game play interesting.
Approach: to introduce obstacles through star cards or self playing obstacles to create an illusion of a second player
The monster is getting closer
Engagement
Like any other casual game, even we had to come up with engagement features to ensure the target audience is engaged within the game for longer. This is going to be achieved by:
Daily rewards
Character customization
Longer Storyline
Social Features
Recognition
📝 User Testing
User testing was conducted at the BYJU’S office with kids ranging from 8-10 years. The goal of the user testing was to understand how well the players understand the concept, and how do they like this form of study format.
The overall response of the play test was positive, however we did notice that the players would like a better onboarding, along with a shorter gameplay to begin with.
Reet Oberoi • March, 2022