OVERVIEW

From 2011-2016, I did Game Design as part of my UX Designer role for MIND Research Institute, designing and animating dozens of games in the brand's student-friendly style. The games were part of ST Math, a visual instructional program used by over 2 million K-8 students in all 50 states. Each game met rigorous federally-regulated education standards, leveraging the brain's innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to help students solve mathematical problems.

KEY FEATURES

  • Games build deep conceptual understanding of math
  • Deep game mechanics drive intrinsic motivation
  • Games designed for Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile
  • Leverages scaffolding to develop strong mental models
  • Proven, repeatable results meet Common Core and state standards
    • ST Math's game mechanics shine on touchscreen devices where players directly interact with game manipulables

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    Game "Double Negative"

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    Game "Powers Of Ten"

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    Game "Ratio Monster"

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    Game "Eel Partners"

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    Game "Fraction Cycle"

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    Game "Parabola Balloons"

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    SPECIFIC GAME CASE STUDIES

    CASE STUDY 1: "SPACE SLOPE"

    This game teaches about slope, which is how steep a line is. It demonstrates how slope is the change in x and y values, presented as a fraction. The core mechanism is built around the main character JiJi the penguin flying a spacecraft using the player's direction.



    Core Mechanics

    Players use the grid to calculate slope.

  • Vertical sliders change the slop of the slope guide
  • Slope changes the angle of the spacecraft
  • Spacecraft moves from point to point, encountering new slopes

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    Input Variations: Number Inputs

    All games have input variations and scaffold through them, starting with physical manipulable inputs and ending with numeric inputs.



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    Error-States: Error-Based Learning

    Error States are important as much of the learning is error-based, and players learn how the game works in a "learning-by-doing" fashion. All gameplay elements have to be a part of the core game design - in this case, the slope guides that the spaceship travels in act as collision points if the slope is inaccurate (too steep or too shallow).



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    CASE STUDY 2: "BIG SEED"

    This game is a multi-level game where players use geometric principles to create mirror images of symmetric tiles, or "seeds," to tile portions of a 2-dimensional plane. It is based on research conducted by Mark Bodner, Ph.D., co-founder and President of the Research Division of MIND Research Institute. A stand-alone app version is available for free on the iOS App Store.



    Core Mechanics

    Players use spatial-temporal reasoning to move mirror images of tiles across the plane.

  • Paint bucks change the colors of tiles
  • Tiles move in a four-point linear axis
  • Textures and colors are used for visual accessibility

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    Puzzle Difficulty

    Puzzles increase in difficulty as multiple tile colors are introduced.



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    CASE STUDY 3: "SHAPE MATCH"

    This game formed the core of a neuroscientific study into whether Working Memory could be expanded through gameplay. The core mechanism is built around tracking the changing positions of shapes until they match the puzzle piece on-screen. This game received a patent for its role in establishing the basis of the Working Memory study. Studies like these are common with ST Math games, to prove the efficacy of game teachings.



    Core Mechanics

    Players use working memory to keep track of shape positions as tracks move.

  • Puzzle piece starts transparent to teach game mechanics
  • Puzzle piece become solid to increase difficulty
  • Variables of speed and number of shapes increase difficulty

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    Patent for Game Mechanics

    This game received a patent for the "method and system for enhancing working memory" as it was included in trials conducted at the University of California, Irvine to successfully test for the effectiveness of enhancing working memory capacity.



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    SUMMARY

    I designed and animated dozens of games for ST Math, working closely with mathematicians and product managers to develop the game content and our engineering team to code the games directly from my design files. These games are still actively part of the student curriculum today, used by over 2 million students in all 50 States:



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