From March 2023, I was invovled as a game design researcher on a project with the University of York and University of Oxford. The goal of the project was to develop a video game which could persuade STEM undergraduates into teaching, while remaing a fun and engaging game.

I joined the team to deliver two elements, the overall design and project management, and conducting research, both as an academic and user researcher. In this post I’ll talk more about the latter across the development process. To begin, a paper prototype was designed of TeachQuest (then called Teachmatch), to test the concept of a ‘choose your own adventure game’ very much in the scope and style of Uber Drive and Spent.

The paper prototype was a series of classroom events designed as a deck of cards and some ‘theatre of the mind’. We recruited STEM undergraduates across multiple universities and diverse backgrounds, creating small focus groups and interview sessions. Participants