40+ Interactive E-Learning Games and Examples #24
E-Learning Games RECAP #24: Challenge | Recap This week’s challenge was around e-learning games. We shared a quick idea for creating your own e-learning games. Based on the success of this week’s challenge, I expect we’ll do a lot more around this topic. Thanks to everyone who shared demos or feedback in this week's challenge. I know the e-learning community appreciates seeing what you come up with each week. Remember: The challenges are always open. You can jump into this or any previous challenge anytime and we'll update the recap post to include your work. Dan Sweigert View demo | Dan Sweigert | Website | @elearningwdan Przemyslaw Hubisz View demo | Przemyslaw Hubisz | @phubisz Montse Anderson View demo | Montse Anderson | Website | @mLearning Nick Russell View demo | Download | Nick Russell | Benchmark Learning Nancy Woinoski View demo | Nancy Woinoski | Website | @pinchedhead Allison Nederveld View demo | Learn more | Download | Allison Nederveld | @abnederveld Charles Hamper View demo | Charles Hamper | Website | @cfhamper Jackie Van Nice View demo | Learn more | Jackie Van Nice | @jackietrains Till Then View demo | Till Then Stephanie Harnett View demo | Learn more | Stephanie Harnett | Website | @slhice Sol Moh View demo | Sol Moh Gemma Henderson View demo | Learn more | Download | Gem Henderson | @gemdemhen Alex O'Byrne View demo | Alex O'Byrne Jason Renshaw View demo | Jason Renshaw | Website Jason Renshaw View demo | Jason Renshaw | Website Jay Yearley View demo | Jay Yearley | Website Ian McConnell View demo | Learn more | Ian McConnell | Website | @tlslearning Melissa Milloway View demo | Melissa Milloway | Website | @MelMilloway Charles Hamper View demo | Charles Hamper | Website | @cfhamper Richard Watson View demo | Learn more | Richard Watson | Website | @rwatsonID Przemyslaw Hubisz View demo | Download | Przemyslaw Hubisz | @phubisz Jackie Van Nice View demo | Learn more | Jackie Van Nice | @jackietrains Ridvan Saglam View demo | Ridvan Saglam | Website | @rbsaglam John Wagner View demo | John Wagner | Website Alexander Salas View demo | Learn more | Alexander Salas | Website | @stylelearn Chris Lee View demo | Chris Lee | Website Till Then View demo | Till Then Linda Lorenzetti View demo | Linda Lorenzetti | @lindalor Mohammad Hassam View demo | Learn more | Mohammad Hassam | Website Alex Lapthorne View demo | Alex Lapthorne Amar Kulshreshtha View demo | Learn more | Amar Kulshreshtha | Website Darren Heath View demo | Learn more | Darren Heath Nicholette Inman View demo | Nicholette Inman Aman Vohra View demo | Aman Vohra | LinkedIn Chris Hodgson View demo | Learn more & download | Chris Hodgson | Website | @skriss Nicola Fern View demo | Learn more | Nicola Fern | @maddiezahatter Aman Vohra View demo | Aman Vohra | Website Dane Hartman View project | Download | Dane Hartman | Website Amy Lamb View project | Download | Amy Lamb | @aangrimson Katherine Jackson View project | Katherine Jackson More E-Learning Games & Templates 10 Free E-Learning Game Templates for Articulate Storyline 11 Free Tabbed Navigation Templates for Articulate Storyline 12 Free E-Learning Games for Articulate Storyline 10 Fresh and Free E-Learning Templates for Articulate Storyline 5 Free E-Learning Games for Articulate Storyline 30+ Interactive E-Learning Games and Examples New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We’ll link back to your posts so the great work you’re sharing gets even more exposure. If you share your demos on Twitter, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness. Share Your E-Learning Game Examples! The e-learning games challenge is still open! If you have one or more game ideas you'd like to share, please jump over to the original challenge and post your links in the comments section. I'll update this recap page to include your examples.Storyline: Gamified Quiz Template With Timer
Have learners race against the clock in this fun, game-like quiz. This Storyline 360 template includes a color-changing timer to signal when time is running out and built-in slide number variables so you can add or remove questions without having to renumber them. Download the fonts Roboto and Roboto Black to get the same look and feel. View project in action.Level Up Your E-Learning With These Popular Game Templates
Since we’re on the topic of games, let’s start off with a “Would you rather . . .” question. Here we go: Would you rather take a one-hour online test or play a one-hour online game? My bet is that you chose the one-hour game. And that’s no surprise—games are usually fun, whereas tests can be boring or difficult. But they don’t have to be! If you use gamification elements in your content—or even turn the entire learning experience into a game—you can boost learner engagement and drive performance. To help you get your game on, check out these popular game templates that you can download and customize to fit your learners’ needs. Storyline: Vocabulary Guessing Game With multiple choice questions, learners can sometimes simply guess the correct option. If you want a fun way to increase the challenge, try this vocabulary guessing game by Karlis Sprogis instead. By giving learners the number of letters in the word and limiting the number of attempts, you’re appealing to their competitive nature—will they find the correct answer in time? Or will they see the dreaded game-over screen? Storyline: Jeopardy-Inspired Game Show Template Do you need to test learners on multiple topics? This popular game show template by Sarah Hodge is just the thing to turn a boring assessment into a familiar and fun quizzing experience. Storyline: Countdown Quiz Game Want to see how adding game-like elements to your assessments can motivate learners? Then check out this countdown quiz game by Allison LaMotte. The more questions you get right, the more stars you earn, incentivizing learners to retry sections until they get a perfect score. Storyline 360: Angry Words Side-Scrolling Game If your employees communicate often with customers, the last thing you want is for them to wing it. Try teaching learners which phrases are helpful with this word side-scrolling game by Jonathan Hill. Who knew customer service content could be so much fun? Storyline: Codenames-Inspired Learning Game Need to get new employees up to speed on workplace acronyms and terminology? This learning game by Allison LaMotte will help them catch up in no time! By solving clues and looking for similarities, this game makes it fun to define individual terms and see how they all connect. Storyline: Gamified Quiz Template With Timer Need to check if employees can think and act fast? This timed quiz by Sarah Hodge challenges learners to quickly answer questions to prove they have what it takes. Wrap-Up So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and download any or all of these games and gamification examples and customize them to fit your needs. Or, create your own game-inspired project and share it in the comments below! We love seeing new and innovative ways to engage learners. If you need more inspiration, head on over to the weekly challenges, downloads, and examples to see other creative ideas. Want to try building something similar in Storyline 360, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial.Storyline: Jeopardy-Inspired Game Show Template
Create a fun-filled e-learning quiz with this Storyline 360 game show template. Easily replace placeholder text to quickly gamify your content. View project in action. Download the fonts Poppins Regular and Poppins Semi-bold to get the same look and feel.E-Learning Games Inspired by Popular TV Quiz Shows #473
Share Your E-Learning Quiz Games #473: Challenge | Recap Welcome to the final round of our four-week e-learning game challenge! You’ve done the heavy lifting—mapped out your design concepts, built your working prototypes, and taken in all that feedback. Now, it’s time to come on down and show off your final game example. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share an e-learning game inspired by popular TV quiz shows. 🙏 If you’ve been following along with this four-part challenge series, please include links to your previous examples for each week. This will help me pull together a great recap of the series. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Design & Prototyping Week 3: Development & Review Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission Goal: Complete and share your final project Deliverables: Add the final touches, animations, and advanced interactions Incorporate any feedback you received Test your game for bugs, usability, and accessibility Share a link to your final project 🎁 BONUS: Share a quick write-up about your projects in the community. Talk about what you learned, how you used feedback, or how your project evolved over the four weeks. Anything you think would be helpful or interesting is welcome! 🚨 NOTE: And don’t worry if you didn’t join the earlier challenges—you’re still welcome to participate this week. Ideally, you’d complete all four weeks, but any contribution is appreciated! 📋 FEEDBACK: I really want to hear what you thought about this challenge. You’re welcome to answer as many or as few questions as you’d like, and you can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. If you prefer, you can submit your responses anonymously. Share your feedback 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you submit your final design, take a look at the functional examples your fellow game-show challengers shared over the past week: Game Design: Development & Review RECAP #472: Challenge | Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article.Building E-Learning Games: Concept & Storyboard #470
Game Show Design: Storyboards #470: Challenge | Recap How in the world did you build that? A common challenge for new course designers is seeing polished e-learning projects and having no clue how they came together. I hear from folks all the time that they want to do the weekly challenges, but it feels too advanced for beginners. So, for this challenge, we're going to pump the brakes and spread the build over four weeks. We’ll follow a linear development model so we can really dig into and focus on common development steps. I realize experienced designers will prefer a more iterative approach for real-world projects. And that's fair. But using a progressive, step-by-step approach should help new users follow the evolution of an e-learning challenge project from concept to deliverable. Plus, it gives us something tangible to show each week. Week 1: The Concept & Visual Storyboard This first week, we’ll focus on the initial game show theme or concept. Your task will be to create a wireframe, flowchart, or visual storyboard that captures the flow of your game. For new users, this helps you work intentionally through your ideas before jumping into development. And for you pros, this might seem like extra work, but slowing it down will help others visualize how polished interactions come together. Here’s a breakdown of the four-week schedule: Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Prototype Development Week 3: Development & Review Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to develop an e-learning game show concept and present a visual, non-interactive storyboard or flowchart of your game’s mechanics and visual elements. You can either create something new or take an old project and break it down with us over the four weeks. This way, everyone can see how it all comes together. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Goal: Choose a game show concept and design theme Deliverables: Choose a game show concept, theme and design style Create a visual storyboard, flowchart, or static mock-up of the game Share a link to your static design concept Week 2: Design & Prototyping Week 3: Production & Development Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission ✨ Share Your E-Learning Work Comments: Use the comments section below to link your published example and blog post. Forums: Start a new thread and share a link to your published example. Personal blog: If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We'll link to your posts, so your great work gets even more exposure. Social media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can follow your e-learning coolness. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you get started on this week’s design concept, check out last week’s examples to see what e-learning designers do and how they got started in the industry. What Instructional Designers Do RECAP #469: Challenge | Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #471 (07.26): Week 2: Prototype Development Challenge #472 (08.02): Week 3: Production & Development Challenge #473 (08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project SubmissionE-Learning Game Design: Development & Review #472
Game Design: Development & Review #472: Challenge | Recap Welcome to the third week of our e-learning game design challenge. Last week, you built a working prototype from your storyboard or design concept. This week, you’ll focus on bringing the core elements of the e-learning game together to create a detailed and functional model. Your game should be far enough along to submit for final QA and testing. 🏆 Challenge of the Week This week, your challenge is to share a fully developed version of the game that incorporates all designed elements, interactive features, animations, and multimedia components. Optional: Since this is our last week of development before submitting the final project, let a few friends or fellow challengers play your game and gather feedback in Review 360. It’s the best way to spot any problems and see what people like or don’t like. I know many of you have been gathering feedback all along, but I’d like to highlight the testing and review process this week. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Design & Prototyping Week 3: Development & Review Goal: Develop a detailed and functional version of your game Deliverables: Apply and refine the visual design elements Integrate the interactive elements, animations, and multimedia components Refine the visual design and user interface to enhance the overall user experience Submit to Review 360 for user testing and feedback (optional but encouraged) Share a link to your project Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission 🚨 NOTE: Even if you didn’t participate last week, you’re still welcome to join this week’s challenge. Ideally, you’ll complete all four weeks, but any participation is appreciated. Share what you can. 🙌 Last Week’s Challenge: Before you complete your game design, check out the interactive prototypes your fellow challengers shared over the past week: Interactive Prototypes in E-Learning RECAP #471: Challenge | Recap 👋 New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos. Learn more about the challenges in this Q&A post and why and how to participate in this helpful article. 📆 Upcoming Challenges Challenge #473 (08.09): Week 4: Final Testing & Project Submission20 Ways to Present E-Learning Game Design Concepts & Storyboards #470
Game Show Design: Storyboards RECAP #470: Challenge | Recap This week’s challenge asked course designers to share a concept or storyboard for an e-learning game show activity. This is the first part of our four-part game design series, which highlights the major milestones in e-learning development. Week 1: Concept & Storyboarding Week 2: Design & Prototyping Week 3: Development & Review Week 4: Final Project Submission Mallory Frazier Example | Mallory Frazier | Website Phil Mayor Example | Phil Mayor | Website | @philmayor Julie LALAMEDIA Example | Julie LALAMEDIA David Davis Example | David Davis Thierry EMMANUEL Example | Thierry EMMANUEL | Website Sean Murray Example | Sean Murray Samuel Apata Example | Samuel Apata | Website | @afrostem Jonathan Hill Example | Jonathan Hill | Website | @DevByPowerPoint Ron Katz Example | Ron Katz | Website Jodi M. Sansone Example | Jodi M. Sansone | Website | @jodimsansone Jesse Wu Example | Jesse Wu | Website Maren West Example | Maren West eLearn Dev Example | eLearn Dev Shelby Breece Example | Shelby Breece Mara Buggenthin Example | Mara Buggenthin Angela Thomas Example | Angela Thomas Kirsten Ossa Example | Kirsten Ossa Arron Walker Example | Learn more | Arron Walker | Website Jayashree Ravi Example | Jayashree Ravi | LinkedIn Kate Golomshtok Example | Kate Golomshtok | Website New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I'll update the recap posts to include your demos. If you have a blog, please write about your challenge example. I'll add links to your blog post, so your examples get even more exposure. And for those who share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, please include #ELHChallenge so your network (and Articulate!) can track your e-learning coolness. Share Your Concept & Storyboard Examples! The e-learning game challenge is still open! If you have one or more ideas you'd like to share, please jump over to the original challenge and post your links in the comments section. I'll update this recap page to include your examples.Gamification Techniques: How To Apply Them To E-Learning
If you’re in the e-learning industry, you’ve heard the term by now: gamification. Sounds fun, right? But true gamification is more than throwing together some badges and a leaderboard. E-learning gamification is the application of game elements and gaming techniques to online learning content in an effort to make it fun and engaging. In other words, using game mechanics to encourage learners to explore and learn. What are some of these gamification techniques, and how can you apply them to e-learning? Let’s take a closer look at some examples. Narrative A key part of many games is the narrative, or the story, behind them. These stories often incorporate a protagonist (a relatable character), an antagonist (a challenge the protagonist faces) and a plot (a sequence of events). If you’ve never designed a scenario-based course before, hop on over to this article for some tips: Writing Effective E-Learning Scenarios. Rules Rules are a critical part of any game to set expectations and parameters. They let players know what they can and cannot do. When you’re incorporating game elements, it’s important to provide learners with specific and concise instructions. Clear communication about what you expect learners to do at every turn will ensure they’re never left guessing about what to do. Player Control Having control over the journey and the outcome is a common element of many games. Players love to feel in control of their potential for success. One way to give learners control is to let them choose an avatar or character that appears in the course. Another way is to open up navigation to give learners control over how they progress through the content. For example, you could let learners access content from a main menu with several possible choices, instead of forcing them down a linear path. Discovery Games often encourage discovery and exploration; for example, people love to “hunt” for a hidden treasure. One way to incorporate this technique in your course would be to ask learners to search for hidden nuggets of information to score some extra points. If you decide to implement this technique, keep in mind that while looking for extra information is a fun add-on, you should never make a learner dig for a critical piece of information. Rather, hidden information should be “nice to know” information that’ll help learners deepen their understanding. Also, be sure to provide learners with clear instructions about what they’re looking for. There’s nothing worse than clicking aimlessly without knowing what or where to look. Interactivity How many games have you played that required you to do nothing? None! Games are all about stimulation and engagement, whether mental or physical, and making a move is part of the process. Adding interactivity doesn’t simply mean asking the user to “click” more often. The key is to craft meaningful interactions that require learners to think and make decisions. Instead of telling them the information outright, make them select the correct choice from a list and drag it into place. Instead of presenting them with the steps of a linear process, get them to order the steps themselves. For more information about adding interactivity in a meaningful way, check out this article: 3 Things to Consider Before You Add Interactivity. Feedback Feedback is a key part of gaming. It lets users know their action has been registered or recognized, and it provides a cue to players about how they are progressing. Feedback doesn’t have to be text. “Unlocking” new features, for example, is a type of feedback that lets players know they’re doing well. Badges or checkpoints are a way to show feedback and achievement. Progress bars are also great for providing ongoing feedback and letting learners know how they’re doing. Time Constraints Games use time constraints to create a sense of urgency, which pressures the gamer to think and act quickly. To simulate a real-life constraint, consider using a countdown or a timer on your quiz. For example, if your call center expects calls to be completed in less than five minutes, give your scenario a time limit of five minutes for the learner to pass. Loss Aversion Loss aversion refers to the tendency of humans to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. Studies have demonstrated that a loss is twice as powerful as a gain, and this mental propensity is used by many game developers. Use a points system in your course to let learners know where they stand, and let them know points can be taken away for incorrect answers. You could also use a visual progress meter, such as a map with checkpoints, to show learners whether they’re moving forward or backward as they progress through the content. Continuous Play Continuous play is the ability for gamers to pick up where they left off and continue the game. This means that even gamers who “lose” the game can start over and try again as many times as they want. When you design your content, consider giving learners the opportunity to keep going! It’s a great sign when learners want to retry or revisit content. It means they’re interested and intrigued. Remember: you want to encourage your learners to remember the content, so if they want to revisit it, why not let them? One way to incorporate continuous play into your courses is to allow learners to retake a quiz or assessment if they fail. Another way is to give them a second chance if they answer a question incorrectly. Rewards Bonus points or rewards make people feel good, and are used extensively in many different games. Consider giving learners “bonus points” for more difficult questions, or providing them with an ability to earn extra rewards based on good choices. Levels Achieving different levels, goals, or challenges is a common theme among games. Instead of having chapters or modules, organize your content into “levels” and “unlock” the levels when learners answer choices correctly or hit a certain number of points. Competition Leaderboards are one of the most popular ways to encourage competition in the gaming world. Leaderboards rank players and their scores, and people love them because they like to get recognition for their skills and effort. Use a corporate intranet page or your LMS to let learners see how their coworkers are progressing. However, be mindful of the information you share. Making low scores public could be embarrassing for learners, for example. It might be a better idea to focus only on high scores. The Bottom Line In order for gamification to truly add value to your courses, the game elements need to be well thought out and support the learning objectives. Want to learn more about gamification? Check out these resources: Gamification: How and Why Does It Relate to E-Learning? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How I Designed This Gamified Quiz 5 Visual Design Tips for Gamified E-Learning And if you’re looking for some game templates, be sure to check these out: Storyline: Countdown Quiz Game Randomized Board Game Dice Quiz Game E-Learning Battleship Game Crossword Puzzle Game We’d love to hear from you in the comments! Which of these gamification techniques have you incorporated in your courses? What did that look like? Are there any gaming techniques we didn’t mention? Please share your experience and insights in the comments below. Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.15 Examples of Interactive Prototypes for E-Learning Games #471
Interactive Prototypes in E-Learning RECAP #471: Challenge | Recap This week’s challenge asked course designers to share an interactive prototype of their game show designs. This is the second week of our four-part game design series. Phil Mayor Example | Phil Mayor | Website | @philmayor David Davis Example | David Davis Jonathan Hill Prototype | Working Demo | Jonathan Hill | Website | @DevByPowerPoint Ron Katz Prototype | Ron Katz | Website Jesse Wu Prototype | Jesse Wu | Website Jodi M. Sansone Prototype | Jodi M. Sansone | Website | @jodimsansone eLearn Dev Prototype | Learn more | eLearn Dev Samuel Apata Prototype | Samuel Apata | Website | @afrostem Arron Walker Prototype | Learn more | Arron Walker | Website Thierry EMMANUEL Prototype | Thierry EMMANUEL | Website Kate Golomshtok Prototype | Kate Golomshtok | Website Lisa McDonald Prototype | Lisa McDonald Angela Thomas Prototype | Angela Thomas Shelby Breece Prototype | Shelby Breece Mara Buggenthin Prototype | View progress | Mara Buggenthin New to the E-Learning Challenges? The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I'll update the recap posts to include your demos. If you have a blog, please write about your challenge example. I'll add links to your blog post so your examples get even more exposure. And for those who share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, please include #ELHChallenge so your network (and Articulate!) can track your e-learning coolness. Share Your Working Prototype Examples! The game show prototype challenge is still open! If you have one or more ideas you'd like to share, please jump over to the original challenge and post your links in the comments section. I'll update this recap page to include your examples.
