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 Submission