All Collections
Creating Games
Create a learning experience (game) in Gamoteca
Create a learning experience (game) in Gamoteca

Everything you need to know to create your learning experience (game) in Gamoteca

G
Written by Gamoteca Support
Updated over a week ago

We've created this Getting Started guide to help you create your learning game in Gamoteca. Before you actually start creating your game, it is good that you know what the learning objective is and who your target audience is. If you don't have a concrete idea yet and you just want to get started, take a look at this guide or play around with one of the free game templates available. You can also use this storyboard template to begin by scripting your game first.

1. Create your game

To create a game, simply go to the main page of Gamoteca and click on the '+New Design' button.

All new games will get a default title: 'Untitled game'. If you want to change the title of your game, then click on the pencil icon next to the title.

2.  Define roles


All new games are created with two default roles: 'Player 1' and 'Player 2'. You can define your own roles by clicking on the 'Edit Roles' button. 

You can change the title and colour of existing roles and you can add or delete roles. If you wish to create a single-player game, then delete other roles.

For each game, a Facilitator role can be added. The role is responsible for the facilitation of the game and can interact with other players during the game session.

3. Add screens

Gamoteca games are defined by a flow of screens that have to be connected with one another. You can define screens for each user separately. To add a new screen, click on the '+' icon below the title of a role.

The screen editor opens up. Here you can define the content of each screen. 

Each screen has different components:

  • Title and Text: For each screen, you can add a title and a text component. The title will be shown on the top of the screen for players, while the text will show immediately below the title.

  • Quote answer from another screen: Show Player Task interactions shared by any player (role), eg. when they submit a text, picture, or a video or when they respond to a multiple-choice question. The shared picture, video, or response will be shown here. You can also quote an answer from the same player if you want - for example, to reflect on their own previous video. Quoting is usually combined with Preconditions below. Take a look at this article to learn more.

  • Media attachment: Set what type of media content (image or video) to display for the player on this screen. Photos and videos can be uploaded, and videos from YouTube can be embedded.

  • Keep in mind that there is automatic image resizing in Gamoteca, this means that when you upload an image or a video it will automatically be resized into a smaller file so that users are able to load images and videos with no issues.

  • Player task: Add a task for a user to complete. You can ask the user to respond to a multiple-choice question, submit text feedback, or share a photo or video. This sets what kind of action or feedback you expect from the player on this screen. Use the Complete button when there is no task and you simply want the player to indicate that they have viewed the content on this screen.

    Remember that when you ask users to share video, you can allow users to choose to share text or video (whatever they feel comfortable with) toggling the “Allow alternate text feedback (instead of video upload)?” button on.

  • Preconditions: Set up which screens should be completed before a player progresses to a new screen. This defines the game flow. Preconditions can also be set across roles. Take a look at this article to learn more.

  • Score: As a gamification element, you can assign points for each screen. Players will earn or lose points after they complete the screen. Scoring can be positive or negative.

  • End screen: If selected, the game will be marked as Completed when the player reaches and completes this screen. Multiple screens can be set as end screens, e.g. for branched game scenarios.

4. Connect screens with each other (preconditions)

Connecting the screens defines the flow of the game session. In Gamoteca, you need to define the precondition of each individual screen (otherwise all screens will be shown immediately to the player when the game starts!). Preconditions determine which screens have to be completed before a player progresses to a new screen Preconditions can also be set across roles, e.g. Player A should complete a certain task before Player B receives their next task.

To set preconditions for a screen, create a new screen or click on the card of an existing screen in the game designer.

Then click on the '+Add preconditions' button to add a new precondition.


You can select a specific screen completion from a player before another screen shows up.

For example:

  • Player A records a video

  • Player B reviews the video after the video has been shared (precondition set for Player A - video recording screen completed)

In the event a screen contains multiple-choice questions, you can also define the progress of the session according to the selection they made. For example, if a player chooses an option ‘A’, a screen follows, but if they choose option ‘B’ a different screen follows. This option is useful for providing feedback to players (from the facilitator or another player). For example

  • Player A submits a video

  • Player B reviews video (using Quote feature above) and selects “Good feedback” option

  • Player A receives a screen, where the precondition is set as “Good Feedback”

It is possible to select more than one screen as a precondition. In such a case you will see an AND/OR option. The AND relation means that all selected preconditions (screens) must be completed before showing the screen to the current player. The OR condition means that one of the selected preconditions (screens) is enough to be completed to do so.

6. Test your game using the simulator


You can continuously test how the game works when played by the different players (roles) of your game. To test your game directly within the game editor, you simply have to press the 'Test game' button to start the simulator. Please note that the simulator is for testing the overall look and the flow of your game. If you want to try out your game on mobile devices, you'll need to publish your game first (see below).

Once you click the ‘Test Game’ button, the preview screens for each role will appear. You can go through the game as players would do - you can even submit images and record videos.

7. Live chat for players on the Feed

In the games Feed players are able to see a feed in which the progress of each player on the game is show. Additionally, in Gamoteca you are can enable a live chat function for learners and facilitators to interact with each other via feed messages.

You can enable it for only players to interact with each other or enable it for players and the facilitator to interact.

To have the Facilitator interact, you will have to first create a role for them in the game (like the image below). If you do not want to include Facilitaror chat, just omit this step.

Once you are happy with the game and want to publish it, you will in the publishing section an option "Post Messages to Feed" you can toggle to enable the live chat.

8. Publish and play

Once you are happy with the content and flow of your game, you can publish your game. Read more about how to publish your game here.

Did this answer your question?