Serious game development and educational games, in Corsica
Serious game development means creating a game designed to achieve a serious goal: helping people learn, raising awareness or introducing a place, by drawing on the enjoyment of play. From Bastia, we build educational games, gamified training and heritage discovery games, working hand in hand with the experts in your organisation.
Serious games, educational games, gamification: what is the difference?
These three terms are often confused. A serious game is a real game, with rules, a challenge and progression, put to work for a goal that goes beyond entertainment. The educational game is its most common form: it targets a specific piece of learning that the player acquires by playing rather than by reading.
Gamification, on the other hand, means adding game mechanics such as points, challenges, levels or rewards to an activity that is not a game: a training course, onboarding new staff, a visit. It is lighter to set up, but it is no substitute for good content.
In every case, the work begins with game design, meaning the design of the rules and the situations of play, starting from what the player should have understood or remembered by the end.
Examples of serious games that train, raise awareness and inform
A serious game can serve a business, a local authority, a tourist office, a museum, an association or a training provider. Here are some typical uses.
- 01
In-house training
Procedures, safety rules, job skills or software: players practise in situations close to reality, with no risk of making a real mistake.
- 02
Onboarding newcomers
A gamified journey to discover the organisation, its departments and its rules at one's own pace.
- 03
Awareness campaigns
Cybersecurity, risk prevention, the environment: a scenario where the player's choices have visible consequences leaves a stronger mark than a poster.
- 04
Heritage discovery game
A trail through a historic centre, a village or a natural site, with riddles and stories, played on visitors' phones. A format well suited to the rich heritage of Corsica.
- 05
Cultural and school outreach
A game to accompany an exhibition or a school trip, which teachers and guides can run easily.
- 06
Quizzes and challenges in training
Team questions and live scores to refresh knowledge at the start or end of a session.
Designing an educational game: our four-stage method
A single point of contact follows your project, and your experts approve the content at each stage.
- 01
Understand
Together we define the learning objectives, the audience, their level and the context of use: in a room with a trainer, independently on a computer, or out in the field with a phone.
- 02
Design
Every game mechanic is linked to an objective. We write the scenario, then build a playable prototype tested with a small group representative of your audience, before you approve it.
- 03
Build
Development, integration of content supplied or approved by your experts, illustrations, and testing for understanding and difficulty.
- 04
Launch and support
Going live, handover to your trainers or guides, content updates and a review after the first uses.
What you receive: the game, its content and its tools
- 01
A ready-to-use game
Available in the browser on a computer, tablet or phone, and installable if needed for offline use.
- 02
A facilitator's guide
So that your trainers, teachers or guides know how to introduce the game, run it and lead a debrief.
- 03
A content management tool, if planned
To correct a question, add a step or translate a text without calling on us.
- 04
Results tracking
Progress, successes and sticking points, preferably anonymised, to measure the game's effect.
- 05
Documentation and code
Handed over according to the rights defined in the contract, so you stay in control of your tool.
What to check so a serious game achieves its purpose
- 01
A measurable objective
'Raising awareness' is not enough. You need to know what the player should be able to do or recognise after playing, so that it can be checked.
- 02
The balance between game and content
Too much text kills the game; too much game buries the message. Testing with real players is how you find the right balance.
- 03
Accurate content
Historical facts, safety rules, procedures: your experts remain responsible for the substance, and we for the form.
- 04
Real conditions of use
No signal at a natural site, sunlight on the screen, noise in a room: the game must be tested where it will be played.
- 05
Young participants
For school audiences, no unnecessary data is collected and families are informed.
- 06
Accessibility
Readable text, subtitles, and several languages if the audience includes tourists.
What drives the cost of a serious game
Each project receives a detailed quote after a first conversation. The main factors are as follows.
- 01
The format
An enhanced quiz, a discovery trail or a narrative game with choices and consequences do not require the same work.
- 02
Amount of content
The number of situations, questions, steps and languages to produce and have approved.
- 03
Visuals and media
Original illustrations, archive photos, sound, voice-over.
- 04
Integration
Connection to your online learning platform or internal tools, results tracking.
- 05
Ongoing support
Hosting, content updates and long-term maintenance.
Technologies and methods
- Game design
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- PWA
- Offline mode
- Results tracking
Frequently asked questions
Is a serious game more effective than conventional training?
It does not replace it; it complements it. It is especially useful for practising situations, understanding the consequences of a choice or engaging an audience that responds poorly to the usual materials. We define indicators from the outset to check that it does its job.
Can the game plug into our online learning platform?
Often, yes. An online learning platform, also known as an LMS, generally accepts modules in standard exchange formats. We check compatibility with yours at the very start, as it influences certain technical choices.
Who writes the educational content?
You bring the subject knowledge; we adapt it to the game. In practice, your experts supply or review the content, and we turn it into playable situations that you approve before going live.
Can a heritage discovery game work without a signal?
Yes. The game can be saved on the phone before setting off and work offline along the trail, a sensible precaution in many villages and natural sites of Haute-Corse.
How long does it take to create a serious game?
It depends on the format and the amount of content. We propose a realistic timetable after the first conversation, with approval stages, and flag as early as possible anything that could change it.