Emmy nomination for Interactive Media
Challenge PBS Kids’ Design Squad needed an educational game teaching systems thinking and engineering processes to ages 8-12 through open-ended experimentation. The goal was creating puzzles where players could fail safely and learn through feedback rather than prescribed solutions, using digestible mechanical variables in a novel hydroponic farming game.
Approach I designed and prototyped a simplified hydroponic system with three core variables—plants, fish, and water supply—that players balanced through drag-and-drop pipe construction. The key technical challenge was building a feedback system that diagnosed failure conditions by severity and frequency, providing relevant hints without spelling out solutions. Multiple prototypes were playtested with the target age group to validate that simplified mechanics gelled better than complex simulation.
Solution The shipped game featured adaptive feedback that led with the most severe failure condition and prioritized repeated mistakes, encouraging iterative problem-solving. Post-gameplay assessments confirmed players retained knowledge of system relationships and troubleshooting strategies more effectively than when given explicit answers or no feedback. The game became part of Design Squad’s interactive suite, which received an Emmy nomination for Interactive Media.
