Genre
Educational, Puzzle
Device
UI & UX Design System
Engine
Unity
Date
March 2025 - Present
My Role
Taking full ownership as both designer and developer, I managed the end-to-end development of this project. My work spanned ideation, user research, drafting the GDD, validating core mechanics, designing user flows, illustrating sprites, and executing the technical implementation within Unity.
Context
Museu Sankofa is a history-focused puzzle game designed for Brazilian schools. Players explore historical scenes, using NPC dialogue and environmental analysis to progress. Created alongside a dedicated team of teachers and historians, the game ensures pedagogical accuracy while prioritizing student engagement. Our goal was to create more than just a gamified tool; we built a resource that promotes critical thinking and curiosity in the classroom. This project served as my senior capstone for my Design degree.
Discover and Define
The Discover and Define phase centered on deep research and exploration. This stage involved a comprehensive analysis of the project's internal and external landscapes, alongside user research to pinpoint pain points and core objectives.
I developed two CSD matrices (Certainties, Suppositions, and Doubts)—one for students and one for teachers—which were then validated through teacher interviews and student surveys. This data was synthesized into Empathy Maps and User Journey Maps to explore how the product could best support the classroom environment.
Insights revealed that students lacked a 'knowledge catalyst' before being introduced to new topics. Consequently, the game focuses on contextualizing the subject matter before formal instruction, sparking curiosity and ensuring students enter the classroom engaged and ready to inquire.
Game Design Document
After understanding classroom needs, I've created the GDD, which defined:
Exploration & Investigation: The core gameplay involves navigating historical settings, interacting with NPCs, and performing environmental analysis to uncover the context of each era.
Setting & Narrative: Players take on the role of a futuristic historian. Using a specialized device, they travel back in time to the exact moments when the museum's artifacts were created or used.
Validation System: To progress, players must formulate a theory by answering three fundamental questions about the level: What is happening, Who is involved, and Why it is occurring.
Chronological Progression: The museum is structured into wings containing levels arranged in chronological order, ensuring a logical historical narrative.
The Pedagogical Loop: Designed a hybrid gameplay flow to maximize engagement:
Exploration: The student completes a museum wing in-game.
Instruction: The student transitions to the classroom to learn the formal theory behind what they just experienced.
Game Progression: The student returns to the game for more complex levels, leveraging their new knowledge to maintain a constant Flow State.
Develop
After defining the game's mechanics, aesthetics, and narrative, I moved on to creating the assets for Museu Sankofa, designing its levels and establishing the game flow.
Both the player character and NPCs were built on a 16x32 pixel grid. Players can create their own characters when first entering the game and customize them with items earned through exploration and dialogue; notably, all customizable gear is contextually linked to the historical content of the level where it is found.
For the museum's architecture, I drew inspiration from modern contemporary landmarks, such as the Museum of Tomorrow (Museu do Amanhã) in Rio de Janeiro. The levels developed for this first version focus on the French Revolution, backed by extensive bibliographical research to ensure the highest level of historical accuracy. To make the experience engaging, character dialogues present the perspectives and sentiments of different social classes of the period in a playful way, heavily inspired by JRPG narrative styles.
Deliver
Once the concept was finalized, I began the development phase in Unity. Although this was my first time building a game in the engine, my previous experience with the platform's documentation and tutorials allowed me to deliver the final product within the project's timeline. After development, the game was deployed via WebGL and tested by both teachers and students. Feel free to try it out and experience the game for yourself!
Final Thoughts
I feel deeply accomplished with the final result and its overall effectiveness. It was incredibly rewarding to see the enthusiasm of the teachers who playtested the game and expressed a genuine desire to integrate it into their classrooms. The proposed mechanics stand out among educational games by capturing the very essence of history: the chance to look at the past to better understand the future. Furthermore, the narrative, mechanics, visuals, and technology converge naturally to create a truly cohesive and impactful experience.
