Games of Jobs 🎲

Creating transformative experiences through responsive product design, game development, UX research, and fundraising.

STEAMonWheels participants after workshop in high school

About

In collaboration with MEGA Generation's founder, Alexandr Isenco, I embarked on a unique journey to ideate a career-oriented board game for youngsters. Our shared vision was to co-design a product amalgamating user insights and requirements.

Origin: Prototype 'Hire Me'

Test workshop in Balti, Moldova
Board game test prototype printed for organising testing workshop
Board game test prototype printed for organising testing workshop
Test workshop in public library in Calarasi

The prototype, named 'Hire Me', was conceived as our blueprint to navigate the realms of gaming aesthetics, dynamics, and feasibilities. This collaboration with Alexandr was a natural progression to our prior project, 'Operation P.E.A.C.E.', an educational game addressing social issues, backed by the US Government 🇺🇸

Validation & Fundraising

His Excellency Steve Fisher, Ambassador to British Embassy in Chisinau and Olesea Garbuz, program office IWPR, and Abayomi Ogundipe, at the official grant awarding ceremony organised by British Embassy in Chisinau
His Excellency Steve Fisher, Ambassador to British Embassy in Chisinau and Olesea Garbuz, Grant award ceremony organised by British Embassy in Chisinau His Excellency Ambassador
Abayomi receiving grant award certificate at British Embassy in Chisinau

Our novel approach involved manifesting 'Hire Me' physically, allowing a tangible exploration of its aesthetics and game dynamics to validate its potential. The fund-raising phase steered us towards a grant opportunity from the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR). After a careful proposal submission, we secured a grant of 36,395 British pounds, validating the potential and receptiveness to our project idea.

Testing Workshop

Test workshop in Balti, Moldova
Test workshop in public library in Calarasi
Test workshop in youth centre in Balti
Test workshop in public library in Calarasi

After raising funds, we ventured into recruiting a driven team of 'champions' for our game project. We reached out to high school students across cities, organizing game test drives, inspecting the design, its applicability, desirability, and inherent educational value.

The workshop was a medley of:

Real-time feedback

Encouraging in-depth discussions and suggestions during test plays

Evaluation forms

Soliciting structured feedback upon game testing completion

Video interviews

Personal insights from participants, fostering deeper understanding and refinements

Analysis Workshop

Subsequent to the testing phase, a comprehensive analysis workshop was held, which included:

Test workshop in public library in Calarasi

Affinity diagramming

Classifying feedback into categories of game design, components, and educational attributes

Analysis workshop organised at TEKEDU office

User journey mapping

Understanding users' positive interactions, pain points, and mental models, emphasising areas of improvement

The Outcome: Games of Jobs 🎲

Games of Jobs board game
Games of Jobs board game
Games of Jobs to high school students
Games of Jobs to high school students

With pooled insights and iterative refinement, 'Hire Me' evolved into Games of Jobs 🎲 exhibiting a simplified, visually enhanced design, with moderated game rules and instructions.

Today, we continue our mission to inspire through Games of Jobs 🎲, as we present it to high school students across Moldova. View game components, rules and instructions:

Game rules and Instructions 🎲