Learning Scaffolds

Generally, learning scaffolds are support given to students according to their needs to help them meet and achieve learning goals. Just like in education, my video game, Garden Mania, will attempt to tailor the experience to the needs or ability level of the player. After the tutorial, the player will have the option to choose their difficulty level.

The easy level will have fewer objectives and complications for gardening. The easy level will also provide prompts when faced with a new challenge, a hint if the player fails to complete an objective, or give the player some sort of agency with regards to the level of difficulty. These prompts will not repeat themselves or show up after the first time they are presented to the player. It will be assumed that the player has learned whatever the game was teaching them. In case the player did not quite learn or get it well enough the first time, this information will be stored in the pause menu and can be accessed at any time. The moderate and difficult levels will not have prompts in the game because it is assumed the player will have started with the easy level and learned all the functions of the game.

Following each level, a screen will appear that will remark on the player's performance. The screen will let the player know if they were successful staying within budget and meeting all the objectives. There will be tips for how to improve in the future, and critiques for how the player performed in the most recent level. As the player learns more, the instructional content will progress in complexity as more gardening rules are taught.