Designing socio-cultural Learning Games: Challenges and lessons learned

A considerable number of Learning Games have been published over the last years. Since there are no clear guidelines for developers, they may not always meet the learner´s expectations. Games are a powerful mediator for learning, but flaws in planning and design can have a negative effect on their potential. This paper describes the design of two Serious Games in a socio-cultural context. Special interest is given to the challenges that appeared during the design process. The lessons we have learned are summarized in a list of guidelines that may also help other developers to design successful Learning Games.