EduChef
Financial Education in a Game Package
For this project, GameTheory worked with Fundacion Capital to create a game that could educate teens about best financial practices in Columbia and Brazil.
To accomplish this we made use of “check-in” style gameplay inspired by games such as Tiny Tower and a business management game such as Lemonade Stand to help implicitly communicate the value of setting savings goals, checking your budget, and working towards stronger financial security.
Business Management to Financial Expertise
To start this project we worked with Fundacion Capital and many youth focus groups in Columbia and Brazil to pitch concepts. The ideas of entrepreneurship, food, and customizing your own creative space all resonated strongly.
Based on this we designed a game where you have to keep a restaurant running by setting savings goals and managing your money well. As the game progresses you have to deal with challenges around budgeting and also setting savings goals for your character’s real life which can mirror the player’s own.
Many in our target populations of youth in Columbia and Brazil haven’t been exposed to the benefit of behaviors like savings accounts and setting savings goals. There are strong correlations between these behaviors and economic mobility. The goal of this project was to help this audience build skills and awareness around the opportunities personal finance creates.
Daily Routines
For the main mechanics of this game we wanted to echo the routines you go through in good budgeting and financial awareness.
A popular mechanic for mobile games is based on the “check-in”, or “passive gameplay”. You open your phone, make a few key choices for about thirty seconds or a few minutes, then you put it away. When you have another moment, you check it again. This results in many short check-ins through the entire day rather than long single session play.
Not only is this an engaging way to play for many, especially young adults, it also conveniently mirrors some good financial behaviors. Thinking about your budget regularly and continuing to check in builds an awareness that helps support savings and other positive behaviors.
The game works in real-time, so at the end of each day you have to make sure your accounts balance, that your expenses are less than your revenues, and you’re setting aside money for your savings goals.
Creative Customizing
Creating custom avatars and allowing players to save up to improve the look and feel of not only their character but the restaurant the character was running was a great motivator for this audience.
It was a very fun process to determine just what customizations would make the best impact. Saving for these kinds of cosmetic improvements in the game became reflective of setting savings goals in real life.
