Design History of Learn with Antura

1. Starting point

We started from the Antura and the Letters game, an educational game ecosystem focused on language learning and child-friendly playful interaction. The original game was built around a small set of core ideas:

• learning through exploration and play
• a companion-character structure that helps children feel engaged
• short, accessible activities adapted to young learners

The game was already opensource and developed with a "modules" framework: the perfect base to start with developing something new to expand the literacy part.

2. why Discover was created

The main design motivation behind Discover was to move beyond learning isolated words and move toward meaningful cultural immersion. The module was designed to support children in migration or integration contexts, especially when they need to understand not only a language but also the social, geographic, and cultural environment around them.

In practical terms, Discover was meant to answer questions such as:

• What is this place?
• Who lives here?
• What do people do in this city or country?
• How is this culture connected to everyday life, stories, and local identity?

This created a design tension between educational clarity and emotional accessibility. The system needed to be easy enough for children, but rich enough to represent real cultural content in a respectful and structured way.

Open question for the draft

• What was the original problem that Discover was trying to solve? adding new ways to talk about cultural topics in classroom. since we didn't have a solution, we created a framework to create stories
• Was it mainly driven by classroom needs, migration support, Erasmus+ goals, or all of them together? all together

3. Initial design concept and core principles

The first version of Discover was based on a few core design principles that still shape the module today:

• short, self-contained quest experiences
• exploration of real or recognizable places
• collectible knowledge in the form of cards
• meaningful dialogue with characters
• a clear link between educational content and gameplay
• bilingual or multilingual presentation for accessibility
• a modular structure that can adapt to different countries and topics

The underlying concept was not a single large “country tour,” but a reusable framework for building many small cultural learning experiences. Each quest could stand on its own while still contributing to a larger structure of cards, topics, and knowledge connections.

Open question for the draft

• Which principles were defined from the beginning, and which emerged later? with the first workshops with kids we saw that they like playing roblox / 3D adventure and exploration games.

• Was the “framework” idea present from the first concept, or did it become clearer only after implementation? we wanted to have teachers work with the designers from start. butthe idea of a framework started when thinking a bout a narrative tool to write the stories / dialogues and talk aboutthe topics. we should create a common framework to create quests

4. Original content: what the first Discover design included

The first Discover content was designed around a few major building blocks:

• Words linked to the language-learning module
• Knowledge cards as atoms of cultural knowledge
• Topics as relationships connecting cards into a visual knowledge graph
• Quests as short narrative adventures built around specific cultural themes
• Activities as reusable mini-games that reinforce the knowledge gathered in quests
• Characters and dialogue used to guide exploration and meaning-making

This structure made Discover more than a simple map or collection game. It turned cultural content into a system that could be reviewed, connected, and reused across multiple contexts.

The first content also emphasized a balance between authenticity and accessibility. The game needed to reflect real cultural elements, but in a child-friendly, understandable form that did not become too abstract or too dense.

Open question for the draft

• Which of these components existed from the very first version, and which were added later?

• Which was the most important design invention: cards, topics, quests, or activities?

cards and activities with them. and the dialogue engine (text based) so that we could publish the content on the website for collaboration

5. How the design evolved after implementation

Once the conceptual structure was implemented, the module was expanded and refined in response to practical needs. The first version likely started with a general idea of cultural exploration, but the actual production process forced decisions about how content should be organized, what should be reusable, and what should be country-specific.

The major evolution here was the move from a broad idea to a structured content system. The design shifted from “create a few cultural quests” to “create a framework that supports many quests across different countries and educational contexts.”

This included:

• turning cultural facts into reusable cards
• creating common quest patterns that can be adapted to different stories and places
• designing the topic graph to make knowledge visible and reviewable
• introducing replay loops, bonus content, and hidden fragments to increase depth without making the experience too complex
• integrating classroom-oriented learning goals into a playful progression system

In other words, the project moved from a prototype vision to a scalable educational framework.

Open question for the draft

• What was the biggest change between the first concept and the first implemented version?
• Which features were added because of production constraints, and which were added because of pedagogical feedback?

6. Chronological development of the project

A possible chronological structure for the project history is:

Before the Erasmus+ phase

• Antura already existed as a language-learning and humanitarian game
• The educational vision was established around exploration, multilingual learning, and accessibility
• The general idea of cultural learning began to take shape as a way to expand the project’s educational reach

Early design and framing of Discover

• The module was defined as a complement to the language-learning component
• Goal: help children understand a host country and its culture in an engaging, age-appropriate way
• Design principles were formalized around quests, cards, topics, and classroom fit

Implementation and content production

• Country-specific quest content began to be created
• Local cultural knowledge was translated into game assets, dialogue, topics, and activities
• New systems were built to support modular reuse across contexts

Pilot and iteration stage

• Discover was tested in real classroom and cultural settings
• Feedback from educators, children, and partners started shaping how quests and content were structured
• Adjustments were made to pacing, language, story flow, and educational emphasis

Current stage

• The framework is treated as a reusable open educational system rather than a single fixed game mode
• New countries and implementations can be developed using the same underlying design logic

Open question for the draft

• Can you help place the exact milestones in order: feature prototype, Erasmus+ start, first country content, pilot testing, and later expansions?

7. Feedback loops and decision-making processes

The design history of Discover is not only about content creation; it is also about iteration through feedback. The project appears to have relied on several overlapping loops:

• pedagogical review of cultural and educational content
• linguistic validation of dialogue and terminology
• classroom testing with real children and educators
• technical iteration to improve the quest framework and reuse of content
• partner feedback from cultural and local stakeholders

These loops were crucial because Discover sits at the intersection of learning design, storytelling, and cultural responsibility. A quest can be technically functional and still fail pedagogically if the culture is simplified too much, the learning objective is too weak, or the pacing is not suitable for the classroom.

The result was a design process that combined creative production with structured review. This is one of the strongest aspects of the Discover module: it was not designed in isolation, but developed with a feedback culture around it.

Open question for the draft

• What were the main feedback channels in practice?
• Which feedback had the biggest impact on design decisions: teacher feedback, local cultural review, pilot results, or technical constraints?

8. What changed because of learning goals and audience needs

A major part of the design history is that the module had to balance several goals at the same time:

• educational depth
• child engagement
• cultural authenticity
• accessibility for multilingual learners
• suitability for short classroom sessions
• flexibility for different countries and contexts

This led to a design that favors clarity over complexity. Quests are short, activities are reusable, and content is structured in a way that can be explored gradually rather than consumed all at once. The knowledge graph and card system also make it easier to connect topics without making the experience too cognitively heavy.

Open question for the draft

• Which audience needs most strongly shaped the final design: migration support, classroom use, or open content reuse?

9. Future plans and outlook

The Discover module is designed as a scalable educational framework rather than a one-off project. Future development can extend in several directions:

• new countries and local cultural modules
• more quest types and more varied gameplay patterns
• stronger teacher support and debrief tools
• more activity types that reinforce topics and knowledge connections
• greater reuse of existing content across different partners and regions

There are also immediate next steps already visible in the project roadmap, such as expansion to other countries and the continued evolution of the framework for new cultural contexts. The long-term vision is not only to create a game for one setting, but to make the Discover model reusable for many localities.

Open question for the draft

• What are the concrete next additions planned for Discover?
• Are there specific countries, modules, or content areas already in mind for future versions?

10. Summary of the design history

The design history of Discover can be summarized as a story of expansion from a language-learning project into a broader cultural and educational framework. It grew from the idea that children need more than vocabulary; they need context, belonging, and a route into a new place and culture through play.

Its strongest design achievement is that it turns cultural knowledge into a reusable system: cards, topics, quests, activities, and dialogue all work together to create a format that is both engaging for children and structured enough for educators, partners, and future expansion.

This is why the module matters beyond a single country or a single pilot: it is a reusable design model for cultural learning in educational games.

11. Missing details to confirm before finalizing

To turn this into a polished project history, I still need your input on the following points:

1. What was the exact historical starting point before Discover was created?
2. Which design decisions were deliberate from the beginning, and which came later?
3. What are the main milestones in the chronology of the module?
4. Which feedback loops mattered most during development?
5. What were the most important design pivots or changes after the first version?
6. Which future versions or countries are already planned?
7. What tone should this document have: academic, project narrative, or internal design documentation?

This draft is ready to be sharpened into a final version once those details are filled in.