Also worth noting that designing a game to teach a concept is hard mode, since you don’t have the luxury of changing the core concept.
Some games that I think did a good job of teaching concepts while excelling as games:
Universal Paperclips teaches you what it is like to be an AI making paperclips, and a sense of how big the universe is (in about 6 hours). It introduces new concepts bit by bit, never spelling things out explicitly but dropping clues. The core mechanic is dead simple, and yet manages to continuously reinvent itself every 5-10 minutes.
Factorio teaches you how to manage complexity and devise processes (as well as more common things like managing resources), and in particular, teaches a lot about how real energy production works. (i.e I learned things about how Oil Production works I didn’t know before). [And unlike a similar game, Super Energy Apocalypse, it does so without feeling like an “Edutainment Game” at all]
DragonBox and DragonBox Elements are most similar to your game, in that it’s a) teaching a math concept, b) a fairly blatant Edutainment game instead of managing to trick you into it. But has a bit more polish and introduces the concepts more gradually.
Also worth noting that designing a game to teach a concept is hard mode, since you don’t have the luxury of changing the core concept.
Some games that I think did a good job of teaching concepts while excelling as games:
Universal Paperclips teaches you what it is like to be an AI making paperclips, and a sense of how big the universe is (in about 6 hours). It introduces new concepts bit by bit, never spelling things out explicitly but dropping clues. The core mechanic is dead simple, and yet manages to continuously reinvent itself every 5-10 minutes.
Factorio teaches you how to manage complexity and devise processes (as well as more common things like managing resources), and in particular, teaches a lot about how real energy production works. (i.e I learned things about how Oil Production works I didn’t know before). [And unlike a similar game, Super Energy Apocalypse, it does so without feeling like an “Edutainment Game” at all]
DragonBox and DragonBox Elements are most similar to your game, in that it’s a) teaching a math concept, b) a fairly blatant Edutainment game instead of managing to trick you into it. But has a bit more polish and introduces the concepts more gradually.