Track For Success

An educational board game that encourages smart career and financial planning

Track For Success

Project Role: Designer

Project Responsibilities:

  • Created game rules and mechanics by refining and implementing a small set of required game features and injecting unique ones
  • Wrote instructions for players
  • Designed basic board layout
  • Wrote all game fiction and text, including all names and descriptions of spaces and cards
  • Obtained and analyzed feedback from internal test groups and made gameplay revisions based on results
  • Performed some game balancing (limited due to time constraints)
  • Worked with subject matter expert to ensure educational value

Design Documents and Other Assets:

Detailed Description and Analysis:
Track for Success is a game used to review the major concepts from a Personal Finance course for high school students.  Before this project, my work with educational games consisted exclusively of digital ones.  Since this course was being developed simultaneously as an online course and a traditional classroom course, it was decided to choose a capstone activity that could be used by both courses.  The creation of a board game was a natural choice as it works well in both mediums.  While I would leave the development of the digital version to one of my co-workers, I took the lead in designing the actual board game.

For this project, I was given the task of mixing together Monopoly, The Game of Life, and the less-recognizable Careers while incorporating some of the basic lessons from the course.  The goal of the game is to retire before the other students.  To retire, students need to earn money, happiness, and social points to reach a combined total of 400 points.  The catch is that the required number of each point type must be set prior to the start of the game.  For instance, a student could choose a goal of 200 money points, 100 happiness points, and 100 social points.  The decisions made by the student during the game need to be in line with these goals.  A student with a goal of 200 money points should be looking for a well-paying job and should spend money frugally.  Students earn points by choosing certain tracks as they move around the game board. These tracks allow them to pursue careers, spend money, and use their free time.

The board is split into four basic areas connected together by groups of common spaces.  This is done to encourage play in repetitive patterns, a tactic used to soften the admittedly steep learning curve.

In the top-left quadrant, students have the option of going to college.  Entering college requires the student to pay or borrow money to cover tuition and then spend the next few turns correctly answering questions.  Students can opt to enter college on the first turn or any subsequent turn.  They also have the option or re-enrolling to obtain a higher degree.  There is a significant initial cost to attending college.  Not only is there tuition to consider, but time as well.  The higher the degree level, the more questions (and thus turns) it takes to complete the degree.  If students are willing to trade time and money early in the game, they will find the game to be much easier in the long-run.  The game is designed so that skipping higher education makes it almost impossible to win.  Students who opt for either a bachelor's degree or a graduate degree will find more leeway in how finances are managed and point goals are fulfilled.

The bottom-right quadrant is where the student works at a job and manages income.  The available career tracks are dependent upon the level of education.  Students can change careers during future trips through this part of the board, but there is a reduction in potential salary when doing this.  Upon arriving in the careers area, the student rolls the dice and lands on one of six spaces that can either add or subtract points from their totals.  After discovering their fate, the player has the chance to collect a paycheck, pay off debts, and invest in savings notes.

The bottom-left quadrant allows for some opportunities to spend some of that hard-earned paycheck.  Players can buy a car for a one-time boost in happiness and social points or take a chance by rolling the die, landing on a space in the mall, and having the opportunity to buy a luxury item.  The mall provides a better return than visiting the car dealership, but the trade-off is choice.  Students can buy any car they want, but they can only buy the item offered by the roll of the die.  This item may cost too much or may not bring boost their point totals as much as they need.

This is also the section where the student can buy a house.  The student starts the game in the apartment, but has to pay rent on every trip around the board.  Moving into a house eliminates rent and can even boost the students' happiness and social points upon completing a circuit, but it is a costly option.  Students can win the game by staying in an apartment, but it is a bit easier if a house is purchased.  The only catch is that the student shouldn't buy it too soon or the mortgage payments will make it impossible to stay out of debt.

The final quadrant of the game board, the "free time" section, gives students a chance to boost one of their point totals.  The only catch is that each path will also cause them to lose points in another point type.  While the net point gain is always positive, students must still plan and choose carefully.  Like the careers section, the student rolls the die to find out what type of bonus is to be awarded.

Upon completion of a trip around the board, the students must pay interest for their debts.  Debt comes in two flavors:  low-interest and high-interest.  Low-interest debt may be accrued while attending school or buying a house.  All other expenses that cannot be covered by cash must be handled with high-interested debt.  This space is also where players collect interest on their savings and decide whether or not they can retire.

Two kinds of spaces link these sections of the board together.  Question spaces ask the student a multiple-choice review question.  The higher the education level the student has acquired, the more possible answers are listed.  It may seem counter-intuitive to do this as more education usually means things are easier to understand, but this design choice was made to keep those with higher degrees from getting too powerful.  Opportunity Cards present the student with a humorous situation and a lucrative opportunity to consider.  Many cards let the student trade in some of one kind of point for more of another.  Others allow trading turns for points or special deals on cars.  One card lets players shake up the game by requiring each student to re-adjust goals while other cards allow the student to auction off points to other players in exchange for their money.  Cards like the latter are one of the few ways that students interact with each other.  I feel the game could have been made better by increasing these opportunities.

Looking back at the game, there are some definite improvements that could have been made.  Most of these shortcomings are due to a tight schedule.  I spent about 4 weeks working on the project with a subject matter expert, a couple of artists, and members of the staff who volunteered to test the game.   Both the design of the game and the logistics behind creating a paper version occurred during that timeframe.  It took the programmer another month or so to create the digital version.

With a such a brief time frame, many corners had to be cut.  One aspect that was not playtested and simulated heavily enough was the value of the career and "free time" sections.  I also wish the design process could have been more iterative, but the schedule made it difficult to stop and test every feature as it was implemented.  I'm also disappointed that I didn't have a chance to design the digital version.  The programmer actually had to design it on-the-fly.  While the game's presentation looks sharp, it can be a bit unintuitive at times.  The digital version could have had a minimal learning curve thanks to automating the game playing process, but it is still quite playable.

In spite of the constraints on the project, the main goals were still accomplished.  When it comes to learning an attitude and making life decisions that don't boil down to simple right and wrong answers, the best way to teach is to have the student simulate the decision making process.  This game allows the student to see first-hand what happens when they decide to skip out on college, spend recklessly, or fail to plan for the future.  It also shows them the opportunities that open up with a college degree and how making smart money decisions can make blissful retirement a reality.  For that reason, I consider this game a successful project.

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