Abstract. The intrinsic motivation to play, and therefore to learn, that might be provided by digital educational games teases researchers and developers. However, existing educational games often fail in their attempt to compete with commercial games and to provide successful learning. Often some learning is added to digital games or some gameplay is added to educational applications. Successful education games, however, require merging professional game design with sound pedagogical strategies. This merge creates a new and hybrid format that truly deserves the denotation being a learning game. Moreover, a methodology is required that allows continuously balancing gaming and learning challenges and the learner's abilities and knowledge in order to retain an immersive gaming experience. In this article we introduce approaches to game design and didactic design, as well as a framework for adaptive interventions in educational games.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.