Wreathies: Agency in Play
A game built to measure how choice shapes learning.
role
Product Designer & Developer
Timeline
June - Sept 2025
Organization
Davis Media Lab
Tools
Procreate, Unity, Visual Studio Code
context
how does choice impact learning?
Many games curb player agency, even though more choice may augment learning. A team of researchers at the Davis Media Lab set out to investigate the link between agency and learning by testing a game with varying agency levels and measuring the outcomes.
project goals
Prototype and test the game at a museum.
Measure how agency impacts learning.
my role
As the product designer and developer, I designed the gameplay and visuals, built the Unity prototypes, conducted testing with the research team, and iterated based on feedback.
solution preview
Start screen.
Gameplay screen.
meaningful data through play
I set out to build a fun, intuitive, and engaging game that collects data by measuring one concrete skill.
📍 Currently in testing at the Museum of Science and Curiosity at Sacramento.
secondary research
understanding the game Landscape
To scope the space, I surveyed U.S. education game research, spoke with a Common Sense Media director, and played a range of learning games. Through my research, I discovered three recurring core principles for a successful game.
Research-Backed Design Principles
Guided by these principles, we started brainstorming concepts for an interactive experience.
ideation
To capture themes of growth and creativity, we explored nature-focused ideas such as gardening and flower cultivation. We ultimately chose a flower shop concept because it clearly mapped to our three principles:
Progressive Challenge: orders grow in difficulty.
Agency: players arrange flowers.
Goals & Feedback: clear requests with quick validation.
initial Flower shop concept
🧠 player objective
To make wreaths matching each customer's order.
📊 potential skills measured
Count flower colors, pattern recognition, and memorization.
Early paper sketches of the flower-shop concept.
Now it was time to see if our concept landed.
TESTING ROUND 1
PRESCHOOL concept validation
At a local preschool, we tested a whiteboard-and-magnets prototype with seven children and asked what they liked, wished for, and wondered about the game.
✅ session goal
Validate that the wreath concept is intuitive and keeps children engaged.
Our testing setup.
participant quote
“I like the colors of the flowers and putting them together.”
key takeaways from testing
🔄 satisfying clicks
Magnetic clicks of flowers on the board drew kids in and kept them playing.
🙌 Pride in Creating
Children loved making wreaths and were proud of their work.
🧭 needed clearer instruction
A few stalled without clearer step-by-steps for the orders.
Now that we knew the core concept worked, it was time to define a single, measurable skill.
Zeroing In on the Skill
flower fraction game
We chose fractions as our testable skill since the wreath functions as an intuitive whole. Children can identify parts, and difficulty scales cleanly across successive rounds.
First digital game rendition. (this will be made on ipad)
With the concept and measurable skill locked in, it was time to build the game in Unity.
BRINGING THE GAME TO LIFE
first time working in unity
Coding the game revealed several challenges that shaped the final design and taught me how to work within real constraints.
Challenges & How I Solved Them
🎯 Input not registering
Sometimes clicks and drags didn’t work, so I simplified the interactions and adjusted hit areas so kids could reliably pick up and place flowers.
🛠️ script reference errors
Parts of the game stopped working when objects weren’t properly connected. I cleaned up the project structure and re-linked everything to keep the behavior stable.
⏩ Scoping to Meet Time & Skill Constraints
Some features took too long to build, so I cut the extras and focused on a simple, polished core loop centered on the fraction task.
EXPLORING AGENCY
What Happens When Kids Choose?
To isolate the effect of agency, we created three game versions that differed only in the end-of-round step: choosing the next client and/or the bow.
three versions of the same game
most agency
Choose client and bow.
Medium agency
Choose bow only.
least agency
Choose neither client nor bow.
Bow selection screen present in two versions.
Now that we had a plan for testing agency, our next step was to see if kids would stay engaged.
TESTING ROUND 2
MUSEUM ENGAGEMENT CHECK
We tested the game with three children at the museum hosting our study, gathering feedback on pacing and enjoyment that guided our next edits.
key changes
🧸 added hobby objects
An object next to each customer, making selection a more conscious choice.
⏩ manual onboarding
Children go at their own pace with arrow navigation.
added reference pictures
Pictures of completed wreaths appear as a guide for the first five rounds.
participant quote
“The intro is too slow, I want to skip and start playing.”
Maybe show the hobby objects side by sde as a cute thing.
After the museum tests confirmed kids were engaged, I turned my focus to how the game felt to play.
TESTING ROUND 3
polishing the Experience
Back at the lab, four older children played the game and answered targeted prompts (e.g., “What sound would make this step feel more satisfying?”) to collect specific UX feedback.
key changes
✂️ last two levels scratched to reduce fatigue
Because children were getting tired and the final two levels weren’t truly adding learning value, I removed them.
📶 progress bar added
To help children see their progress, I added a bar showing how many levels they’d finished and how many remained.
🔊 more sound effects
To keep the experience engaging, I added small sound cues so every action felt noticed and the momentum continued.
final design
First round gameplay.
Intro sequence.
looking back
my reflections
This was my first time using Unity and the first time I coded something I designed. I hit plenty of break/fix moments, but seeing the prototype come to life gave me a deeper appreciation for developers and made me a more empathetic partner to engineers. It also made me realize my strengths and energy are in product design.
Include something about the current status of the poriject