Students will experience how rule changes create chain reactions in games, gather early evidence about what makes a systems game clear and meaningful for players, and document user needs and system connections that will shape the problem definition in the next phase.

Students will sort evidence from early interviews, gameplay observations, texts, and system notes to define a real design problem, then draft and refine a clear How Might We statement that will guide later game ideas and prototypes.

Students will generate multiple evidence-based game concepts, compare ideas against user needs and cross-subject system accuracy, and choose a promising direction for a playable systems game.

Students will turn selected systems-game ideas into a first playable prototype by drafting rules, building low-fidelity components, checking content accuracy across ELA, life science, math, and U.S. history, and revising from peer and expert feedback before moving into formal testing.

Students will test their first game prototypes with peers and outside users, collect observation and playtest data, identify patterns in how rules and system relationships are understood, and use evidence to revise both the game and their design reasoning.

Students will use structured critique, peer feedback, and targeted revision to strengthen their systems game prototypes, clarify rules and evidence use, and document how feedback leads to better design decisions.

Students will synthesize evidence from texts, sources, playtests, and feedback to present their final systems game, explain how revisions improved the design, and document how their understanding of cross-subject systems changed through the project.