Why are most math games so bad?

A great source of motivation for us, is the current state of the math game market. There are very very few good ones and typically, they just focus on a single concept. We made an attempt at grouping them into 5 groups.

1. Math games designed for school: e.g. Prodigy. These games target younger demographics (up to 7 years old although they pretend to cater to older kids - but no 12 year old wants to play a game tailored to a 5 year old) Advantages: follow the curriculum closely, are comprehensive in what they teach Disadvantages: at best, they are gamified lessons. There is no connection between gameplay and the math (e.g. calculate 2*6 to shoot an arrow). The fun only comes from cheap gamification mechanics, similar to mobile games, without the long-term pull.

2. Math mini-games: there are a lot of math mini-games out there that focus on a single or a handful of concepts. And some of them are very good (e.g. Dragonbox) Advantages: some have found truly smart ways to turn math into a toy using great game design and are truly fun for a time Disadvantages: they are too limited to generate long term fun but the game design is not scalable to other concepts

3. STEM simulations: (e.g. Phet) can be very powerful to play with and visualise concepts. Advantage: typically nice toys to play with for a short period of time Disadvantage: Would need to be supplemented by a lesson to fully grasp the concept. Are absolutely not scalable to other concepts

4. Math puzzles: (e.g. Brilliant) effectively brain teasers that are enjoyable to those who like problem solving. Advantage: they can be well designed and usually connect the problem solving with appealing visuals and haptic. They typically cover multiple topics. Disadvantage: they don't suck you in with any real game-play, so they are only for self-motivated adults - like Duo Lingo. They also don't really teach formal concepts.

5. Non-math games where performance is improved through the use of math without any explicit reference to math in the game: since games are driven by math, doing math in a game is often an advantage, but some games rely more than other on you doing math. The best example here is Kerbal Space Program, which has led many players to dig into fluid dynamics. But only a tiny fraction of players will actually go to that length and they typically are already very comfortable

We want to be closest to 5 in that we want Baugarten to be a real game. However, we want math to be also very explicitly in the game to foster a positive emotional connection with it.

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