Design and Development of a Narrative-based Tabletop Game for Promoting Soft Skills Acquisition

The development of the tabletop game Gr8 Success! serves as a pedagogical intervention designed to promote soft skills acquisition among undergraduate information technology students at North-West University in South Africa. Recognizing that interpersonal communication, empathy, and problem-solving are critical differentiators for professional success in technical fields, the project seeks to move beyond traditional classroom instruction. By utilizing a narrative-based, multiplayer card game, the initiative aims to foster implicit learning and increase student engagement in a compulsory communication skills module that is often perceived as trivial by technical students.

The research employs an Educational Design Research methodology, incorporating iterative development cycles and agile software practices to refine the game’s mechanics. The design philosophy prioritizes entertainment value to ensure player buy-in, subsequently embedding educational objectives through emergent storytelling and strategic gameplay. Players modify character cards to represent personal growth, navigating social dynamics such as collaboration and competition. The game draws inspiration from established titles like Fluxx and Gloom, utilizing a system of transparent modifier cards to represent the acquisition of habits and behavioral changes.

Initial playtesting and polling indicate strong support for the intervention. In a survey of 33 students, 88% expressed interest in using a serious game for their coursework. Feedback on the first prototype was overwhelmingly positive, with 100% of respondents finding the gameplay enjoyable and the game’s purpose clear. Participants generally perceived the game as accessible despite its strategic depth. Following these successful initial trials, the project is moving toward further refinement of card mechanics and broader implementation across multiple university campuses, with future research planned to measure the game's impact on student motivation and learning outcomes using standardized instruments.