New Game Proposal

Overview

Before building any new educational game, complete this proposal template to ensure alignment with learning outcomes, testing strategies, XP calculations, and academic standards.

Game developers often build without understanding these critical requirements. This template forces you to research the academics, calculate time-to-mastery, identify tests, and prove your game is better than existing solutions before you write code.

Mandatory for All New Games

Games that skip this template will be rejected. You must answer all critical questions before writing code.

It's critical to start with something small and well-scoped. Otherwise, you'll waste weeks of work and have to start over.

How to Use This Template

This page is for preview only and shows you what the template looks like.

To actually fill out the proposal, download the template.

Proposal Template

0. TL;DR

Game Name:

Developer(s):

Date:

Two sentence pitch:

Target:

Grade ___, ___ [subject]

Learning outcome:

Students will ___

Test:

Time to mastery:

___ hours

Better than:

[existing solution] because ___

1. Grade Level & Standards

Target Grade(s):

Subject/Topic:

Curriculum Standard:

CCSS/AP/etc

Specific Skills Covered:

2. Student Activities

What do students actually DO in your game/app?

e.g., spell words from audio

e.g., solve equations under time pressure

e.g., write arguments, match definitions to images

Roughly what % of time in each activity?:

3. Testing Strategy

Pre-test (placement/baseline test):

Post-test (mastery test):

Success Criteria:

what score = mastery?

Are these tests served inside the app or outside of it?:

4. Learning Science & Engine

Which learning mechanisms is your game/app built on?

Tier 0 - Foundational (pick all that apply)

Faultless communication(clear examples, non-examples, minimal confusion)

Retrieval practice(not re-study)

Mastery gating(90% accuracy before advancing)

Immediate error correction

Tier 1 - Amplifiers (pick all that apply)

Spaced repetition(expanding intervals)

Interleaving(mixing problem types)

Example variation(diverse instantiations)

Worked examples → faded practice

Elaborated feedback(why, not just right/wrong)

Tier 2 - Context-Dependent (pick if applicable)

Dual coding(visual + verbal when both add value)

Segmenting(breaking complex tasks into chunks)

Pre-training on component concepts

Metacognitive prompts

How do you decide which content to serve when?:

Spaced repetition approach:

Leitner/SM-2/custom/none

Mastery criteria:

when does a student 'pass' a concept?

How are wrong answers handled?:

5. Time to Mastery & Learning Rate

Total learning units:

facts/words/concepts

Exposures per unit:

Time per exposure:

Fundamental metric:

It takes ___ minutes to move one [unit] one [level]

Total time to mastery:

___ hours

Compared to existing solutions:

XP Calculation Approach:

1 XP per minute over 80% accuracy or based on time spent

6. Question/Fact Bank

Total unique questions/facts:

Content source:

Example question/fact:

7. Competitive Analysis

Existing solution you're competing with:

Why yours is better:

Time comparison:

yours vs theirs

8. Pilot/MVP

What is the minimal product that can be tested with students?:

Number of students:

Duration:

Measurable outcome:

Success looks like:

9. Anti-Pattern Prevention

How do you prevent students from:

Skipping content:

Rushing/clicking through:

Guessing randomly:

Idle time:

Competitive Advantage

Preventing these anti-patterns is your competitive advantage over existing solutions.

Enforcing correct app usage is the number one feature for Timeback integration.

10. Content Quality Control

Where does content come from?

AI-generated(what's your QC process?)

Expert-created(which experts?)

Question banks(which ones?)

Licensed content(where from?)

Other

Who reviews for correctness?:

How do you catch errors before students see them?:

11. Stakeholders & Research

Academic team contacts:

who you're working with

External collaborators:

BRI, content partners, etc

Target students/guides:

who will use this

Research sources (which brain lifts/documents informed this)

Brain lift(link: docs/academics/_____)

Workflow(link: _____)

Stakeholder interview(with whom, when)

Existing game analysis

12. Andy's Critical Questions

Prepare answers to these real quotes from past game demos:

Question 1: Is this all multiple choice? Do they have to produce anything?

Andy cares about production vs recognition. Students must speak/write/draw, not just click.

Your answer:

Question 2: How do I make sure new students don't waste time on stuff they already know?

Andy needs diagnostic efficiency. If a student already knows it, how many minutes do they waste proving that?

Your answer:

Question 3: Why are you limiting them to one learning session a day?

Andy hates artificial time/session limits. Natural limits from content availability are fine, arbitrary caps are not.

"You should not limit them to one learning session a day."

"That's completely unaligned with alpha school. No cap."

"They can work 24 straight hours if they want."

Your answer:

Pre-Build Checklist

Before you start coding, ensure you can check all these boxes:

I've read relevant brain lifts in academics root

I've chosen a relevant curriculum standard to align with

I've identified the specific test to prove student improvement

I've chosen an appropriate learning engine

I've calculated theoretical time to mastery

I know what existing solution I'm competing with

I can answer all of Andy's questions above

Next Steps

After completing this proposal:

Share with academics team for preliminary feedback
Get approval before building prototype
Build MVP focused on narrow scope
Demo to Andy with answers to his standard questions
Iterate based on feedback (expect 2-3+ demo rounds)

Need Help?

Don't hesitate to reach out to the academics team.

It's their job to help you develop a game that will get approved and deliver real learning outcomes.

Overview

Proposal Template

0. TL;DR

1. Grade Level & Standards

2. Student Activities

3. Testing Strategy

4. Learning Science & Engine

5. Time to Mastery & Learning Rate

6. Question/Fact Bank

7. Competitive Analysis

8. Pilot/MVP

9. Anti-Pattern Prevention

10. Content Quality Control

11. Stakeholders & Research

12. Andy's Critical Questions

Pre-Build Checklist

Next Steps

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