1
Outcome, capability, and vital behaviors.
Start with the result and the capability needed to produce it. Then name the two or three observable behaviors that demonstrate that capability.
Utah ATD 2026
Play with Purpose
Designing games for learning and engagement: resources from Daniel Burleigh's session at the Utah ATD Annual Conference, October 7, 2026. The five principles below are the same five boxes on the Learning Game Design Canvas.
Five principles
2
Core mechanic.
The mechanic should perform the learning work. What players do repeatedly must rehearse or reveal the capability, not describe it.
3
Motivation and player value.
Motivation is structural, not cosmetic. Players must gain something from the activity itself: choice, growing skill, connection, purpose, and challenge matched to their ability.
4
The surrounding system.
A game is a system inside a system. Whether anything transfers is decided by managers, workflow, incentives, tools, measurement, and follow-up, not by the game alone.
5
Prototype and evidence.
Evidence should guide the next version. Build the cheapest useful prototype, co-create and test it with real players, and decide in advance what would make you revise or stop.
These are iterative design checks, not a rigid five-step process. Understanding your players and their context informs all five.
Five questions to ask before you build
- 01What result matters, what capability supports it, and which two or three behaviors demonstrate it?
- 02What will players do repeatedly, and does that action rehearse or reveal the capability?
- 03What do players gain from the activity itself?
- 04What will carry the behavior back to work?
- 05What evidence will guide the next version, and what would make you revise or stop?
The reading list
Design thinking
How to frame the right problem and design around real people.
Change by Design
Tim Brown, 2009
The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design
IDEO.org, 2015 · Free download
Creative Confidence
Tom Kelley & David Kelley, 2013
Designing Your Life
Bill Burnett & Dave Evans, 2016
From our blog: Design Thinking for Work and Life
Game design
The craft of building games that teach and engage.
Serious Games
Clark Abt, 1970
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
Jesse Schell, 2008
The Gamification of Learning and Instruction
Karl Kapp, 2012
Play to Learn
Sharon Boller & Karl Kapp, ATD Press, 2017
Rules of Play
Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman, 2004
Reality Is Broken
Jane McGonigal, 2011
Finite and Infinite Games
James P. Carse, 1986
A Theory of Fun for Game Design
Raph Koster, 2004
Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design
Ernest Adams & Joris Dormans, 2012
Game Feel
Steve Swink, 2008
Systems thinking
Why the organization around a game decides whether it works.
The Fifth Discipline
Peter Senge, 1990
Designing Organizations for High Performance
David P. Hanna, 1988
Thinking in Systems
Donella Meadows, 2008
Motivation & behavior
What actually moves people to act and keep acting.
Influencer
Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny et al., 2008
Drive
Daniel Pink, 2009
Total Engagement
Byron Reeves & J. Leighton Read, 2009
Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1990
Research and frameworks
The evidence and models behind the session.
Communicate Hope: Using Games and Play to Improve Productivity
Ross Smith, Management Innovation eXchange · Where games fit at work
Digital Games, Design, and Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Clark, Tanner-Smith & Killingsworth, Review of Educational Research, 2016
A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Instructional Effectiveness of Computer-Based Simulation Games
Sitzmann, Personnel Psychology, 2011
Developing a Theory of Gamified Learning
Landers, Simulation & Gaming, 2014
Groundswell
Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff, 2008 · The POST framework: People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology
Get the Learning Game Design Canvas and the session slides.
The canvas is a one-page worksheet for planning your own learning game. The slides will be posted after the session on October 7.
Want help putting these to work?
We design serious games and simulations that give teams real practice at the behaviors that drive performance.
Use, adapt, or build: if an existing simulation fits your need, start there. We facilitate Wallbreakers®, a board-game simulation about leading change.