Beyond its core teaching mission, Metropolia is deeply involved in research, development, and innovation (RDI). However, many students remain unfamiliar with the range and opportunities of RDI activities. In November 2024, Metropolia’s Myllypuro Campus hosted the New Dimensions in Construction event, which brought together students, professionals, and innovators from the real estate and construction sectors. Our team, in charge of the event’s experience design, was given the task of creating new and memorable experiences for attendees.
A key target group for the event consisted of construction and real estate students. To raise awareness of Metropolia’s RDI activities among them, we decided to develop an interactive game. In this article, we share how we introduced Metropolia’s RDI activities to students through this game.
Using experiential design to create the game
Before designing the game, we explored existing literature on creating experiences. Our first step was to consider the concepts of “experiential” and “experience”. What does “experiential” actually mean? What types of experiences exist?
Exploring experiential aspects
According to the literature on creating experiences, the term “experiential” is used as an adjective to describe experiences that are personal, memorable, and oriented toward direct sensory or emotional engagement. Pine and Gilmore (2020, 15) describe experiences as personal, memorable events that create new value for participants. They also introduce the concept of staged experiences, which focus more on engaging participants than simply entertaining them (Pine & Gilmore 2020, 39).
As shown in Figure 1, the four experience realms are: entertainment, educational, escapist, and esthetic. Participants can be either active or passive in these different realms, and the experiences themselves vary in terms of immersion and absorption. (Pine & Gilmore 2020, 39.)
Each of these realms has distinct characteristics. In the educational experience, participants actively absorb information and play an active role in the event. The event must actively engage participants’ minds before learning can take place. In an escapist experience, participants are immersed in the event, taking on active roles much like performers in a play. (Pine & Gilmore 2020, 41–45.)
By contrast, entertainment and esthetic experiences involve more passive participation. In entertainment experience, such as watching a show or listening to music, participants enjoy the experience without directly taking part in it. In an esthetic experience, such as viewing art in a museum, individuals immerse themselves in the environment but remain passive. (Matikainen 2025.)
The role of storytelling in the experience
Stories are an ancient form of communication, shaping our perception and thinking. When we listen to a story, it activates our brains beyond what simple conversation can do. A compelling story captivates the listener, evokes emotions, and motivates people to take action rather than remaining passive. (Rauhala & Vikström 2014, 71–73.)
Storytelling creates experiential value, enhances the impact of an activity, and builds meaningful experiences. Through careful narrative planning, events become more engaging and memorable. Stories are used to shape the design of both the event and its experiences. A strong narrative has the power to elevate an event to a new level. (Kalliomäki 2014, 14–15.)
An engaging story:
- Enables empathy: emotions in the story are contagious
- Convinces and influences: stories can change attitudes, thoughts, and values
- Aids memory: stories give meaning to information
- Simplifies understanding: stories make theoretical concepts easier to understand
- Softens messages: stories make it easier to adopt new practices. (Rauhala & Vikström 2014, 71–89.)
In a nutshell, a well-crafted story helps an event stand out with a unique personality and ensures a lasting impression on participants (Kalliomäki 2014, 14–15).
Audience engagement
Audience engagement can be defined in various ways depending on perspective. Here, it refers to a process in which the audience is actively involved within a thoughtfully designed structure. The goal goes beyond participation—it supports a sense of belonging and a meaningful learning experience. Engagement may look different for different individuals. (Purhonen, Poikolainen, Pylvänen & Kallunki 2020.)
Engagement deepens when individuals can freely choose their level of participation. It also involves giving participants a sense of control over the course of events or activities, allowing them to find personal meaning. (Purhonen et al. 2020.)
Audience engagement is not about forcing involvement, but more about encouragement and inspiration. It is essential to respect and consider students’ needs—in this case, their interest in the game and its content. (Purhonen et al. 2020.)
How to use audience engagement at events?
Audience engagement can be achieved through many methods. Typical examples include inviting questions after seminars, incorporating workshops, or holding interactive panel discussions where participants can contribute. Interactive games are another effective way to involve the audience. Engagement creates active dialogue between participants and the event itself, and methods will vary depending on the event’s goals.
The following questions are useful when planning audience engagement for events:
- Why do you want to engage the audience? What is the main goal?
- Who do you want to engage? Do you know your audience?
- How will you structure the engagement process?
- What happens during engagement?
- How will you achieve the desired outcomes? (Niemelä n.d.)
Events provide excellent opportunities to build relationships. For instance, networking events bring together people with shared interests or from the same industry. These kinds of events help create a sense of community among participants, and audience engagement can further strengthen this feeling.
Gamification takes audience engagement to the next level
Gamification is another area closely connected to enhancing audience engagement, experience, and activation. It involves designing products or services that incorporate game-like elements. The objective is to facilitate concrete learning in a different environment by using the same principles and components found in games. (Seppo.io n.d.)
Gamification enhances learning experiences
Nowadays many people associate gamification with digital experiences such as video games or virtual reality, but gamification has long existed in education before digital culture. In this context, it means using game elements, such as points and rewards, to make learning more engaging, whether in physical or digital environments. For example, the gold star or “parrot mark” reward system in schools is a classic, non-digital form of gamification that taps into students’ motivation and need for recognition. (Kurt 2023.)
Gamification helps create meaningful learning experiences by acknowledging students’ desires for competition and achievement, aiming to boost motivation, improve memorization, and encourage active participation through feedback. Gamification elements can spark the interest of students who have grown up playing video games.
According to Kurt (2023), gamification can enhance both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation stems from the joy and satisfaction one feels while playing and learning, while extrinsic motivation comes from receiving points, badges, and other incentives for reaching specific goals.
Kurt (2023) identifies the following four core elements of gamification:
- Freedom to fail: Unlike traditional educational models, gamified learning encourages experimentation and risk-taking, emphasizing that making mistakes is an essential part of learning.
- Immediate feedback: Real-time responses help students recognize areas for improvement and sustain their engagement.
- Progression: Tracking progress and observing growth over time enhances students’ motivation to continue learning.
- Storytelling: As mentioned earlier, storytelling amplifies engagement. By providing context, storytelling in games can turn simple tasks into immersive adventures, helping to maintain students’ attention.
These elements have consistently proven effective when applied in educational settings (Kurt 2023). We explain below how theory was utilized to develop the game.
Developing The Lost Innovations Game
One of the goals of the New Dimensions in Construction event was to increase awareness of the Smart and Creative City Innovation Hub’s activities and highlight new opportunities for construction students. To achieve this, we created “The Lost Innovations” game on the Seppo.io platform, featuring ten different tasks related to the innovation hub’s activities. The game encouraged students to learn more about the hub and motivated participation by offering a prize lottery. To further attract event visitors and encourage them to take part in the challenge, we organized a raffle with three gift cards. Although construction students were the primary target audience, the game was open to anyone interested.
In planning and designing the game, we adopted a design thinking approach inspired by the d.school model, which consists of five key stages used in service development: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Due to limited planning time, we focused on iterating the last three stages: Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Each of these stages, illustrated in Figure 2 below, is explained alongside our case in the following sections.
1. Empathize
In the Empathize stage, the objective is to gain a deep understanding of your users – to learn about the audience for whom you are designing your concept. What matters to them? What are their needs, desires, and challenges? What do they do?
At this stage, user insights can be gathered through methods such as interviews, workshops, and observation. We did not conduct in-depth research into students’ interests, as the game was a small-scale, supplementary event activity rather than a standalone product.
2. Define
In the Define stage, the research data collected in the Empathize stage is analyzed, and the main needs and challenges are identified and clarified.
Typically, this stage involves synthesizing insights from Empathize to pinpoint the key user needs and challenges. In our case, since comprehensive user research was not feasible, we instead refined our project goals and outlined how our theoretical framework would be applied in practice. We decided the game would combine educational and escapist experiences, immersing students in event-related content while offering active learning opportunities.
Through gamification, we aimed to enhance both students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, designing a game that would provide positive feelings as well as encourage participation through a point system. Our plan included essential game-based learning principles: freedom to fail, immediate feedback, progression, and storytelling.
3. Ideate
In the Ideate stage, the focus is on brainstorming, generating ideas, and building upon each other’s suggestions. Methods such as “How might we…?” can be used to help ideate possible solutions to users’ challenges.
Even though we did not conduct detailed research on students’ interests and goals, we integrated this stage into our process by brainstorming topics and questions that would be relevant to students.
After drafting the questions, we consulted with the Innovation Hub team to ensure their relevance and accuracy. Once the questions were finalized, we began developing a narrative and setting rules for the game. Although we did not interview students beforehand, we sought to take the students’ perspective – as recent university graduates ourselves – to determine what would be fun and valuable to learn from the game. We decided to concentrate on providing a general understanding of the Smart and Creative Innovation Hub’s activities, clarifying how students can get involved in various projects, and encouraging networking with industry partners.
4. Prototype
In the Prototype stage, the goal is to build a representation of one or more of the ideas so they can be shown to potential users.
At this point, we shaped the narrative for our game, creating a plot where participants would search for lost innovations—tying into the event’s overall theme and aiming to engage and inspire students.
We also created an initial prototype featuring our questions, which we then tested within our team and our personal networks. Based on the feedback, we revised the questions, refined the story, and established the game’s rules. We repeated this iteration process several times to ensure the game ran smoothly during the event.
Usability testing provided valuable insights into where the storyline and rules needed further refinement. To visually support the game’s narrative, we generated AI images (using Adobe Firefly) and designed a visual map of the event space. The tasks were marked with location pins on the map, allowing players to seek out answers at specific spots.
5. Test
In the Testing stage, the aim is to present the prototype to users, gather feedback, and identify what works well and what does not, so the prototype can be further improved.
As described in the previous stage (Prototype), the initial round of testing and refinement was conducted within the Innovation Hub and our own network. Feedback from the actual target group was then collected during the event itself, as students played the game.
Game tasks and flow
When designing the game, we aimed for both flexibility and engagement by allowing students to participate either individually or in teams. To ensure the game fit smoothly into the event schedule, we set the duration from 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm. The game consisted of 10 diverse tasks, combining multiple-choice questions with creative challenges, which participants could complete in any order they wished.
To add an extra layer of interactivity, each task included a code letter that was needed to unlock the final challenge. We recommended that players keep a pen and paper handy to note down these important letters as they progressed through the game. To encourage full participation, we also prepared a small gift for everyone who completed all of the tasks before the event concluded.
Regardless of whether their answer was correct, players received a clue letter (Freedom to fail) and, in some cases, an explanation of the correct answer (Immediate feedback). Additionally, participants could track their progress using the location pins.
Results and feedback
According to the report generated by Seppo.io, 45 players signed in to participate in the game, and 56% of them actually started playing. Thus, the conversion rate was lower than we had hoped. The remaining participants only viewed the game rules and story but did not complete any tasks. Based on our observations, some students lacked sufficient motivation to complete all the tasks required for the badge or for a chance to win the lottery. On the other hand, many decided to join the game once they heard that all players would receive a small prize (overall patches) and have a chance to win a gift card.
Another issue we noticed was that a few students mentioned they were not willing to wait until the end of the event for the raffle results, as they did not plan to stay for the entire event.
The main challenge, where students needed to complete tasks, “collect” key word letters, and write them down on a piece of paper, seemed to work well, especially since we had reserved paper and pens for players in advance. Despite mixed feedback, those participants who completed the entire game offered their comments and gave us positive responses.
Below is the feedback we received from the participants who completed all tasks. We were happy to see many players praised the game, describing it as fun and exciting!
“That’s a cool exercise.”
“Fun fun fun.”
“It was nice to be here and hope so also next year.”
“I think it’s a fun event and we have made many connections with people with alike minds.”
“It was a nice and innovative game.”
“Exciting and fun challenge!”
“Nice interactive game.”
Key learnings from developing The Lost Innovations Game
The Lost Innovations Game demonstrated that even a relatively simple gamified concept, built with design thinking, experiential design, and audience engagement in mind, can add a sense of fun and connection to the events aimed at both students and professionals. For those interested in initiating a similar project, the following insights may prove valuable:
1. Know your audience and lower the participation barrier
Audience engagement is most effective when tailored to the motivations of your target group. Whenever possible, involve your audience. Keep instructions simple and offer participants something meaningful – whether it is learning, prizes, or opportunities for networking.
2. Take advantage of digital and AI tools creatively
Platforms such as Seppo.io, ChatGPT, Canva, and Adobe Firefly can make it easier to design and prototype experiences, even on a small scale. AI tools are helpful not only for developing game stories and rules, but also for creating engaging images for the game interface and advertisements.
3. Iterate and learn from every event
Not every engagement experiment yields perfect results – just over half of our players completed the game, and that is perfectly acceptable. Collecting verbal or written feedback and observing participants onsite can help refine and improve the concept for future events.
By engaging students with interactive games and immersive experiences, we can both inspire learning and provide valuable insights into evolving industry opportunities. As we have seen, thoughtful game design not only makes learning more enjoyable, but also helps build meaningful connections. With the earnest hope that our work will inspire others, we invite you to seek new ways of motivating and engaging your students, the professionals of tomorrow.
In this article, AI-assisted proofreading (ChatGPT 4.0) was used to improve the language quality, while all content and ideas remain the authors’ own.
References
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Authors
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Lada Stukolkina
Project Manager, Metropolia University of Applied SciencesLada Stukolkina works at Metropolia as a service design specialist and project manager.
About the author -
Laura Matikainen
Project Specialist, Metropolia University of Applied SciencesLaura Matikainen works at Metropolia’s RDI and Services unit in project communications and event production. She has a BA in Cultural Management.
About the author