Affordance Studio

Serious games and gamification for learning

Affordance Studio is a Canadian design studio, founded in 2012, that creates serious games and gamification for learning. It was started by design experts and veterans of the video game industry. The studio describes its aim as turning a client's content into intuitive, memorable experiences for the people who use them.

A process built around users

The studio says the user sits at the centre of everything it does. Testing and feedback run through the whole project. In design, the narrative and graphic style are matched to user preferences. In production, onboarding is made more efficient and engaging. After release, the studio gathers data on user behaviour and updates the product for new uses. Support continues after launch, with new functions and new ways to engage users proposed as the product matures.

Gamestorm and the Playshop

Two workshops show how the studio works with clients. Gamestorm is a session in which participants discover that they can think like game designers. The Playshop mixes professional development and corporate training with games, which the studio says helps people model complex systems and understand reality in new ways. The studio says it has run Playshops for federal government bodies, schools, hospitals and large companies.

Research, co-creation and the team

The team combines game design and user experience expertise with teaching at college and university level. The studio works with university researchers on field studies of learning with video games, serious games and gamification, and it brings in other partners to co-create products, on the view that a collaborative design process adds value to the final product.

Transmedia and connected technology

Transmedia storytelling spreads a story across several media channels, which the studio says can open a brand to new audiences. The studio also builds products that connect games with iBeacon, NFC tags, wearables, holograms, augmented reality and virtual reality.

Clients and projects

Clients named on the studio's site include the National Bank of Canada, Desjardins, Logitech, KPMG, Eli Lilly and Alloprof, along with public bodies such as Shared Services Canada and the US National Archives. Among its games is Echoes of the Court, made for the Supreme Court of Canada.