Reactant: An interactive educational board game.

[ Type ] Robotics and Automation Engineering Bachelor's Thesis

[ Timeline ] ~8 months (2021)

"Designed learning through play."

Reactant is a hybrid educational board game designed for interactive and curriculum-aligned chemistry learning. Developed as part of my Bachelor’s thesis, the project blends tangible gameplay with a digital companion app to make abstract chemistry concepts—such as reaction balancing and molecular behavior—visible, strategic, and collaborative. Each turn encourages curiosity, teamwork, and real-time feedback, reshaping how science is experienced in classrooms and informal learning settings.

Areas for Improvement

Science education often remains abstract and rote—especially in chemistry, where concepts like bonding and reaction balancing are difficult to visualise. Existing educational games either lack interactivity or fail to align with learning standards, leaving a gap for tools that are both playful and pedagogically sound.

Approach

We used design thinking and iterative prototyping to develop a game that merges strategic gameplay with chemistry learning. Two prototypes—one paper-based, one digital—helped test engagement, clarity, and comprehension. The goal was to translate complex content into embodied, collaborative actions, reinforced by real-time digital feedback.

Paper-Based Prototype

Features

• Curriculum-Aligned Chemistry Content

   Players engage with real compounds and reactions, learning chemical names, properties, and equations while completing mission-based tasks.

• Balancing Made Physical

   Tokens are used to represent atoms and electrons, allowing players to balance equations with their hands—reinforcing understanding through physical manipulation.

• Story-Driven Missions

   Players assist citizens in different zones, adding narrative depth and purpose to chemical problem-solving.

• Digital Feedback Loop

   A connected app (built in Unity) provides animations, progress tracking, and interactive guidance via smartphones and tablets.

• Embedded Strategy & Collaboration

   Designed for team play, the game encourages collaboration, communication, and critical thinking within a competitive framework.

Board Game Visual Design Iteration

Board game visual design iteration is the process of refining a game’s visual elements—such as layout, icons, color, and illustration—through repeated testing and feedback. Each version aims to improve both clarity and aesthetic appeal, ensuring that the visuals support gameplay and storytelling.

System Architecture

The system integrates multiple components:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B: Acts as the central game controller and communication hub.

• Arduino Pro Mini (x3): Manages input from physical game sensors.

• Android Smartphones (x2): Provide real-time user interfaces for players.

• MQTT Protocol: Facilitates lightweight, real-time communication between devices.

The architecture follows a cloud-to-device model, using serial UART and MQTT bridges to synchronize user actions and in-game feedback.

Hardware Design

Sensor Matrix

• Mission Points, Resource Points, and Checkpoints are embedded with sensors to detect physical object placement.

• Sensors are validated across multiple sizes (5mm to 20mm) and weights (3g to 45g), with near-perfect detection accuracy at ≥25g.

Actuators and Feedback

• Physical feedback is triggered through actuators (e.g., lights, sounds) based on player actions, enhancing immersion and learning.

Hardware Design: Sensor Matrix

Game Console Protocol

Custom protocol defines interactions between devices using CMD codes:

• CMD 0: Start game

• CMD 1: Enter main area

• CMD 2: Enter resource area

• CMD 3: Trigger game mission

Database Design

To support seamless game progress tracking, player performance recording, and mission management, Reactantsincorporates a structured relational database design. The database was modeled using an Enhanced Entity-Relationship (EER) diagram, ensuring efficient data flow between the game engine and physical interface.

Core Entities

The key components of the game’s data model include:

• Players: Stores player IDs, names, teams, and session data.

• Missions: Contains mission types, objectives, and assigned areas.

• Questions: Holds educational questions related to chemical reactions, including correct answers and difficulty levels.

• Game Sessions: Tracks active gameplay rounds, including timestamps and player actions.

• Resource Points & Checkpoints: Maps physical board elements (sensors) to digital actions for logging and validation.

Data Flow

• Each player interaction (e.g., moving to a checkpoint, answering a question) is recorded and timestamped.

• Game state (e.g., current mission, available resources) is persisted to allow recovery or continuation of interrupted sessions.

• The Raspberry Pi acts as the mediator, handling data logging and synchronization between Unity (UI) and the physical board.

Scalability & Reliability

While the prototype likely used local storage or SQLite, the architecture could be extended to support:

• Cloud-based databases (e.g., Firebase or PostgreSQL) for multiplayer and remote access

• Data analytics for teacher dashboards or curriculum assessment

Sequence Diagrams

Sequence diagrams model key interactions such as:

• Game start

• Mission selection

• Question answering

• Chemical reaction processing

• Trading and resource management

These diagrams helped align technical logic with pedagogical goals.

Sequence Diagram: Mission

User Interface

• Unity Engine: Used for building the game’s user interface and interactive elements.

• UI Design: Focuses on clarity and accessibility, guiding players through missions, questions, and chemical reactions

Goals

• Make chemistry learning tangible, collaborative, and engaging.

• Bridge physical and digital learning environments in science education.

• Support multimodal cognition through story, strategy, and sensory interaction.

• Create a scalable educational tool for use in classrooms and science outreach.

Impact

Reactant received overwhelmingly positive feedback during testing:

• 93% of participants reported increased understanding of chemical reactions.

• Students found the game fun, clear, and motivating, especially valuing the real-world chemical scenarios and visual feedback.

• The prototype demonstrated how hybrid game-based learning can bridge gaps in curriculum engagement, and all participants supported further development using mobile and animation technologies.