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FULL SERVICE GAME DESIGN
We design it. We run it. You lead the conversation to make it a success.
When the stakes are high enough to get it exactly right, bring in the experts. ExpertTheory sits down with you and builds a fully bespoke simulation from scratch — grounded in your objectives, tailored to your audience, and designed using a methodology proven across thousands of hours of play. On game day, we handle everything.
Build a game around your exact problem.
Every full-service engagement starts the same way: ExpertTheory sits down with you. We use our Logic–Function–Format design framework to work through what you're actually trying to teach, how the game mechanics should force those decisions, and what format will make it work in practice for your audience and constraints.
The result is a simulation that could only have been made for you — with a scenario, team structure, and decision architecture built around your objectives, not adapted from something generic. We then build it, set it up on Providence, and facilitate the entire thing from start to finish.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
How we build a game from scratch.
Every bespoke simulation follows ExpertTheory's Logic–Function–Format framework — the same methodology behind every game we've run for the U.S. military, leading universities, and government clients. Our game design follows three primary steps:
1
LOGIC
What are we actually modeling, and why?
We start with your learning objectives — the specific decisions, tradeoffs, and dynamics you need participants to navigate. If the logic is fuzzy, the game won't teach what you think it does. We pressure-test this together before a single scenario detail is written.
2
FUNCTION
How does that logic become decisions participants actually face?
We design the mechanics — teams, incentives, constraints, turn structure, information asymmetries — so the game forces the exact decisions you want players to wrestle with. Function is where the game becomes playable, not just plausible.
3
FORM
What makes this work in the real world?
Time available, materials, audience experience, facilitation style — format serves function, not the other way around. We fit the game to your constraints so it runs clean on game day, whether that's a 90-minute workshop or a multi-day exercise.
Not sure what to run – or don’t want to build a game from scratch?
Explore our tried-and-tested scenarios, designed for maximum impact and minimal prep. Proven successful at universities and organizations like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Georgetown, University of North Carolina, Duke, and the Canadian Department of National Defence.
What Our Clients Say
Fortune 100 Technology Company, September 2024
"The ExpertTheory team did an incredible job grasping the subject manner and making the experience real for the team. We're grateful for your time and thoughtfulness that allowed us to think about risks and challenges in new ways."