After a long day of work, I find myself picking up the occasional game to round out an afternoon. My latest indulgence? The Metroidvania-style title Hollow Knight, a beautifully illustrated action/exploration side-scroller by Team Cherry. And there’s this beautiful difficulty curve that is in the background throughout it all that’s almost invisible until I think back to how far I’ve come in the game. 

This got me thinking: Can we incorporate the same things into the design of learning experiences? And if so, what would that look like? So, here's what I came up with:

1️⃣ Start Simple

In Hollow Knight, you begin with just a sword and a small jump. It's not much, but it's enough to navigate the early stages of the game. The lesson here for course design is simple: Start with the fundamentals. Provide the foundational knowledge that learners need to build upon. This allows them to gradually progress and gain confidence without feeling overwhelmed from the start.

2️⃣ Learn Through Failure

Every death in Hollow Knight is an opportunity to learn - a chance to reflect, adjust, and try a new strategy. This concept is vital in learning design: Failure should be seen as feedback, not a setback. By incorporating trial and error into the learning process, we can encourage learners to experiment, reflect on their mistakes, and adjust their approach. Provide timely and relevant feedback, and give learners time to experiment with different strategies until they find what works.

3️⃣ Scale the Challenge

As you progress in Hollow Knight, new enemy types, complex platforming challenges, and intricate boss fights emerge. But they’re introduced one at a time, gradually building up complexity. We can do the same in learning design: Break complex skills into smaller, more manageable chunks. As learners build confidence, gradually increase the difficulty to keep the experience fresh and rewarding. 

Next time you're building a learning experience, picture yourself handing out tools, maybe even special abilities to your learners, things that'll guide them on their journey and let them test out their own strategies, instead of just telling them the next step. I promise you, the feeling of achievement they'll get won't be exactly like beating a super hard game, but that sense of accomplishment will be just as memorable.