Step inside an immersive experience where curriculum and instructional design make friends with fun! Our community leverages gamified and game-based strategies to make learning engaging, memorable, and impactful. Elevate your skills, boost your portfolio, and create exceptional learning experiences within our vibrant community.
Visit the Game Garage
JULY B&Bs
July 29
Build & Brew
5:00 - 7:00 p.m. CDT
Ever wondered what goes into building a reusable game framework from the ground up? Join Level 3 Master Craftsman Phil Ferrone for a behind-the-scenes look at the design and development of his Unity framework. Phil will share the architecture, design decisions, lessons learned, and practical techniques that make it easier to create engaging interactive experiences in Unity. Whether you're a developer, instructional designer, or simply curious about game development, you'll come away with ideas you can apply to your own projects.
Exploring the Adventure Game Framework for Unity
Build & Brew with Phil Ferrone
Tuesday, July 29, 2026
The Brain Brew Café in Sententia World
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. CDT
Have you ever wished you could spend more time designing great learning experiences and less time rebuilding the same technical components over and over again?
Join Gamification Master Craftsman Phil Ferrone for a behind-the-scenes look at the development of his reusable Adventure Game Framework for Unity. Rather than starting every project from a blank screen, Phil has built a flexible framework that provides the foundation for creating interactive adventure-style experiences more efficiently.
During this interactive Build & Brew, Phil will walk through the architecture behind the framework, explain the design decisions that shaped its development, share lessons learned along the way, and demonstrate techniques that make building in Unity faster, more organized, and easier to maintain.
Even if you never plan to develop in Unity, you'll gain valuable insights into modular design, reusable systems, and the thought process behind creating scalable interactive experiences. The principles you'll see apply far beyond game development and can influence the way you approach instructional design, simulations, scenario-based learning, and digital experiences.
This isn't a software demonstration or a lecture. It's a collaborative conversation where participants are encouraged to ask questions, exchange ideas, and learn from one another's experiences.
Bring your curiosity, your current projects, your development challenges, or simply an interest in how great interactive experiences are built. Whether you're an experienced Unity developer or just beginning to explore game-based learning, you'll leave with practical ideas you can apply to your own work.
Come discover what happens when thoughtful architecture becomes the foundation for better learning experiences.
Go directly to The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World:
https://thebrainbrew.cafe/
When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.
AUGUST B&Bs
August 5
Build & Brew
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. CDT
Everyone promises AI will save you hours every day. Gwen Fitzpatrick has a different perspective. Join this interactive Build & Brew to discover how AI can help organize information, simplify workflows, and bring a little order to the chaos of learning and development. Bring your questions, your favorite AI tools, and your organizational challenges as we explore practical strategies you can start using immediately.
August 12
Build & Brew
VIBE CODING IN ACTION
with Jeff Mastromonico, PhD
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. CDT
Curious what all the buzz around vibe coding is really about? Join Gamification Master Craftsman Jeff Mastromonico, PhD for a hands-on exploration of real-world vibe coding examples. You'll see how AI-assisted development can accelerate prototyping, simplify coding tasks, and open new possibilities for creating engaging learning experiences, even if you don't consider yourself a programmer. Bring your questions, your curiosity, and discover what happens when you let AI become your coding partner.
August 19
Build & Brew
LEARNING GAME TO BOARD GAME
Have a game idea you've always wanted to publish? Join Gamification Master Craftsman Sharon Goza as she shares what it takes to bring a game from concept to a successful Kickstarter campaign. Whether you're designing a training game, educational game, or tabletop experience, you'll gain practical insights into planning, funding, marketing, and launching your game with confidence. Bring your questions and discover what it really takes to get your game into the hands of players.
August 26
Build & Brew
A great game mechanic can solve more than one problem. Join Gamification Master Craftsman Michala Liavaag as we explore the art of reskinning games to support different business goals, audiences, and learning objectives. Learn how to adapt an existing game instead of starting from scratch, saving development time while creating experiences that feel fresh, relevant, and aligned with real organizational outcomes. Bring your favorite games and discover how a few thoughtful changes can create entirely new possibilities.
AI Didn't Save Me Time, It Helped Me Get Organized
Build & Brew with Gwen Fitzpatrick
Wednesday, August 5
The Brain Brew Café in Sententia World
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. CDT
Everyone keeps telling us AI will save us time.
Sometimes it does.
But what if the biggest benefit isn't saving an hour? What if it's finally knowing where everything is, keeping projects organized, and feeling like you're back in control of your workday?
Join Gamification Master Craftsman Gwen Fitzpatrick for a practical Build & Brew exploring how AI can become your organizational partner instead of just another tool to learn. Rather than focusing on flashy prompts or the latest AI announcement, Gwen will share real-world strategies for organizing information, simplifying workflows, managing projects, and reducing the everyday chaos that comes with working in learning and development.
Whether you're juggling multiple courses, trying to keep track of AI-generated content, organizing research, or simply looking for a better way to manage your work, you'll discover practical ideas you can begin using immediately.
This isn't a webinar or a software demonstration. It's an open conversation where participants share what's working, ask questions, compare approaches, and learn from one another's successes and frustrations.
Bring your favorite AI tools. Bring your biggest organizational headache. Bring the workflow that's been driving you crazy.
Whether you're just beginning to explore AI or you've already incorporated it into your daily routine, you'll leave with new ideas, practical tips, and a few strategies that might make tomorrow morning a little less overwhelming.
Come discover how AI can do more than save time. It can help bring a little order to the beautiful chaos of learning and development.
Vibe Coding in Action
Build & Brew with Jeff Mastromonico, PhD
Wednesday, August 12
The Brain Brew Café in Sententia World
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. CDT
A few months ago, hardly anyone was talking about vibe coding.
Today it's everywhere.
But what is it? Is it just another AI buzzword, or is it actually changing the way learning professionals build prototypes, applications, and interactive experiences?
Join Gamification Master Craftsman Jeff Mastromonico, EdD for an interactive Build & Brew where we'll move beyond the hype and see vibe coding in action. Through real-world examples and live discussion, Jeff will demonstrate how AI-assisted development is helping learning professionals create faster, experiment more freely, and spend less time wrestling with code.
The exciting part isn't that AI writes code. The exciting part is that it allows more people to build things they never thought they could.
Whether you're creating learning games, simulations, performance support tools, or simply experimenting with new ideas, vibe coding is opening doors for instructional designers who don't have a traditional programming background.
This isn't a lecture or a software demo where everyone quietly watches someone else click buttons. It's an open conversation where we'll share ideas, compare approaches, ask questions, and explore what's actually working in the real world.
Bring your curiosity. Bring your current projects. Bring your favorite AI tools or the coding challenge that's been driving you crazy.
Whether you've already started experimenting with AI-assisted development or you're wondering what all the buzz is about, you'll leave with practical ideas, fresh perspectives, and the confidence to begin exploring what's possible.
Come discover what happens when AI becomes your coding partner instead of just another tool on your desktop.
Learning Game to Board Game
Build & Brew with Sharon Goza
Wednesday, August 19
The Brain Brew Café in Sententia World
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. CDT
Have you ever finished designing a learning game and thought, "This could be an actual board game."
Then reality showed up.
Publishing a game isn't just about having a great idea. It's about understanding manufacturing, funding, marketing, playtesting, fulfillment, and convincing complete strangers that they should back your project before it even exists.
Join Gamification Master Craftsman Sharon Goza for an interactive Build & Brew as she shares the journey from learning game to published board game. Drawing from her own experience, Sharon will walk us through what it really takes to move from an idea scribbled on paper to a successful Kickstarter campaign and, ultimately, into the hands of players.
We'll explore how to refine your concept, prepare for playtesting, build an audience, navigate crowdfunding, and avoid some of the common pitfalls that can derail even the best game ideas. Whether your goal is to create a tabletop game for the training room, the classroom, or the retail shelf, you'll gain practical insights you can apply to your own project.
This isn't a presentation filled with marketing theory. It's an open conversation where participants can ask questions, share ideas, discuss their own game concepts, and learn from someone who's been through the process.
Bring your game idea. Bring your prototype. Bring your questions about Kickstarter, publishing, or the business side of game design.
Whether you're still sketching your first mechanic on a napkin or you're polishing a nearly finished prototype, you'll leave with a clearer understanding of what it takes to turn a game idea into something people can actually play.
Come discover how a great learning game can become something even bigger.
Reskinning Games to Drive Business Outcomes
Build & Brew with Michala Liavaag
Wednesday, August 26
The Brain Brew Café in Sententia World
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. CDT
One of the biggest mistakes learning professionals make is assuming every new challenge requires a brand-new game.
It doesn't.
Sometimes the smartest solution is taking a game that already works and giving it a new purpose.
Join Gamification Master Craftsman Michala Liavaag for an interactive Build & Brew exploring one of the most valuable skills in a gamification designer's toolbox: reskinning. You'll discover how an existing game mechanic can be adapted to support entirely different audiences, business goals, learning objectives, and organizational challenges without starting from a blank page.
We'll explore how to recognize strong underlying game mechanics, identify what should change and what should stay the same, and redesign experiences so they feel completely new while preserving the gameplay that made them successful in the first place.
Whether you're designing for onboarding, leadership development, sales enablement, customer education, compliance, or team building, reskinning can dramatically reduce development time while producing experiences that feel fresh, engaging, and aligned with the outcomes your organization cares about.
This isn't a lecture or a design showcase. It's a collaborative conversation where participants share favorite games, compare ideas, ask questions, and challenge one another to see familiar mechanics in entirely new ways.
Bring a game you've always enjoyed. Bring a training activity you've been wanting to improve. Bring your toughest design challenge.
You may discover that the solution isn't creating something new at all.
It's seeing something familiar from a completely different perspective.
Come learn how a few thoughtful changes can transform one great game into dozens of meaningful learning experiences.
SEPTEMBER B&Bs
September 9
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. CDT
LOVABLE with Jazmin Webster
What if you could turn an idea into a working application without writing traditional code? Join Gamification Master Craftsman Jazmin Webster for an introduction to Lovable, the AI-powered platform that's helping creators rapidly build interactive applications and prototypes. Discover how learning professionals can use Lovable to bring ideas to life faster, experiment with new concepts, and accelerate the design process, all while collaborating with fellow builders in the Brain Brew Café.
September 23
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CDT
GAMIFICATION DESIGN CLINIC
with Josh Yavelberg
Sometimes gamification works beautifully. Sometimes it falls flat. And sometimes it accidentally motivates exactly the behavior you didn't want. Josh Yavelberg will lead an interactive design clinic exploring why engagement strategies succeed, fail, and how thoughtful design decisions can transform mediocre experiences into meaningful ones. Final title and date will be announced soon.
LOVABLE
Build & Brew with Jazmin Webster
Wednesday, September 9
The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. CDT
What if you could transform an idea into a working application without becoming a software developer? AI-powered development tools are making it possible to prototype, test, and refine ideas faster than ever before, and Lovable is leading the way.
Join Gamification Master Craftsman Jazmin Webster for an interactive Build & Brew exploring how Lovable can help learning professionals rapidly build interactive applications, prototypes, and learning experiences using natural language instead of traditional coding. Together, we'll explore practical ways to move from concept to creation, experiment with new ideas, and accelerate the design process.
This isn't a software demonstration or a coding class. It's an open conversation where we'll share ideas, explore possibilities, ask questions, and learn how AI-powered development tools are changing the way we design learning experiences.
Bring your ideas, your current projects, your curiosity, or simply a willingness to experiment. Whether you're completely new to AI-assisted app development or already building with no-code and low-code tools, you'll discover new ways to turn your ideas into reality.
Come see how Lovable can help you spend less time building code and more time building experiences.
Join Us Here
Go directly to The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World:
https://thebrainbrew.cafe/
When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.
Toolbox Tutorial:
COMING THIS SEPTEMBER TO THE GAME GARAGE
Build Immersive Learning Worlds with Johanne Doty
What happens when learning stops feeling like a course and starts feeling like a world learners actually inhabit?
This September, Johanne Doty, Gamification Master Craftsman and creator of the immersive learning worlds Operation Shieldport and The Solis Campaign, will lead a special Toolbox Tutorial exploring how to design long-form narrative learning experiences that sustain engagement over weeks and months.
Participants will explore how role progression, recurring characters, mission structures, worldbuilding, and AI-supported interactions can transform asynchronous learning into deeply immersive experiences.
If you design online learning, simulations, onboarding programs, leadership development, or game-based learning experiences, this upcoming session will expand how you think about narrative, motivation, and learner engagement.
Registration information coming soon.
Toolbox Tutorial:
Master of Wizards: Designing Motivation Through Play, Challenge, and Game-Based Dynamics
Please Check Back:
Date and Time TBD
Winner of Best Use of Technology
GamiCon48V 2026 Throwdown Showcase
Thiago Barrinuevo
What if engagement was not something you added at the end of a learning program?
What if it was built directly into the experience itself?
In this interactive Toolbox Tutorial, Thiago Barrionuevo will show participants how game-based dynamics can be used to create meaningful engagement without relying on gimmicks or superficial rewards.
Through a fast-paced experiential game and guided reflection, participants will explore how motivation, challenge, feedback, and decision-making influence human behavior and participation.
This session is designed to move beyond theory and help participants translate motivational principles into practical workplace applications.
TOOLBOX TUTORIAL
Please Check Back:
Date and Time TBD
Tuition: $99
Included in your Game Garage Membership
Whether you design learning experiences, lead teams, facilitate workshops, or support organizational change, this session will give you practical tools for creating experiences people genuinely want to engage with.
New to Sententia? Most people start with the Game Garage to experience the work live.
It's a vibrant hub where learning, innovation, and connection converge.
Our Community Pledge:
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Generosity: We are generous with our knowledge, our energy, and each other
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Risk: We are willing to take risks and step playfully into the unknown, knowing that we cannot learn without failing
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Respect: We respect our shared purpose, our time, each other’s uniqueness, and ourselves
Your invitation to join our community of practice.
We are a community of Learning Development Professionals focused on eliminating dull, dry, boring learning experiences.
Here at Game Garage, it's all about rolling up your sleeves and getting into the nitty-gritty of creating, running, and reflecting on your own game-based learning adventures.
You're not just learning; you're joining a bunch of game-changers eager to innovate and share in the world of educational gaming.
Plus, you've got a whole community backing you up, ready to cheer on your successes and help you tackle any challenges. Let's make learning an adventure together!
Are you curious to leave the beaten tracks of education and grow beyond what has been done before, but don't know where to start? This community gives space to everyone to learn, share, connect, and explore. Will you join us?
Become a Member of the Sententia World Community
Monthly Membership
$29 per month
Enjoy full benefits of the Game Garage Community
Unlock Full Access!Professional Membership
$299 per year
Two months free when you commit to a year membership PLUS Team Resource Sharing.
Sign up and SAVE!We want to support your professional development!
Sententia is here for you and your career.
We are recruiting, educating, and equipping an alliance of education professionals who will change the way learning and training happen using the most advanced science and techniques coming from gamification and game-based learning.
In this effort, we want to ensure price isn't what hinders your career or the cause of more dull, dry, boring learning experiences. Feel comfortable reaching out to Jonathan Peters ([email protected]) to discuss options.
Welcome to Sententia World!
We are more than just another community—it's a vibrant hub where learning, innovation, and connection converge.