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The results of this research exploring the effects of having an individual design his/her educational games on creative thinking skills was the increase in participants' post-test scores. Similar to the research of Meishar-Tal and Avital Kesler (2021), in this study, after the students designed their own educational games, when the pre and post-test scores were compared, a significant difference in favor of the post-test scores was established with the related sample t-test. Across the sample of 23 people, the post-test scores of creativity in the dimensions of fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration were found to be significantly higher than the pre-test scores (t = 5,263, p < 0.05). When the students' fluency scores, one of the sub-dimensions of creativity, were examined, their post-test scores were found to be significantly higher than their pre-test scores. The increase in fluency scores indicates a progress in students' ability to produce a lot of ideas on a topic (t = 4.298, p < 0.05). Flexibility post-test scores, which is another one of the sub-dimensions of creativity, were found to be significantly higher than the pre-test scores (t = 3,708, p < 0.05). This result demonstrates that students' abilities to bring different approaches to a problem has proliferated. When the originality scores, which is the third sub-dimension of creativity, were examined, the post-test scores were found to be significantly higher than the pre-test scores. This result reveals that students' thinking skills have advanced positively (t = 7.666, p < 0.05). When the students' elaboration scores, a fourth sub-dimensions of creativity, were investigated, their post-test scores were found to be significantly higher than their pre-test scores. This result indicates that the upturn in students' ability to think beyond the box has improved constructively (t = 3,495, p < 0.05). When the scores of 23 subjects in all 4 sub-dimensions of creativity were compared, it was ascertained that the increase in originality scores was higher than the other sub-dimensions (X = 21.30; 68.60). The increase in the originality dimension indicates that the students' ability to produce new, unusual and rare ideas has increased compared to the pre-application (Torrance & Goff, 1989).

At the end of the application, the students' opinion and satisfactions about the application process were registered via semi-structured interviews. Short interviews of 10–15 min were held with all the participants and these were audio-recorded. The students were queried mostly for their thoughts on the sub-dimensions of creativity, and their perceptions about the application following which the coding phase was initiated. In general, students reported that their creativity increased compared to before the application and they started to get positive results of this increase in their school and social life. The participants declared that they enjoyed the activity very much and demanded the inclusion of the game design workshop to the curriculum as a lesson. This finding proves that game-based learning is an important tool to be used in the lessons, especially for teaching subjects that are considered difficult to understand. Studies in the literature indicate that students display a positive attitude towards game-based learning. For example, Triantafyllakos et al. (2011) state that the educational game design process supports students' ability to develop rational solutions for the difficulties they encounter in the learning process. Similarly, Kafai and Peppler (2012) also emphasize that educational game design helps students to use their academic knowledge by transferring them to different situations. Also, Guha et al. (2013) state that the game design process is important for the development of communication skills, as it directs students to communicate with different individuals such as both their peers and field experts.