Module 3 Unit 4 Activity 2: Game Based Learning
Report requirements
- Written report based on the Game Design Template
- Game URL or a visual mock-up picture file
Grade: 4.0
Hi everyone!
Here is my submission. The last game that I released was titled Famous Fables: Read, Learn and Play. It contained the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. I always intended to add extra stories to it, and for this exercise I decided to brainstorm an idea for an educational story based on 'The Three Little Pigs'.
I also did a quick demo image, don't have time to fine tune it, the pig is reused (I made him as a background character in my last game) the wolf is mostly a modified version of the hare, but it looks like it works so far.
Enjoy!
Famous Fables Three Little Pigs Educational App
Design an Educational Game
Overview
'Famous Fables: Three Little Pigs' is a read along visual novel that teaches young children to read by providing the scaffolding that they need at every step of the way. The game also teaches math, spelling, and it contains a key moral. It will be contained within the same package as Famous Fables: The Tortoise and the Hare.
This type of read along game is rarely used for educational purposes. Currently, in the developers communities for visual novels that I am a member of, I am the only person developing for this age group and also for educational purposes. Despite this, there are many apps on the subject of fables. As a result, this game will not be found as easily as some of my other games. Nevertheless, I have decided to continue with this game for the sake of my daughter and my students as I feel it is of much greater educational value than existing apps and that the topic is of interest to and easily understood by my target audience.
Instructional Objective
The game will train at least 25 sight words, and it will reinforce 100+ extra words. The target words will be in word recognition games, and they will be repeated an average of 10 times within the game. It will teach children to spell the sight words and also recognize basic phonetic building blocks (basic vowel sounds and key consonants). There will be about 10 questions on addition and subtraction, which will be randomized each time the game is played.
Learners
The learners are children aged 2-8 in both English and non-English speaking countries. The children have access to a tablet or phone and are more likely to belong to middle class families. Specifically I would like to target children in Taiwan, Japan, Germany, and the US. These children are more likely to have busy parents who do not have the time or ability to read English stories to their children. They already download apps to entertain their child, but they would prefer something more educational.
Motivation
Children love listening to fables, and they are interested in reading, if given adequate support. At first children will play the game simply to experience the story and get to the end, but each time the child completes the story, they will unlock new story paths, for instance, they could unlock new building materials (such as bronze, silver, gold, crystal) and designs (castle, palace, fortress) for the three little pigs. They could also unlock new pigs (such as a girl pig, or even a robot pig!). The aesthetic style will also motivate children. Children at this age are interested in cute characters, animals, positive feedback, and symbols such as stars and hearts. This series of games that I am making are like an interactive version of a Dora the Explorer episode combined with reading. Although these types of games are not common, they are intuitive and children immediately understand how to play them without any parental support. The familiar story, cute characters, animated story and music will work together to create a game that will enthrall young readers.
Context of Use
The game will be used at home with children to provide weaker students with the scaffolding they need to get more reading practice. In particular, they need practice reading aloud so that they can master reading, pronunciation and intonation. As it stands, my students struggle with reading aloud individually. They need individual practice, but it is not feasible to provide them with the amount of practice they need. As many of their parents struggle with English, the support needs to come from elsewhere. This app provides that support.
Scope
Based on my last game in this series, the game will be about 2000+ words long and it will take 10 minutes to do a speedrun through by an adult or 30 minutes for a slow read through with a child. It will train 25 - 50 new sight words, which will be repreated at least 10 times each. It will teach children to spell the target sight words. There will be questions on addition and subtraction, story comprehension and more. The story will be an augmented version of the three little pigs. This game is part of a package that I eventually hope will have 5 stories, the first of which is already complete. If it is successful, I will create additional stories.
Object of the Game
Help the pigs make the right choices and answer the questions to save them from the big bad wolf.
Design Details
Visuals
The above image is a rough demo image, there are still lots of things to be refined in the characters, especially outlines, facial expressions and clothes. The game uses mostly natural colors, especially for the backdrops.
Each section has a text box in the form of a wooden post, the text is highlighted as it is read. There are large UI elements in the corner of the screen, again using earthy tones.
Game and story structure:
https://coggle.it/diagram/XMMuwseK2ZQk8ivb/t/-
- The game is an interactive story, text is displayed on the screen and it is accompanied by audio recordings of the lines. Children click to continue to read the next section of the story.
- There are interactive sections where children participate in the story by dragging items and characters (e.g. by helping the pigs run away from the big bad wolf).
- At key parts of the story children will encounter educational minigames. The biggest minigames comprise of 'levels'. Within each level there are 3 skill based tasks.
- There are three distinct levels: straw, wood and brick.
- Each level has a phonics task, a sightword task and a spelling task.
- Between each level the story continues for a few minutes. There are also minigames in these story sections.
- The pathway from one level/house will also have minigames, including: a map game, choose the right direction game, drag to run games. Broken pathways that need to be fixed with shapes, etc.
Technical Elements
This series is developed with a modified version of python.
The game will be developed for Android initially, and iOS version will follow once the game has proved it contains elements needed for success on the apple app store. A deskop version can also be developed if there is demand.
All art work is vector based, and can be rendered at ANY size. Initially they will be rendered at full HD resolutions, which can be easily downscaled or upscaled to fit most mobile devices.
Sound files are to be .ogg.
Files are organised into folders to keep things organised. Characters are broken into several parts so they can be easily animated. To keep them together, the contain the same prefix.
Design Process
This is the initial brainstorming phase of the game, I have changed how the levels work a few times, but often you just need to keep moving forward, experiment, change and iterate. I think that it is a bit too question heavy but the writing process usually ends up fleshing out the story more and the games get reworked to work within the story better. The process of making the game often cuts unnecessary things down naturally, as you begin to get a feel for what assets are most important, what assets can be most efficiently created and what elements are unnecessary overlap.
References
References
Dodge, B. (2002), ET670 Design Template. Retrieved 2002, from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec670/FinalProjectsF02.html. (URL no longer valid.)
Mathews, B. (2019). Famous Fables: Read, Learn and Play [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=famous.fables.catmat