Games in learning

This semester as part of a course I had to do an assignment equivalent of a 10,000 word essay on any subject of my choosing.

I chose to do it on the use of video games in learning. Formatted as a PowerPoint presentation to be viewed individually.

Detailing the ways in which skills and new ways of thinking can be learnt through video games as well as some of the areas in which it is possible to learn from video games.

The end result came to a total of 66 slides and was awarded a Distinction (high marks). The presentation can be downloaded here.

Game Idea: Office building RPG

RPG adventure game, in the style of Elders scroll, set in an office building.

Quests: surf internet instead of work, fix printer, fetch staple, shady meeting in parking garage, etc.

Promotions: Drone, executive, boss, etc.

Stats: urge to kill, suicide.

I will try and flesh this concept out better when I get a chance.

Game Idea: Nervous

An 'unwinnable' dating sim.

A simple flash based adventure game, where the player has to chose from branching dialogue options. Some leading to positive progression, and others taking a very negative turn.

The story is basically a lonely guy lucks into a situation where he gets to drive a girl home. His choices determine whether she agrees to go out with him or flees then and there. The vast majority of choices leading to a Bad End.

Part gag game, part player torture.

Cartoonish and played for humour. As in reality there is no HUD, so the player has to chose wisely and pay close attention if they want to succeed. Kind of like a mystery.

Not dead, just sleeping

It has been a long time since I last posted.

Since I've finished my Games Design course, I have been doing a new course in 「Teaching English as a Second Language」. However, this does not mean I've given up entirely. Even though I haven't had time to do anything, I've been thinking. I now have several ideas on how to make KanaKana work better as a learning tool.

For the time being, bullet point:

• Racing game, Highway Hunter style. Letters appear randomly on the back of the car, and players have to match them to an oncoming gate with the corresponding kana.
• Bullet hell game. Play has to fly their ship with similar conditions to above. Avoiding incorrect letter/kana combos, while matching the correct ones. Starts off slow with plenty of time to match and dodge, then gets faster.
• Alternate Bullet hell game. A typing game. Player types in a letter to shoot down oncoming targets. E.g a = あ. Again, slow at first, then working up to insane.
• Game show game, Root Beer Tapper style. Player runs along the bottom of the screen, running between 5 buttons. At the top of the screen is a TV displaying a kana. Players must select the correct answer as fast as possible. A good game for learning and practicing the basics.

I've also had an idea for how to get the typing to work. A script checks if a, i, u, e, or o is pressed then loads the correct letter image. Default is 'a' category. By pressing a different letter first, e.g 'k', the script can tell the images in queue to load that set instead. Then when a letter is pressed instead of a = あ, it will be k:a=か. Afterwards it returns to default. Possibly including 'del' to clear if the play hits the wrong key.

Hopefully I'll get some time to actually start working on some of these.