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Educational game

Started by vaibhav2011 Dec 18, 2011 at 7:13 PM 5 replies 1.7k views

Original Post

vaibhav2011

Dec 18, 2011 at 7:13 PM

I havnt tought of the name of the game and the character yet

GOAL: To find treasure ....

Resources:
Player is having many instruments with him he juss need to know what they do
for which an animation is given as a hint for each instrument.

At begining player is fling in his helicopter to reach at the destination of treasure..

scene1:

Player's helicopter is crashing and he cnt control it.

He sees a valley ahead which is approx 1000 m*m in area (tht information is given as he can infer this by looking at valley)
at a distance of 1km(tht information can also be infered)
He can know the speed of the helicopter using speedometer.
One of the resources he is having is parachute.(speed by which parachute lands is also given)
Instruments which he/she has to use is
Wind wane(Wind direction is measured with a wind vane ,this information is provided with the instrument)
Aneometer(Wind speed is measured with an anemometer simillarly this information is also provided in the begining through animation)

Now what all he has to know to land at the valley

1.The speed of helicopter.
2.The wind speed and direction.
3.His landing time with parachute.

Using all this information he can calculate the exact distance from where he has to jump to land at valley.(if he/she knows the concept of projectile motion)

By this i m tring to teach the concept of projectile motion in physics.
As a hint this concept is demonstrated by an animation.

Currently I am developing this game using actionscript3

I need suggestions to improve my idea and adding more fun into it..

sirkibble2

Dec 18, 2011 at 7:36 PM

I'm a little confused. The goal of the game is to find treasure and in your first scene, the player is in a crashing helicopter and the player, in this moment, is learning about projectile motion to to shoot himself out of the helicopter appropriately (although I think a plane would be even better as the variables for helicopters are even wilder). If the player completes the mission, where does the treasure come in? Or is the treasure found at the end of the game? If the latter is the case, what is the premise for the first scene? Is there a story to this game? Is the entire game about physics education?

As far as fun, educational games need to have as much interactivity as possible. A game that is teaching math and pops the problem "3+3=?" and tells you to type it in a 5 seconds isn't very fun. A game that uses basketball to answer the question like "3+3=?" and tells you to make as many shots as the problem tells you is a little more exciting because there's a game behind it. Something to think about.

vaibhav2011

Dec 19, 2011 at 2:32 PM

yeah the treasure is found at the end of game and it a story based gamed
naah the game is not about physics education only (It includes general knowledge, maths and chemistry also but at different scenes/stages)

Exactly i need that part(game) which can make this concept more exciting and interactive..

thnx for the reply..

sirkibble2

Dec 19, 2011 at 6:00 PM

yeah the treasure is found at the end of game and it a story based gamed
[/quote]

Gotcha.

You want suggestions for improving your idea and make it more fun but there are not many details to go off of. The goal of the game is to find treasure. That's okay but how do you go about getting that treasure? I'm assuming you complete missions (but I don't want to assume ). How do you complete those missions? Are they minigames? What's the style? What makes your game fun right now?

vaibhav2011

Dec 21, 2011 at 6:46 AM

yeah the treasure is found at the end of game and it a story based gamed

Gotcha.

You want suggestions for improving your idea and make it more fun but there are not many details to go off of. The goal of the game is to find treasure. That's okay but how do you go about getting that treasure? I'm assuming you complete missions (but I don't want to assume ). How do you complete those missions? Are they minigames? What's the style? What makes your game fun right now?
[/quote]

yeah the player was on the search of treasure but unfortunately his plane crashed
but he still know his way to treasure
as he kept on moving towards the treasure ,he kept on getting the difficulties on his path this is how game proceed..
and in the end he will get the treasure...

yep in the end only player will get the treasure..
player completes his mission by moving closer towards the treasure..
player completes his mission by using his skills , resources available at that point and instruments he is having with himself..
the whole story is connected ..
right now my game is not fun that's y i need suggestions..

thanx for the reply..

irrationalistic

Dec 23, 2011 at 7:45 PM

One thought is to consider the core pieces you want to teach over the course of the game. Which equations? Which concepts? One of the key ideas of "fun" in a game is based on the idea of learning something and then being able to use it later in the game, making it a repetitive skill. Repetition is also good for education.

The simpler an idea, the easier it is to understand, and the easier it is for you to design a mechanic around it. Instead of expecting the player to know how projectile motion works, for example, perhaps following the idea that games like Angry Birds show. You learn about projectile motion by actually experimenting with the visual of a path. Educational games are tough in this sense because as soon as you introduce any educational element such as an equation, players immediately know they have to learn something. Learning == work != fun. Abstractions certainly help to give you a level of fun by hiding the actual educational content behind a cool simulation.

I would suggest picking a set of, say, five educational concepts (equations, for example), and build puzzles around them. If the equation is a[sup]2 [/sup]+ b[sup]2[/sup] = c[sup]2[/sup], that is a bit hard to initially understand. Why does that equation work? What are the parts? Turn the knowledge of that equation into something visual that the player can experiment with. The story will help drive the theme, but it won't automatically create fun.

vaibhav2011

Dec 24, 2011 at 5:44 PM

One thought is to consider the core pieces you want to teach over the course of the game. Which equations? Which concepts? One of the key ideas of "fun" in a game is based on the idea of learning something and then being able to use it later in the game, making it a repetitive skill. Repetition is also good for education.

The simpler an idea, the easier it is to understand, and the easier it is for you to design a mechanic around it. Instead of expecting the player to know how projectile motion works, for example, perhaps following the idea that games like Angry Birds show. You learn about projectile motion by actually experimenting with the visual of a path. Educational games are tough in this sense because as soon as you introduce any educational element such as an equation, players immediately know they have to learn something. Learning == work != fun. Abstractions certainly help to give you a level of fun by hiding the actual educational content behind a cool simulation.

I would suggest picking a set of, say, five educational concepts (equations, for example), and build puzzles around them. If the equation is a[sup]2 [/sup]+ b[sup]2[/sup] = c[sup]2[/sup], that is a bit hard to initially understand. Why does that equation work? What are the parts? Turn the knowledge of that equation into something visual that the player can experiment with. The story will help drive the theme, but it won't automatically create fun.

yeah i got that ...

thnx fr the reply

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