Assets

I've spent most of last week and this weekend working on the assets for my trailer.  I'm very close to being done, I just have the two characters and some icons left.  I'll also need to make and animate the interactive exercise, and re-produce the cursor. Tomorrow will be devoted to finishing these assets and working on art for my other final, and then Monday will be spent animating the trailer, to be done for class Tuesday. I'm very anxious to have this project done.

Trailer

Having come to the realization that I won't be able to have my game finished by the end of the quarter, I've decided to work on a trailer which will be able to effectively communicate my design. Yesterday, I storyboarded the trailer and started sketching up some UI designs. Since I'll be doing a trailer, the visuals will need to be top-notch. For reference, Loren referred me to Gangster City by playfish and The Agency by Sony. I really, really enjoy The Agency's UI design, and am drawing most of my inspiration from that, however Gangster City should be noted for the high level of reactivity to the user. Today, I'll be working primarily on getting those graphics done, so I can start animating and creating the trailer.

Revised To Do List

In an attempt to get as much as I can done and functioning, I have revised my To Do List, cutting back to the bare essentials necessary.  The following is my revised list--things in italics are being considered non-essential and will be cut if time does not allow, and things struck out are currently implemented and functioning.

• Narrative
• Areas
• Missions
• Programming
• Player Setup
• Interface
• Stats
• Areas
• Selection
• Display
• Missions
• Display
• Completion
• Loot
• Intel
• Interaction
• Success Rate
• Exercises
• Math Problem
• Energy
• Exams
• Timing
• Interface
• Treasures
• Collections
• Store
• Buy
• Sell
• Equipping
• Inventory
• Stats
• PvP
• Send Challenge
• Results
• Send Results

Back-Up Plan

As the quarter progresses, I'm becoming more and more aware of just how much there will be to program, and my confidence in my ability to get it done on time is dwindling.  I have spoken with Loren about this on a number of occasions, and I've come to the decision that, if I can't finish this on time, then as a back-up plan I'll be able to produce a trailer of the game, communicating my design and ideas visually.  The point is to have something portfolio-ready by the end of the class that accurately represents my game, and so if the game itself is not functioning, the trailer will do just as well.

The deciding point will be Alpha--at that time, I'll reassess myself, taking note of how much time it will take me to finish the game.  If I feel less than confident in my ability to get it done, then I will switch gears and complete the trailer.  If there is time after the trailer, I'll continue programming the game, but at the very least I need something complete and presentable for my portfolio.

To Do List

I've made a To Do List that I'm hoping is pretty fleshed out.  I'll update as I think of more things to add.  Right now, I've got the navigation between pages done, and the display of the areas and changing areas done.

To-Do List

• Narrative
• Areas
• Missions
• Programming
• Interface
• Stats
• Areas
• Selection
• Display
• Missions
• Display
• Completion
• Loot
• (Potential: Mini-game)
• Intel
• Interaction
• Success Rate
• Exercises
• Math Problem
• Energy
• Exams
• Timing
• Interface
• Treasures
• Collections
• Store
• Buy
• Sell
• Equipping
• Inventory
• Stats
• PvP
• Send Challenge
• Results
• Send Results

Server and Saving

I've got my navigation more or less programmed, though I found a better way to do it AFTER I'd finished things.  I'll be spending hopefully no more than a half hour streamlining it, so that I save time doing content in the future.

On the plus side, a good friend of mine, Nate, is helping me out A TON by writing the PHP script I'll need for saving and loading player data with an SQL database.  He's also hooked me up with webspace, which is awesome.

Tomorrow in class, I look to fixing the navigation, then continuing to work with areas and missions.  Hopefully I can get those displaying correctly--thankfully, I think it's the sort of thing where, once I do it once, I'll be able to quickly reproduce it for most of the rest of my content.

Real-World Return

Today in class, Professor suggested an awesome idea: use some sort of points system such that parents can deposit money for items which the player can purchase with points earned in-game.  The parent(s) can, essentially, "unlock" various prizes by spending money, but in order to actually "win" the prize the player must earn points through completing exercises, practice problems, and practice tests.  This provides a form of motivation that is not dependent on the player having interest in the game itself, and provides a real and immediate return for the player.

On a related note, the game is not necessarily tied to SAT math, though that is the base focus.  For my final presentation, I should probably include a note on how the same idea and systems can be adapted to any level of math.

Social Spreadsheet Math

"Social Spreadsheet Math" doesn't really sound very exciting, but "Spy Math" sounds pretty awesome.  Even more awesome is "Thief Math."

I've finally settled on a design, and I really enjoy where it's going.  The player plays the part of a thief stealing treasures from around the world to become the greatest thief on the planet.  To hasten the process, the player may do math problems based on what will show up on the SAT.  It's basically Mafia Wars, except that the player is able to regenerate his or her energy by practicing math, can increase his or her chances of succeeding in a mission by doing math-based demos and exercises, and, if he or she is already solid in a particular type of math, may jump the gun an try to steal the treasure at the end of each area by doing the treasure's exam.

This format clearly separates learning, practicing, and testing into three different modes of gameplay--the player may mold his or her experience to the type of aid he or she needs.  If he or she already knows what's going on, he or she doesn't need to do the learning exercises.  If he or she doesn't need to practice, he or she can skip straight to the final treasure.  The only parts that are required, at least as far as being "successful" in the game is concerned, are the practice tests to get the treasures.

I'm basically done with the tentative design doc (less the missions and specific loot bits), so I'll be jumping into scripting soon.  I'm going to try very hard to get this thing running in Flash, because I really want that final product for my portfolio, but if that falls through then I can at the very least do a simple trailer or program the game in simple HTML.

Violence

My latest idea was to encourage teenagers to practice their math in preparation for the SAT, and to help review the topics that would be covered on the test.  My plan was to make a "raising pets" game where you do math problems in order to gain experience for your pets and in-game currency for yourself.  After my presentation, my classmates brought up the point that high-schoolers may not be all that enthused about raising pets.  Which is a very valid point.

Professor mentioned violence.  I love violence.  High-schoolers love violence.  High-schoolers hate math.  So let's use high-schoolers' love for violence to override the hate for math.

With that in mind, I'm now envisioning a game where you have a ninja (or any type of fighter, really), and you kill stuff to get stuff.  You have a limited amount of energy to do stuff per day, but you can regenerate energy by doing math problems.  Also, in order to progress to the next level, you need to pass an "exam," which will be just a mini-practice-SAT.  The exams will start extremely easy and get steadily harder, and later exams will continue to incorporate types of problems that were missed on the previous exam--thus, if you already know the math, you can go ahead and level up to the stuff you don't know, and you can still pass to the next level if you miss a few questions, you'll just need to keep doing those types of problems.  The idea is that practice will eventually make the user better at math.

Redirection

After very carefully considering the scope of my project and the time I have in the quarter to work on it, I've decided to scale down.  This decision was the result of considering that I have no experience in working with Special Needs students, let alone making educational games in the first place.  I felt like diving in and trying to accomplish both for the first time would result in a sub-par project, and so I decided instead to just focus on making a fun and interesting educational game.

Specifically, I will be making a game to teach Math to kinesthetic-visual learners--for example, artists, whom frequently have trouble in this area.  I'll be focusing on Algebra, with the assumption that the user's aptitude in pre-algebra is below average.

One of the ways I plan to achieve this is by presenting the user with a system that the user can manipulate, and see how his or her manipulations affect the result (ex, what happens to the graph when the x-exponent increases or decreases?).

I feel much more confident with this direction, and in my ability to accomplish it.

Research

I'm still waiting to hear from Alaina, but in the meantime I figured I'd start doing my own research.  It's been pretty generic so far, really only glazing over the subject--what I really need is the firsthand account I'll hopefully be getting from Alaina and her peers.  However, I did find a list of traits that I think will be very helpful when considering my audience.  According to this webpage...

"A learning disabled student …

• 
  
  Has poor auditory memory—both short term and long term.
• 
  
  Has a low tolerance level and a high frustration level.
• 
  
  Has a weak or poor self-esteem.
• 
  
  Is easily distractible.
• 
  
  Finds it difficult, if not impossible, to stay on task for extended periods of time.
• 
  
  Is spontaneous in expression; often cannot control emotions.
• 
  
  Is easily confused.
• 
  
  Is verbally demanding.
• 
  
  Has some difficulty in working with others in small or large group settings.
• 
  
  Has difficulty in following complicated directions or remembering directions for extended periods of time.
• 
  
  Has coordination problems with both large and small muscle groups.
• 
  
  Has inflexibility of thought; is difficult to persuade otherwise.
• 
  
  Has poor handwriting skills.
• 
  
  Has a poor concept of time.

"

This webpage also lists the following tips for instructing these types of students:

"

• Provide oral instruction for students with reading disabilities. Present tests and reading materials in an oral format so the assessment is not unduly influenced by lack of reading ability.
• Provide learning disabled students with frequent progress checks. Let them know how well they are progressing toward an individual or class goal.
• Give immediate feedback to learning disabled students. They need to see quickly the relationship between what was taught and what was learned.
• Make activities concise and short, whenever possible. Long, drawn-out projects are particularly frustrating for a learning disabled child.
• Learning disabled youngsters have difficulty learning abstract terms and concepts. Whenever possible, provide them with concrete objects and events—items they can touch, hear, smell, etc.
• Learning disabled students need and should get lots of specific praise. Instead of just saying, “You did well,” or “I like your work,” be sure you provide specific praising comments that link the activity directly with the recognition; for example, “I was particularly pleased by the way in which you organized the rock collection for Karin and Miranda.”
• When necessary, plan to repeat instructions or offer information in both written and verbal formats. Again, it is vitally necessary that learning disabled children utilize as many of their sensory modalities as possible.
• Encourage cooperative learning activities (see Teaching with Cooperative Learning) when possible. Invite students of varying abilities to work together on a specific project or toward a common goal. Create an atmosphere in which a true “community of learners” is facilitated and enhanced.

"

In considering this project, I also realized I can go in and talk to our very own Lita Clary over at Counseling and Student Support Services for more in-depth information on how to work with these types of students.  She recently gave a talk to the SCAD Mentors and Tutors, focusing primarily on dealing with Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism that is growing increasingly more and more common--currently, 1 in every 110 births has Asperger's.  She has already been very informative about this disability, so I think it would be worth going to talk to her to see if she can provide me with any additional information.

Project Considerations

I'm still waiting for a reply from Alaina, but in the meantime, I've started to think about the various things I'll need to consider for my project.  Since I aim to support the education of special needs students, I'll need to be very considerate of their specific situations, and constantly remind myself that I'm not designing for the typical audience.

First and foremost, I need to consider what assumptions I can make in regards to my audience's understanding and capability.  This may very well require a lot of research on the different disabilities which are frequently found in special needs classes: is the understanding very low, or is the audience merely unable to express their understanding?  Can I at least assume they can still process and understand instincts, the basic needs conditions for survival?

On a related note, what are the most common disabilities found in special needs classrooms, and what, specifically, are the resulting impairments?  What is impaired, and how does it do so?

With these two things in mind, I come to the major, overarching problem that needs to be solved: how do I convey, teach, and train the necessary information effectively, and how do I generate the internal motivation to learn?  How do I reach my audience so centrally that the act of experiencing the presented content no longer poses a chore, but rather an opportunity, or even a pleasure?

These, I think, are the major challenges I'll need to face throughout this project.  They will influence each and every step, each and every design decision I make.  I very much anticipate that I will be doing as much learning through this process as I hope to eventually emulate, if not more so.

Pitch Decision

Last Thursday, I ended up pitching the following three ideas:

1. a facebook interpretation of a forum-based RPG
2. a d10 homebrew
3. an educational game

I'll be honest--when I was putting my initial three pitches together, I had my heart pretty set on one of the first two.  They were the things I was most familiar with, so I suppose it was to be expected.  Though, even as I was presenting that third pitch, I slowly began to sell myself on the idea--the class pushed me the rest of the way over.  I got a lot of great feedback and ideas for developing an educational game, and I think it will be not only extremely beneficial for my portfolio, but also a really fun and interesting experience.  My peers really helped me to see the potential of this direction, and I'm really excited to see where it takes me.

My friend Luke's sister, Alaina, happens to be an educator for special needs students.  He said she'd been telling him how they had a bunch of "educational games," but they were neither fun nor effective.  He passed me her email so I can take a look at the games currently at her class' disposal and get their feedback.  Creating a game to aid the educational experience of special needs students sounds like a very interesting direction for my project, and a very meaningful one.  If the end result is good enough, I'd be thrilled to see if it can actually be used in the classroom setting and make an impact in the world of education--we'll see!

Another friend--and invaluable mentor--Chris Schmidt suggested creating some sort of system so that teachers could input their own content.  While I currently have no idea how this would be accomplished, I think it's definitely something to pursue--after all, each and every classroom runs differently, even if they're the same subject run by the same teacher.  Making the game able to be adapted towards any class' specific needs would be an invaluable asset to the project, so I will definitely be exploring this aspect as well.

All in all, I have high hopes for this project.  I'm a bit worried about seeing its completion, but even if I can just get a fully-functional prototype in Flash or something, there's no reason the game can't be taken to an outside team to be completely developed into something actual teachers and students can start to use in schools.  I'm very excited for the quarter!

Day One

Here's the start of Studio I.  Over the summer, I've been thinking about what project I'll do.  Currently, my ideas are:

1. Adapt Nanashi to a facebook format
2. Create an entirely new facebook game inspired by forum-based RPGs
3. Develop a table-top RPG using White Wolf's d10-system

We'll see where it goes from here.