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.