#sprintthree

I have been able to complete the conceptual build of my mathematics game, which means, I am now able to pick up objects and place them back down, I am able to generate random, basic mathematical questions and answer them for points and I am able to declare a winner at the end of runtime.

Full Playthrough of the Mathematics Game:

There is one small issue that is currently being diagnosed. That being that when the player leaves the screen and has a ball connect to their hand the ball is deleted from the game. I simply need to check for when an object is deleted and add it back to a list variable so that it can be spawned back into the appropriate position.

Moving Forward:

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been developing new and better ways to increase the enjoyment factor of my game. One of the major ways I have been developing is in-game incentive. Currently, my game works by giving the players points and affirmative text for positive actions. This form of feedback may be sufficient for older audiences but is not useful for young children who don’t have the full concept of numerical values representing better or worse performance. Furthermore, I have been advised to change one of my major locations due to its inappropriate subject matter.

Chest and Keys and Incentive:

One thing that I have discovered in my research and from consultation with teachers that have students in the desired demographic is that students react more positively to working towards an actual goal instead of receiving numbers that represent a value. What is meant by that is that students will react more positively to a physical object than to receive 100 points for winning a game.

With this in mind, I have decided to implement a new island into my game. On this island, there will be a chest with Three keyholes. The new idea being that when students beat a challenge they receive a key instead of points. The first team to get three keys will be able to open the chest and receive a large amount of gold and pirate treasure. Along with being crowned the class champions for the day.

The hope with this inclusion is that players will be able to engage more with the game and because of their age would find it more interesting over multiple playthroughs.

Replacing Inappropriate Objects:

When presenting my game to teachers the most pertinent piece of feedback I received was that the Number Tavern was considered very inappropriate for the core demographic. This was said even though there is no reference to alcohol or alcohol references present in the game. Nevertheless, with this in mind, the Number Tavern will be completely remodeled and changed into the inside of the pirates’ ship. This was chosen as it most closely resembles the already generate map.

Final Build Updates:

The Early Years Learning Framework is used to describe the main principles, practices, and learning outcomes that are integral to the support and improvement of a child’s learning up to the age of five. The Early Years Learning Framework strongly emphasises play-based learning and the importance of language, and social and emotional development of young children. The three key elements of this framework are principles, practices and learning outcomes.

Principles:

Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships

Partnerships

High expectations and equity

Respect for diversity

Ongoing learning and reflective practice

Practice:

Holistic approaches

Responsiveness to children

Learning through play

Intentional teaching

Learning Environments

Cultural competence

Continuity of learning and transitions

Assessment for learning

Learning Outcomes:

Children have a strong sense of identity

Children are connected with and contribute to their world

Children have a strong sense of wellbeing

Children are confident and involved learners

Children are effective communicators

Sources:

Australian Government Department of Education and Training. (2017). Early Years Learning Framework. Retrieved from https://www.education.gov.au/early-years-learning-framework-0

ECRH. (2018). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework. Retrieved from https://www.ecrh.edu.au/approved-learning-frameworks/early-years-learning-framework

What it Means to my Game:

Personal Breakdown:

Each individual section has its benefits and uses in my game or can be used to justify parts of my game and explain how they are incorporated. This section is a personal breakdown of my game given the framework

Principles: (Top Third)

The usefulness of my game can be justified from the Principles section of the diagram. Children, like all of us, learn from repetitive and reflective practice. Meaning that they respond well when they are given positive reflection for their actions. i.e. The game gives them a reward or encouragement for a correct or valid action. This can be furthered in my game with how all actions never have a negative reaction but a positive reaction. If a student gets an answer wrong, they are asked to try again and if they get it right they get a congratulatory message. Ultimately, it can be seen that for children, all the trivial things make a significant difference.

Practice: (Right Third)

The most obvious section of the diagram to discuss is the practice section. As is already well-established children of the chosen demographic greatly benefit from learning when they are playing and interacting with games. With this in mind, this is a further section that I can use to explain and justify the implementation of my game within the classroom. It also further explains the implementation of basic learning into my game. When I started developing my game it was purely made to drain energy from children before they entered the classroom. However, with a new understanding of this learning practice, it was decided that teaching basic maths and grammar would be more beneficial to both the development of the children and the teaching team that may decide to implement this game.

Learning Outcomes: (Left Third)

My game has the most to learn from the left third of the diagram. As can be seen, children engage well when they are immersed in an enjoyable setting. i.e. The more fun they have within a virtual world the more they will learn. This can be used to back up my use of a pirate world as the games main setting. If I was to simply have minigames that happened within the normal world there is a chance that the children playing the games would not learn from the experience because they themselves would not become immersed with it. It would be similar to playing a fantasy game such as Skyrim but one of the main objectives of the game is to have a 9-5 job and no powers. It isn’t enjoyable and you as the player would disassociate from the experience very quickly, the same ideals can be related to young child learning. With this sentiment in mind, the importance of having an immersive experience is more solidly confirmed and proven to be a useful induction into my game.

All research Congregated from research conducted by Thomas Priest and Riley Webb.

Teachers Breakdown:

Although it is important for me to assess my own work using the Early Years FrameWork it is much more important for a teacher who would actually use the game with children to give their honest assessment on it and to get useful feedback given their examination of the game.

*Feedback from the teaching team of Russel Island*

Practice: (Right Third)

Holistic Approaches:

My game works well in showing learning in a very different way. Instead of sitting in a classroom, students can pretend they are in a different world and still continue to learn.

Responsiveness to Children:

My game has appropriate subject matter for children of the demographic age. This means that my game can be used by the teaching team within a school setting and that the children will interact positively with the generated theme.

Intentional Teaching:

My game works well with a teaching approach known as Narrow Pointy teaching. This is because the questions asked are simple and all within a simple work set. As an example, in the numbers game, the numbers only go from 1 -10 instead of implementing negative numbers or larger numbers.

Assessment of Learning:

My game is also useful for teachers as an assessment device. By monitoring the game and the students playing it they can make conclusions based on student actions.

What’s missing? Continuity of Learning:

The one thing that my game is lacking is the continuation of learning. Meaning, that although my game works well it doesn’t push the users any further than the base game. With this in mind, algorithms can be put in place to see what students are doing well and pushing their skills to further their learning.

Learning Outcomes: (Left Third)

Encourage Strong use of Wellbeing:

Now that I was able to pick up and move objects freely in my game world I need to add a way that the character could interact with multiple objects appropriately. However, to interact with multiple objects I needed to have them spawn in.

Spawning Multiple Objects:

The code used to achieve this is the exact same as seen in my previous videos. All it does is select a random spawn location and a random object to spawn.

Interacting With Those Objects:

A huge and somewhat silly issue that I had with interacting with these objects was that I was attempting to handle all collisions on a single script. Therefore, every time an object was interacted with all objects of the same type would be interacted with in a similar manner. I was able to remedy this issue by having every object have its own script and allowing that script to register interaction.

Creating a User Interface:

Now that I could work with all of my objects and not have any issues I needed to generate a user interface that relayed the appropriate information to the player. This information being time remaining, score and their team. The interface created is based on the proposal available here. An issue I can see in the future is that Unity’s scaling system will cause headaches for multiple resolutions. A bridge I will have to cross when I get to it.

Implementing a Playable Character:

To better engage with games it has been noted that children enjoy characters instead of floating joints on a screen. With this in mind, I implemented a playable character. This was accomplished by taking a 3D model and taking off the head and both hands then placing them in where the joints usually go. However, the joints are still present, as they handle the collision with objects, their mesh renders have just been turned off. The character, at this stage, looks pretty bad, this is because of the lighting in the level. This will have to be manipulated in the future as to not give the children playing nightmares.

This character modeling would not have been possible without the help of a modeler name Bryce Rochecouste who pulled the original character model apart and textured it for me. His blog is available here.

Going Forward:

In the final part of my main draft Game Desing Documentation, I run down the abstract development classes in my game and reference the assets I have utilized in the appendix. Furthermore, the appendix houses documentation pertaining to a project timeline for the piece that I am following to the best of my abilities.

The version 0.5 of the documentation can be found here.

To further my work on the Game Design Document I have generated simple low fidelity and high fidelity mock-ups of how I envision the game world I am creating will look. I have also explained, with visuals the design and look of all three areas my game is focussed around. Thos being, Number Tavern, Wordy Shore, and Tug-of-War Pass. With a breakdown of the visuals, I was then able to systematically explain how I believe sound would best be implemented within the game and which sounds I believed would best fit the game world.

As part of my further continuation of the Game Design Document, I have generated lists of Formal Elements that include items like player interaction patterns and game rules whilst also implementing my ideas on the technical and design aspects of the game. These being introductions to individual screens seen by the player and their interactions with said screens as well as game mechanics and level design.

As a continuation of my previous work on the Game Design Document I have specified the gameplay aims of my desired game and designed a simple story to accompany the players as they interact with the media.