Extended

Written
Response

(WT11)

Lachlan Smith
 Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................2

1. GAME STANDARDS.....................................................................................3

2. GAME PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES.......................................................4

3. HOW EDUCATIONAL GAMES WORK........................................................5

4. DEVELOPING SEQUENCES........................................................................5
4.1 Environment.......................................................................................................................................5

4.2 Sound...................................................................................................................................................6

4.3 Interaction..........................................................................................................................................6

5. EDUCATIONAL GAME PRODUCTION PROCESS.....................................6

5.1 Pre-production...................................................................................................................................7

5.2 Production..........................................................................................................................................7

5.3 Post-production..................................................................................................................................8

5.4 Production schedule...........................................................................................................................8

 1. Game standards
Games should have many things in order to make them work. These include a clear
interface, being visually appealing, swift loading times and most importantly they
have to be enjoyable.

A clear and working interface is vital to have. An interface should not be over
crowded with too many buttons but should have a sufficient amount to let the user
find the necessary information to play. The interface should also be simple and not
confusing.

Games have to be visually appealing but this can sometimes be hard to achieve when
working to deadlines. Almost all people are drawn to bright colours, funny pictures
and fascinating drawings. These things are great for attracting attention but it has to
be the attention of the intended audience. Children for instance love bright colours,
buttons and usually animals and these are the things that are usually seen in children’s
games.

The ability to save a game is an important feature in a game. This allows the user to
permanently pause their progress when the no longer have the time to play any longer.
This allows the user to come back anytime and leave where they had stopped last
time. This can help skip those annoying and pesky tutorials that a gamer is forced to
play on the first level of many popular games today. Having a save option takes the
pressure off having to dedicate time to play a whole game non-stop thus leaving the
player with more freedom to play whenever they want.

A swift loading time is vital to the running and the success of a game. Having to wait
ten minutes while a game is not ideal, it’s usually more annoying than useful. Slow
loading has many things enter the mind of the gamer before they play a game like
‘Hmm do I really want to wait forever to play this?’ Also speedy loading times allow
for easy access so it can be played for ten minutes to an hour by drawing in the player
with quick access.

These things are so important to help get people to enjoy the game and more
importantly not grow tired of repetitiveness and never play again. A game is played
because it is enjoyable. If a game becomes unchallenging repetitive and stale it is
clearly not a fun game and would be thrown under the bed soon after purchase.
2. Game programming languages
Three commonly used programming languages are C++, Java script and Action script.
All three are commonly used throughout the gaming industry and all have their pros
and cons. These languages enable the games to function and have their rules
implemented and allow the components to function how they are supposed to. Each
language can vary dramatically; these three are only a scratch on the surface when it
comes to programing languages as there are ample amounts of different languages.

C++ is considered a middle level language which is used in software, device drivers
and games. It was developed in 1983 Bjarne Stroutstrup and was originally called
“c”. Some downfalls of this language is that it is large and bulky so it takes a while to
learn; It is very picky about how the code is formatted and there is no set standard
make it sometimes hard to use. This programing language is very popular and has no
lack of support from any programming community; the language is very powerful and
has the potential to program just about anything including low level system programs
also knowing C++ makes learning new languages easier because many languages are
built off a base of C++.

JavaScript is a programming language that is used mostly in online games. It was

developed by Sun Microsystems in 1995. The downfalls of this language are it is not
appropriate for console gaming; it has many security risks including malicious
malware; depending on the browser code can work in different ways resulting in
funny effects. The positives of JavaScript are it has great speed; it’s simple and easy
to learn and it also reduces the load on the website server.

Adobe developed its own scripting language in 2000 called Action Script. Some flaws
in Action script are it does not work with all browsers and does not work on the
iPhone; the cost of purchasing the software is expensive compared to other options; it
is very restricted and file sizes can be issues. Action script also has very useful
features like 3d capability; it supports vector artwork and is consistent throughout
browsers.

Differences of these three languages are:

• Action Script is very locked down compared to the others for safety reasons.
• C++ is the only script capable of being used in platform games.
• Action script was not derived from “c”
3. How Educational Games work
Educational Games are different types of games because they have a different purpose
other than amusing the player. Educational games can be used for vocational training,
work training and teaching children from early ages.

Educational games for children usually revolve around literacy and maths. Those two
things are usually the first thing that children will learn when growing up. It is
important not to force the children to play these games but they are usually developed
that they are also fun and humorous. This makes learning fun.

Simulators are another form of educational games. Simulators are used to teach
people new skills in areas that maybe dangerous or too expensive to learn in real life.
For example flight simulators are usually used to train new pilots without the risk of
crashing, death or injury. This can make learning safe and can allow for supervision
outside of the simulator. It also allows the testing of certain situations that a pilot may
not come into contact often but it has to be assessed.

4. Developing Sequences
The key components of a great and working game can be broken up into three
different headings. These are the environment, sound and interaction. If all three of
these features are well designed then it will more than likely result in a good game.

4.1 Environment
The environment of a game is very important to a games success and playability.
With educational games the primary objective is to learn from the game and the
secondary objective is usually to have fun. Having massive amounts of text may be
very educational but takes away from being a game and it then looks more like an
interactive book. On the other hand having a minimal amount of information in the
game takes away from the primary objective and that is to learn. It is very important
to find the correct balance when developing a game of this genre so that it is great for
learning from but is also fun at the same time. This means that the setting of the game
is important to make this game seem logical and
4.2 Sound

Sound has a significant impact on the audience of a game. The sound sets the scene
and also helps the user know what’s going on by the different sounds. The sounds also
give feedback on the actions that were just performed. It is becoming more and more
common in new consoles and Ipod related games that allow the use of outside music
to be played in the back ground.
The main reason for music in educational games is to point out what is wrong or right
with positive, happy and usually higher pitch noise for a correct answer. The incorrect
sounds are usually long and lower pitch sounds. These sounds encourage the player to
try there hardest to get the next part right or finish the lever while keeping them
engaged.

4.3 Interaction
There is a great importance for interaction in any sort of game especially educational
games. Interaction keeps a user focused and involved in a game. This interaction
keeps a user coming back and playing for fun and not for a chore. With an educational
game it is mainly aimed at children. This helps narrow down the list of ideas of what
children enjoy and want in a game. Children respond well to bright colours and large
and easy to see buttons. This is usually used in these games because it is quick and
effective to use. Also younger children don’t have the problem solving to work
through intricate menu systems so it is ideal to you a simple and brief menu.

5. Educational Game production process

This game will be produced in a short period of time. It will be based on the existing
game that we have developed in class and modified to have a educational component
built into the game. Many changes will need to be made if this game is going to be
aimed a children based audience. This is because of the violence and also the
references to drugs among other things.
5.1 Pre-production
Prior to production a lot of research and brainstorming will need to be done. This is to
work out how the game can be changed to have a working educational game. Things
will need to be changed like the name this is because no parent would allow their
child to play a game with a drug reference in the title. Testing other games to see the
level of difficulty and also how educational introduce the learning will be done. This
is so that this game can have a good balance of gaming and also learning. The game
will need to be engaging and not become boring quickly otherwise the production of
this game will become pointless.

5.2 Production
To make the game minor coding changes will need to be made to the game engine.
This is because the main bulk of the coding can already be used in the production of
this game. The major changes that need to be done is implementing a new name
which will be likely to be changes to “Cloudy with a chance of Math”. This clearly
shows that the game is suitable for children and more importantly is educational.

The way that the game will work will be the enemies will be changed into numbers.
Upon shooting at a target a pop up question, puzzle or riddle will appear. Depending
on the resulting answer the outcome for a correct answer would be to successfully
shoot and kill the enemy. This would be the best way to introduce an educational
topic into to the game without having to rework the game completely.

The instruction may have to be reviewed during the production of the game just to
make sure there are no words or difficult components are not understandable. The
reason that this would have to be done would be so that the game was easy to navigate
and also not have components that are a mystery to the user.
5.3 Post-production
After the game is completed, testing will have to be carried out to find bugs. These
bugs can have an influence on how the game is played and also it could possibly
cause people to not play the game. Testing is key to the success of a game to see how
people interact with the game and also to find problems with the game as well.

The packaging of the game will have to be designed and manufactured after the game
is completed. The packaging of the game has to look appealing and make people want
to play the game. The packaging will have to follow the format of all other packaging
in the industry but at the same time stand out. This can be accomplished by having
funny, bright or eye-catching images on the cover.

Advertising is essential to the succuss of a game. With no advertisements the game

would be lost in the multitude of games and not be known by many people. The
advertising will be designed for television ads, mainly as this is the best way to
acquire the attention of children. Internet ad would not be very successful as many
children are not allowed to browse the internet or don’t have access. Radio ads also
wouldn’t be successful as children don’t really engage with only talking the need a
visual to connect well with a product. The only other form of advertising would be to
advertise on billboards and these would be commonly be seen by children peering out
of the window of the car on trip throughout their daily life.

5.4 Production schedule

The production schedule depends on the overall time allowed to work on this
particular project. Having said this, the best way to set it up would be to break it into
quarters. ¼ would be spent planning, 2/4 would be spent producing the game and the
final quarter would be used for post-production.

The reason that this was used is that the main part of this time should be used on
essentially producing the product. This is for the reason that no profit can come from
the game plans; an actual product has to be created. The other two quarters were then
used in planning and post production these are both very important but the
development of the game is still a higher priority.
Bibliography:

1. Software Company. 2010. Pros and Cons of C++.

http://www.softwarecompany.org/c++-pros-cons.html (accessed 13th of july)
This reference was used in different types of coding section. This was particularly
useful for learning about how most of the current forms of code have some linking
to C.

2. Wiki. 2010. C++. http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/C%2B

%2B#Pros_and_Cons_of_C.2B.2B (accessed 13th of july)
This was another reference used in the coding section this was used mainly to
confirm the information found from the previous reference.

3. Media College. 2010. Advantages and disadvantages of java script.

http://www.mediacollege.com/internet/javascript/pros-cons.html (accessed 13th of
july)
This reference was used to write about java script. It was particularly useful anc
contained a lot of relevant information.