Yeah, good points as well. Let me see if I can address them. As CCO of the company I had to battle a ton of expectations before we even got started producing. First, not everyone is going to like it. Heck, movies on $50MM budgets get panned by tons of people. TV shows have their followings and detractors as well. So in one sense I'd say we haven't had a lot of choice in educational games. The key thing is that not everyone will like any particular game - even in the retail world. Do you like Unreal 2007? Do you like Halo 3? Do you prefer Chess Master? Which brings up another thing to consider from an educational viewpoint - genre. There are casual games like bingo, concentration, bejeweled, solitaire. Role Playing games (RPG's), MMO's... do you play or like World of Warcraft? And of course the FPS (First Person Shooter). Then there's science fiction adaptations, historical games... there are huge followings for each genre. Many people have preferences I feel are based on the representation of the data - 3d, 2d, third person, first person, action (twitch), strategy (slow), turn based, real time. There are a lot of things that influence a person's preferences.
There's also a huge pressure to make something BOTH girls and boys like. Are you kidding me?!! Pleasing everyone leaves you with a watered down experience. Having said that, I think we got pretty lucky at Tabula. Both girls and boys like the games, for different reasons though. This is also a HUGE pressure when selling to schools because a school won't buy something that won't work for everyone. That thinking is so old school.
As for the "feeling educated" that breaks the illusion - that's just like going into a movie and not being willing to suspend your disbelief. That happens to me now and then. I'm being a pain in my ass not wanting to believe, seeing something early on I want to argue about, etc then I ruin the whole movie for myself. Letting yourself go and believing is a key to enjoying some things. It's amazing to see the way kids get into my game and story. I'm not saying I'm Steven Spielberg, but it's really cool to see how these kids dive right in and stick in it!
Who says you have to teach one or the other? Why not both? In my game, Dimenxian, a player goes on a mission in a sector of an abandoned island to find mutated creatures. He/she has to capture them, weigh and measure the height as he goes (state standard exam type problems). Of course it's fun to drive the cruiser and shoot the electronic plasma net to capture. Then you have to rush back to the hidden laboratory and enter in the data to the mainframe that's monitoring the sector -else you can't get out because security has you locked down. But wait! some data is missing... you must find the trend in the data and approximate. Make your best guess so you can fool the computer and get outta there! Kids learn to do basic skills like graphing but then learn higher order skills like approximation. This leads to trend analysis (which they'll use in the next mission). And eventually in the last mission of the 5 mission linear equations pack, they learn to abstract the trend into a linear equation - fixing the fuel filter at a plasma generator of course! Then go online and play multiplayer to hone your skills at spotting trends and equations in a fast paced competition against your friends. You can have both, state standard problems and higher order thinking ; ) check em out at www.dimensionM.com. Let me know what you think. I'm happy to answer any questions about educational game development.
I am one of the founders and the Chief Product Officers/Chief Creative Officer of a company called Tabula Digita. We made the first 3d action adventure game to teach algebra; It's kinda like Halo teaches algebra. The math is woven into the story line and you must use math in interesting ways to get through the missions. We even made multiplayer games that focus more on drill and practice through competition. You can get free demos of the games at www.dimensionM.com. Each mission in the games is linked to state standards so kids not only get the big picture of how math relates to a larger concept or objective through the story, but they do the actual detail work of solving problems. All while using cool vehicles, jet packs, and other fun stuff. It was the culmination of 5 years of very hard work convincing people to fund us to make it. We got venture capital after 3 years of searching. The games are now being played in over 90 schools in NYC, FL, and TX. A 1700 person study on their effectiveness is coming out this month done by the University of Central Florida. I could also go on and on with stories of how I've seen kids faces light up as they play - those kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods who see no real use for algebra and have been a part of a system that, well, you know.... and it's amazing to see girls participating just as much as boys - fascinating. I'm happy to field any questions about making or using video games to teach.
Second thought - where are you located? Maybe there are some schools in your area already using the games. You could see how they implement or even set up a school vs school multiplayer challenge. You can reply to me here or contact Tabula Digita through the 'more info' link on the site. there are also videos on the site showing educator's opinions and usage impressions. Good Luck!
Hey Stew, check out www.dimensionM.com. download the demos and see what you think. There's a 1700 person study coming out this month by the University of Central Florida around the efficacy of these games.
Hi Bilby - check out www.dimensionM.com. You'll find a full featured action adventure game that teaches pre-algebra. All linked to state standards. Runs on PC and Mac. It's kind of like Halo teaches pre-algebra.
I promise it will impress you and your teachers. There's even multiplayer!
Slashdot Mirror
I get it now! Awesome. ...or if the processor were a ping pong ball, and you were in Luxembourg, gasoline would cost 25 cents
Yeah, good points as well. Let me see if I can address them. As CCO of the company I had to battle a ton of expectations before we even got started producing. First, not everyone is going to like it. Heck, movies on $50MM budgets get panned by tons of people. TV shows have their followings and detractors as well. So in one sense I'd say we haven't had a lot of choice in educational games. The key thing is that not everyone will like any particular game - even in the retail world. Do you like Unreal 2007? Do you like Halo 3? Do you prefer Chess Master? Which brings up another thing to consider from an educational viewpoint - genre. There are casual games like bingo, concentration, bejeweled, solitaire. Role Playing games (RPG's), MMO's... do you play or like World of Warcraft? And of course the FPS (First Person Shooter). Then there's science fiction adaptations, historical games... there are huge followings for each genre. Many people have preferences I feel are based on the representation of the data - 3d, 2d, third person, first person, action (twitch), strategy (slow), turn based, real time. There are a lot of things that influence a person's preferences. There's also a huge pressure to make something BOTH girls and boys like. Are you kidding me?!! Pleasing everyone leaves you with a watered down experience. Having said that, I think we got pretty lucky at Tabula. Both girls and boys like the games, for different reasons though. This is also a HUGE pressure when selling to schools because a school won't buy something that won't work for everyone. That thinking is so old school. As for the "feeling educated" that breaks the illusion - that's just like going into a movie and not being willing to suspend your disbelief. That happens to me now and then. I'm being a pain in my ass not wanting to believe, seeing something early on I want to argue about, etc then I ruin the whole movie for myself. Letting yourself go and believing is a key to enjoying some things. It's amazing to see the way kids get into my game and story. I'm not saying I'm Steven Spielberg, but it's really cool to see how these kids dive right in and stick in it!
you may contact me at: rlclegg@aol.com (keeping my business address private for now)
Who says you have to teach one or the other? Why not both? In my game, Dimenxian, a player goes on a mission in a sector of an abandoned island to find mutated creatures. He/she has to capture them, weigh and measure the height as he goes (state standard exam type problems). Of course it's fun to drive the cruiser and shoot the electronic plasma net to capture. Then you have to rush back to the hidden laboratory and enter in the data to the mainframe that's monitoring the sector -else you can't get out because security has you locked down. But wait! some data is missing... you must find the trend in the data and approximate. Make your best guess so you can fool the computer and get outta there! Kids learn to do basic skills like graphing but then learn higher order skills like approximation. This leads to trend analysis (which they'll use in the next mission). And eventually in the last mission of the 5 mission linear equations pack, they learn to abstract the trend into a linear equation - fixing the fuel filter at a plasma generator of course! Then go online and play multiplayer to hone your skills at spotting trends and equations in a fast paced competition against your friends. You can have both, state standard problems and higher order thinking ; ) check em out at www.dimensionM.com. Let me know what you think. I'm happy to answer any questions about educational game development.
I am one of the founders and the Chief Product Officers/Chief Creative Officer of a company called Tabula Digita. We made the first 3d action adventure game to teach algebra; It's kinda like Halo teaches algebra. The math is woven into the story line and you must use math in interesting ways to get through the missions. We even made multiplayer games that focus more on drill and practice through competition. You can get free demos of the games at www.dimensionM.com. Each mission in the games is linked to state standards so kids not only get the big picture of how math relates to a larger concept or objective through the story, but they do the actual detail work of solving problems. All while using cool vehicles, jet packs, and other fun stuff. It was the culmination of 5 years of very hard work convincing people to fund us to make it. We got venture capital after 3 years of searching. The games are now being played in over 90 schools in NYC, FL, and TX. A 1700 person study on their effectiveness is coming out this month done by the University of Central Florida. I could also go on and on with stories of how I've seen kids faces light up as they play - those kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods who see no real use for algebra and have been a part of a system that, well, you know. ... and it's amazing to see girls participating just as much as boys - fascinating. I'm happy to field any questions about making or using video games to teach.
Second thought - where are you located? Maybe there are some schools in your area already using the games. You could see how they implement or even set up a school vs school multiplayer challenge. You can reply to me here or contact Tabula Digita through the 'more info' link on the site. there are also videos on the site showing educator's opinions and usage impressions. Good Luck!
Hey Stew, check out www.dimensionM.com. download the demos and see what you think. There's a 1700 person study coming out this month by the University of Central Florida around the efficacy of these games.
Hi Bilby - check out www.dimensionM.com. You'll find a full featured action adventure game that teaches pre-algebra. All linked to state standards. Runs on PC and Mac. It's kind of like Halo teaches pre-algebra. I promise it will impress you and your teachers. There's even multiplayer!
Check out a game called "Evolver" at www.dimensionM.com. It teaches state standard algebra through Halo-like missions.