In for a penny...
by James · 12/21/2005 (7:20 pm) · 7 comments
I've had torque now for almost a year. I've played around with it and had a bit of fun but now it's time to do something with it.
I'm an interactive designer/art director and sometime creative director in the web space. I've been doing this for almost 12 years now, won some awards, been praise for innovation and the fact that I "get it"... whatever "it" is. Well, I'm bored. The web space is what it is and unless your a "pure" designer, not really all that interesting anymore. I don't do blogs (okay, now I do), I don't create designer "wank" sites (That's a "look at the cool stuff I can do that has absoluting no purpose but to make you gush over how brilliant I am and that breaks all the rules of usability and and..." - But I digress).
No, it's time to move on. It's time to start working on something that I've always had my eye on - creating experiences for an audience (not a better way to add items to a virtual "cart" - not that there's anything wrong with that!). I'm talking about games in the educational space (I heard you moan there). Well, rather than go on about how great it will be or point to the numerous articles out there (and at Garage Games) but how this space is growing, I'll show you what I'm after.
Over the next few days and weeks I will be posting my first plan outlining my first project - a prototype. It won't be fancy, it won't be overly impressive but it will (I hope, I hope) illustrate the concept that I'm after.
I code in Flash and am pretty good with actionscript but C++ and the torque script are not Flash (though as with any "language" there are some similarities) so I'll be focusing on design for now with a moderate amount of scripting. I hope that with a prototype done by mid-january and with some concept sketches I might convice some developer out there to give me a hand with the nuts and bolts.
But first, the concept drawings, costume and character designs, and a prototype.
For my first post see this thread.
This should be fun - wish me luck :)
I'm an interactive designer/art director and sometime creative director in the web space. I've been doing this for almost 12 years now, won some awards, been praise for innovation and the fact that I "get it"... whatever "it" is. Well, I'm bored. The web space is what it is and unless your a "pure" designer, not really all that interesting anymore. I don't do blogs (okay, now I do), I don't create designer "wank" sites (That's a "look at the cool stuff I can do that has absoluting no purpose but to make you gush over how brilliant I am and that breaks all the rules of usability and and..." - But I digress).
No, it's time to move on. It's time to start working on something that I've always had my eye on - creating experiences for an audience (not a better way to add items to a virtual "cart" - not that there's anything wrong with that!). I'm talking about games in the educational space (I heard you moan there). Well, rather than go on about how great it will be or point to the numerous articles out there (and at Garage Games) but how this space is growing, I'll show you what I'm after.
Over the next few days and weeks I will be posting my first plan outlining my first project - a prototype. It won't be fancy, it won't be overly impressive but it will (I hope, I hope) illustrate the concept that I'm after.
I code in Flash and am pretty good with actionscript but C++ and the torque script are not Flash (though as with any "language" there are some similarities) so I'll be focusing on design for now with a moderate amount of scripting. I hope that with a prototype done by mid-january and with some concept sketches I might convice some developer out there to give me a hand with the nuts and bolts.
But first, the concept drawings, costume and character designs, and a prototype.
For my first post see this thread.
This should be fun - wish me luck :)
#2
12/22/2005 (12:33 am)
Ooh, someone else named James :) It looks like a sound plan of action to me...and the early concept work is nice stuff. Good luck!
#3
My reply got mangled.. But I was going to say that I'm happy to see people tackling educational titles, but beware of going down the road of the educational theorists and make games that simply arent fun because they are trying to prove and educational point.
Most of the "educational titles" Ive seen to date have truly been horrible, not only did they bore you to tears because they didnt concentrate on the interativity and fun factor, but also, thier content was usually really quite badly done.
I do believe in the power of games to educate, but its so often done badly. Yet there is a huge amount of money being invested in these games (several hundred million here in the UK alone) that proves that at least someone sees that games are motivational.
I'd cite something like "The incredible machine" as a learning game that works, because it clearly shows you a lot of the basic physics effects of objects. Using that for a while and then discussing it in class would be clearly beneficial.
I hope you do really well.
Phil.
12/22/2005 (2:53 am)
James!My reply got mangled.. But I was going to say that I'm happy to see people tackling educational titles, but beware of going down the road of the educational theorists and make games that simply arent fun because they are trying to prove and educational point.
Most of the "educational titles" Ive seen to date have truly been horrible, not only did they bore you to tears because they didnt concentrate on the interativity and fun factor, but also, thier content was usually really quite badly done.
I do believe in the power of games to educate, but its so often done badly. Yet there is a huge amount of money being invested in these games (several hundred million here in the UK alone) that proves that at least someone sees that games are motivational.
I'd cite something like "The incredible machine" as a learning game that works, because it clearly shows you a lot of the basic physics effects of objects. Using that for a while and then discussing it in class would be clearly beneficial.
I hope you do really well.
Phil.
#4
Like Phil said many educational games have missed the point in the past. They usually end up with a crappy licence from the hottest child icons of the given time, just to apeal to audiance. I saw an educational title with the Barny licence that even my 6 year old cousin saw it for what it was. Making an educational title that is fun, my hat is off to you I really do wish you luck. Keep us all posted on how you are getting on. If you get stuck with anything try searching the forums or TDN, their is a huge amount of code snippets and other resources hidden in this site.
-James Bond.
12/22/2005 (3:53 am)
Hello James,Like Phil said many educational games have missed the point in the past. They usually end up with a crappy licence from the hottest child icons of the given time, just to apeal to audiance. I saw an educational title with the Barny licence that even my 6 year old cousin saw it for what it was. Making an educational title that is fun, my hat is off to you I really do wish you luck. Keep us all posted on how you are getting on. If you get stuck with anything try searching the forums or TDN, their is a huge amount of code snippets and other resources hidden in this site.
-James Bond.
#5
I remember reading an article about a school using EVE-Online as a way to teach economics. How true it is, or how successful I've no idea. But when you look at that game, you can see the potential it has for education. Sure its a game first and formost and people may only learn a limited amount through direct play, but what they will benefit from would be all the class room discussions that could be spawned from it.
I think any education game these days will do best if its a game that the kids/students/whoever would still want to play at home in a none educational capacity. That way anything they do learn at school/in classes would be reinforced in their later play. Also teaming up with a teacher to outline a rough lesson plan might go a long way in selling the idea to others. If someone can glance through a list of items that your game can stimulate discussions about, then you're on the right track.
I agree with Phil though, the markets there its just most titles have gone about it in a bad way.
12/22/2005 (4:41 am)
I can remember some of the educational games I was bought back in the C64 days. One was pretty much space invaders only every so often you stopped been able to move and had to type the solution to a simple maths sum before you could continue. Admittedly it was very early days in the game world, let alone the educational game world but it was still a poor game and poor games arn't played much. I remember reading an article about a school using EVE-Online as a way to teach economics. How true it is, or how successful I've no idea. But when you look at that game, you can see the potential it has for education. Sure its a game first and formost and people may only learn a limited amount through direct play, but what they will benefit from would be all the class room discussions that could be spawned from it.
I think any education game these days will do best if its a game that the kids/students/whoever would still want to play at home in a none educational capacity. That way anything they do learn at school/in classes would be reinforced in their later play. Also teaming up with a teacher to outline a rough lesson plan might go a long way in selling the idea to others. If someone can glance through a list of items that your game can stimulate discussions about, then you're on the right track.
I agree with Phil though, the markets there its just most titles have gone about it in a bad way.
#6
Computers are capable of providing such a unique way of exploring a topic. A kid will arguably have a better grasp on history after playing Civ, for instance, but it's a different type of understanding than memorizing names and dates from a textbook. I think this distinction was only really explored back in the days of the Apple II with Oregon Trail, et al.
12/22/2005 (2:02 pm)
I think there's a certain honesty you have to approach it with, because even at a young age, kids can detect the insincerity when, for instance, these companies just slap a slick-looking licensed character on a boring math drill. Computers are capable of providing such a unique way of exploring a topic. A kid will arguably have a better grasp on history after playing Civ, for instance, but it's a different type of understanding than memorizing names and dates from a textbook. I think this distinction was only really explored back in the days of the Apple II with Oregon Trail, et al.
#7
Currently I am working for a company that produces online Learning Objects - another catch word out there - and they have tried to make them "fun" and interesting as possible by building in games. This has been only moderately successful. Since my love is building educational and interactive environments I started doing research on games in education. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there now. It's also sad to see some of the same mistakes being repeated and/or perpetuated... but there are also some very good things too.
My current hero in this field is Dr. James Paul Gee. He has some very intelligent insights regarding educational games and even if you don't always agree with what he says, it does make you think. And we need to do that more often.
I just had a though, perhaps as I document my progress I'll share some of my thoughts and findings in this area. I'd love to start a dialogue as the feedback and input can only make the project better... even expand MY grey matter for that matter ;)
Long winded but I just want to say again - thanks for the encouragement and advice. It's really appreciated :)
Cheers!
12/22/2005 (5:06 pm)
First of all, thank you all for the words of encouragement and advice. You've all made very valid points regarding games and education and the usual pitfalls to avoid. I'm in total agreement with you.Currently I am working for a company that produces online Learning Objects - another catch word out there - and they have tried to make them "fun" and interesting as possible by building in games. This has been only moderately successful. Since my love is building educational and interactive environments I started doing research on games in education. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there now. It's also sad to see some of the same mistakes being repeated and/or perpetuated... but there are also some very good things too.
My current hero in this field is Dr. James Paul Gee. He has some very intelligent insights regarding educational games and even if you don't always agree with what he says, it does make you think. And we need to do that more often.
I just had a though, perhaps as I document my progress I'll share some of my thoughts and findings in this area. I'd love to start a dialogue as the feedback and input can only make the project better... even expand MY grey matter for that matter ;)
Long winded but I just want to say again - thanks for the encouragement and advice. It's really appreciated :)
Cheers!
Torque Owner J Lesko
Good luck!