The aim of this work has been to develop an edutainment application for natural user interfaces that can be used in the classroom and at home. They should encourage children and young people on a funy way to test their newly acquired knowledge. Care was taken that the game motivates learners by appealing animations, cut scenes and mini-games.
Since it is important in the learning process that the learner feels comfortable, the actual knowledge query was packed in a trivia game. Thus, the player does not notice that he just answered questions that could be used just as well in an exam.
General
Due to time constraints, unfortunately, no evaluation of the application in schools could be made. Instead, the game was tested with people in between 13 to 80 years. It was shown on a multi-touch enabled device for testing. No instructions or explanations, except that is it is a touch-screen, were given. A question data-base with questions on general knowledge was choosen for this test.
Despite initial problems understanding how to operate the program, all subjects were able figure it out in a short time. After the control by touch was understood, there were less operating problems than expected.
There were few criticisms regarding the choice of the questions and selected category name, however, this could be easily changed by changing the underlying database.
Another criticism of individuals were the choices of the sequences between the questions. These were based on popular games and Internet memes.
To please all the players this parts of the game had to be improved in a further version.
Presentation at CeBIT
After analyzing the application it has been exhibited at CeBIT 2012.
Due to the high level of noise in the hall, it was difficult even with external speakers to hear the tone of the game. So it was turned off after the first day and the in-game instructions have been replaced by a personal instruction.
Because of the most rapid explanations a lot if visitors had some problems related to the countdown and to the use of the buzzer at the bottom of the screen.
The feedback from the visitors was almost always very positive. So a lot of people highlighted the choice of input method by finger and body control and described it as being innovative and positive.
Since the last day was free for all visitors, on this day mainly the webcam game “Catch All” was shown in a modified version, where players had to catch diamonds. It became clear that especially younger people and children were enthusiastic whith this control. But also older visitors quickly understood, without an explanation, how the game was played.
Upcoming blog entries
Making The Game – Part 18: Concept for school use and outlook