RPG for learning a language?

[jarmel123]

I'm thinking a game like 'stick RPG' from xgenstudios except you're dropped into a city of some foreign country (say France) and the player starts at the airport, walks outside and meets the driver that's been arranged for him. They exchange some basic French "hello", "my name is etc." (The kind of thing you learn in a "basic conversation" language lesson), then the driver takes the player to his apartment or something.
The player then has to do missions around the city and as the game progresses the vocabulary used by the player and everyone around him gets harder, with the general goal of the game being to just learn as much French as possible.

To make it more of a "learning" game rather than just a game, before each mission, even before starting the game, the user has to pass a flashcard test with the next words that are going to be used and maybe some basic grammar notes, and the player has to keep trying until he/she passes.


Any ideas/interest?

[KunoNoOni]

I think its a great idea! There was something done like that for learning japanese, I have the game somewhere. In fact you could have a xml file with a bunch of languages in it and let the user choose which language they wanted to game to be in :) Just a thought...


-KunoNoOni

[jarmel123]

Cool. Is it a Flash game or some other engine? I'd like to take a look at it.

[EgoAnt]

Yeah, I agree, this is a great idea. I love educational games.

[IQAndreas]

Fantastic idea!!


In fact, if you wanted, you probably don't even need to make the game in any specific language (like, if you are learning French, and most of the users speak English, try coding the game so EVERYTHING is in French, and NOTHING in English.)

I believe that will help users learn and remember the most, but it might be a bit tricky to implement in some areas. However, if users have visual clues to what things do, like in the beginning, when they want to talk to someone, they may have options such as "talk", "give", etc, but those buttons are in French. However, if you have a little mouth icon etc, they will quickly get the point, and after playing 30+ hours of the game total, believe me, they will never forget the words for talk and give. ;)

Also, whenever a new word appears, if they clearly see on the screen what is happening, they should soon be able to link that word with the item. Then you might not need the "flash cards", and the player can learn the words naturally when they are used. Also, (if you were planning on an RPG where they walk around) when they are walking through town, have as many signs as possible, each over the clearly distinguishable building, such as shop, bakery, hospital, etc.

It might also benefit them to hear the people speaking the language. That many sounds might take a while to load, but if you load them in dynamically (only when you actually need them) it shouldn't be a problem.


Definitely keep me updated in case you go somewhere with this. I'll gladly help out if you ever need it, but right now my schedule won't allow me to commit full time to working with it, however, PM me if you ever run into a snag and need some code or to track down a bug.


But I beg and plead, DO NOT have a cheap story line and crappy plot. Try to have things constantly happening, and try to avoid too many "cookie cutter quests". How do I describe that better... Have you ever played those Spider Man games where you run around the city saving people? Well, after the 200th person you rescued from falling off a building, and the 300th purse snatcher, it really gets dull. I don't care if the last person was brown haired and falling off a two story building, while this one is black haired and falling off a three story building, it's still the exact same thing, because the developer was cheap and did like this:
add new FallFromBuildingQuest(randomPerson(), randomBuilding());

Having definitely help introduce them to more words (like if they have to deliver a random item to a random place, and give it to a person with this, this, and this description), however, it would sacrifice the game's appeal by a lot, so try to strike a balance, or at least mix these quests with others with more "body" to them.


There are very many educational games out there, but most of them tend to be very dry and implement the learning part very poorly, making it more of an interactive textbook, which is alright, but might not keep users coming back to play, and might kill some motivation to learn.


Sorry for being so opinionated, but it's 2AM, and I tend to blab a lot this late at night. ;)

[jarmel123]

I dunno where to start with this : (.

[IQAndreas]

:) That is a classic problem.

First write down on paper (or type up) how you want the game to be structured.

Figure out what the player actually does, the controls, the options etc. You can always go back and change this information later, but try to get a basic overview of how the system will work. Don't worry about code yet.

If I wasn't so busy this weekend I would help you out, but I'm also better at fixing problems and finding workarounds, and I'm really not the best at actually working on major projects. :sigh: So if you ever run into any problems, even about things like how to organize the code or structure the classes, send me a message. :)