PRP - Ninth artefact, Designing stage 2

The designing of the game was complete, now onto the flash/coding side and this wasn't easy. Through the tutorial I learnt how to create an array which could detect when the users clicked on the correct symbol, once the correct sequence has been played the array would restart but with another symbol added to the sequence.
Overall the creation of the game was fairly simple and I am getting a stronger understanding as to how the sequence is created, there were many elements that had to be taking into consideration. The coding that had to be inserted included:
- Not allowing the user to click on the lights when the sequence was in play
- If user clicked wrong light then the game would be over
- The timings for how long the lights would work

On top of this I decided that I wanted a 'fake' intro, this included a start button with a loading bar and a 'game over' button which allowed the user to play the game again. I found this part the hardest as I had to edit external document class. What I was unaware of when editing the code was that the tutorial created the document class as a 'sprite'. Sprite classes are purposely designed to only work in one key frame however as I was using three frame I needed to change the sprite class into a 'Movieclip'. Initially I did not realise this and was getting frustrated because the game would automatically start rather then playing the intro frame.

Overall the design of the game ran smoothly, I have past the design over to a few people (children and adults) to get their opinion on the whole design. I have explained to them the purpose of the game so they understand that it is not complete.

PRP - Ninth artefact, Designing stage 1

Wanting to stick to the theme of the Moshi Monster site I decided to look around at the theme's that Moshi Monster used. From looking at the website I had two choices; either place the game within the puzzle palace or move it onto the 'main square'. The aim of this artefact and the overall project however was to highlight education and so the decision was made to design the game around the theme of the 'puzzle palace'.

For the design at this current time I have used a screen print for the background. It will be easy to edit the gaming stage so the whole theme of the design has been easily created. When thinking about ideas for the symbols which will be used like the background I also wanted this to be incorporated into the design. The one thing that has always been mentioned when playing these games is that there is always an incentive, in terms for Moshi Monster, 'Rox' (Moshi Monster money) Having looked at the symbols I have managed to create a design for the symbols that represents 'rox' I have also tried to add a 3D look to the symbols by using colours.

Now that the design has been created the next step will be actually creating the game. As I am very short on time I have found a tutorial that explains how to create a memory game so I will follow that, hopefully it will create a game that could represent a memory game.

PRP - Ninth artefact, The Memory game

Ok after looking at my previous artefacts I have decided that I am going to create a simple memory game. The aim of the game will be to follow a certain sequence be it light or sound. Every time you get the sequence correct the will get longer until the player make an incorrect move.

Having played on these games before I find them very addictive for such a simple game and I think that this would be an ideal game for children and in Moshi Monsters. A good example of this was a simple game that I found on 'the kidz page.com' it is a little different to how I imagine my game but when playing on it I found myself wanting to continuously beat my score so I can imagine the competition between friends. The game is called sequence memory, on each level the player has to memorise different set of imagery. The imagery will then disappear and a set of images will appear, the player has to select the correct images to move onto the next stages.



I plan to design the game around the same theme as Moshi Monster so when I present my ideas to people they will have a rough idea as to how it will look if the game was actually on Moshi Monsters. I think that I will work with sounds and colours as I have played these type of sequence games the most. I have also received opinions from other game players and they all agree with me that the game that I intend to design will be the more successful game to use in a competition for a younger target audience.

My next aim now will be to actually start designing the game,however I think that this will be a ideal way to end my research project.

PRP - Ninth artefact, The Puzzle palace

As I had previously mentioned, Moshi Monster contains a games area called 'The Puzzle Palace'. Within this area puzzles have been designed that are consist of different learning items. When researching into the site for the previous artefact I had a play on all of the games to get an idea as to what the site offers in terms of education.

I was positively surprised at the games that were on offer to the members. Different games including naming countries flags (geography) correct spellings, telling the time and maths. They were all subtle yet if the children were asked these questions in everyday lifes I think that they would know the answers because of playing this game.

I understand why they have placed all of the games in one area however it also gives me the impression that all of the educational side of the game has been isolated in this one area, however I am being picky and so this was a minor detail that I wanted to point out.

In the previous artefact many of the users mentioned that they were not earning enough rox to afford different foods/accessories. A good incentive to make the members play on the game is that for every game you play you earn 5 rox. You can only earn 5 rox per game per day however if the member wants the rox I can guarantee that they would play on all of the games to earn those rox. It is a very good way to lure the members in. Another incentive that I noticed was that the more you play the higher the level you go. Members want to be higher levels because you get the option to go buy better items and have more games to play on.

From the past few artefacts I have mentioned that children need an incentive to continue a game and for that reason that is why I have chosen to make a game a competition against their peers. The incentive could be the person with the highest score wins a prize, in Moshi Monster world that could be rox, or even a free membership for so many months.

PRP - Ninth artefact, ideas

For the final artefact rather then creating a game that could be tested I wanted to create a something that could improve the results from artefact eight. The results were not as promising as I expected however a main point that was mentioned was that the children would have preferred if they could communicate with people who they know rather than strangers. I think that this is understandable and to round up my research I wanted to try and create a game that could collaborate friends, schools etc within the Moshi Monster site allowing the players to not only compete against there fellow peers but would hopefully feel more at ease knowing that they are playing with someone who they know.

Another aim of this artefact is potentially create an idea that could work in and out of school, and in a results hopefully improving the Moshi Monster educational side. The game that I plan to design will be quite simple and will focus not so much on education but more on collaborating children and allowing them to work as a team and hopefully result in improving group-working and social skills.

The game has to be something that will make the children compete so a simple scoring system will be in place. I am still deciding on which game to design but the main points that it will have to address will be to allow collaboration and be simple enough to appeal to everyone.

PRP - Eighth artefact, The diary designs

Below I have attached some examples of the diary that I have distributed to 29 students as you can see in the designs they are straight forward and quite simple as the students are doing this in their free time.

The front and back cover

The introduction letter (instructions were also provided on the opposite page)
The inside pages, students would write on these pages.

Overall there was a lot of photocopying involved but they have been distributed to the students and I will be collecting them in the next few days. I am unsure as to what results I will receive but hopefully I will get some feedback.

PRP - Eighth artefact, The diary

Thinking about ways to to get users to test this site wasn't easy. My aim was to get the users to play on the game for a certain amount of time and record their findings, thoughts and potential improvements.

The idea came when I left the school after doing my previous tests. It came to my attention that the test subjects had been in front of me all the time...the school students. Although the task that I was setting required older students (9-10) who had stronger reading and writing skills.

The plan was to create a diary for the students to keep to record their findings whilst on Moshi Monster. Within the diary the students would write about what they, learnt, liked/dislike and improvements. The was contacted and it was agreed that a class of year 5 students would do the testing for me.

The will consist of five days and I will also have to write a letter to the parents explaining my research project. Hopefully I will get some opinions from the children and this will help me see how children respond to this virtual world.

PRP - Eighth artefact, Moshi Monster

After quite a long time of searching I have finally found the site that I want to use for my artefact and that is Moshi Monsters (Designed by Mind Candy). This site has been designed for an audience aged around 6-15.

"Our intention when creating Moshi Monsters was to a produce a ground breaking new entertainment experience that would be fun, safe and educational for kids of all ages."

The site has just hit the 15 million user mark and its been said that Gordon Brown's children are addicted to the game. When I enter the site it became apparent that you had to pay membership to visit the whole of Moshi Monster land but there was also a free membership option that allowed the users access to certain areas of Moshi Monster land.

When I signed up the first few steps were to design my monster. It was made clear to me plus any new member that rules had to be obeyed, if broken you are out of Moshi Monster land. Following the designs and parental confirmation your are free to play. This could be an issue when asking participants to do this test.

Once in Moshi Monster land I could immediately see why the younger target audience would find this appealing. The design used has bright and bold colours, the general illustrations used are fun and with the added animations makes this virtual world for children an enjoyable experience. The main educational part is held the 'puzzle palace'. What is good about these games is they have a rewards system. To get money (or rox) the player has to get as many questions right in order to raise more rox.

I think that the rewards system will work quite well and it is for all of the reasons above that I intend to use this site as my test subject. The only issue that I may have is that the site appears to have separated the educational games away from the other activities, although this is a minor issue (just being picky).

PRP - Eighth artefact, ICT games

When I came across ict-games I thought that reading the name it would be an ideal website for education and a fun source for gaming, however this was not the case. When the site was opened you are greeted to very bland and unstructured site that would not appeal to a younger audience.

The site provides the option of having a numeracy or literacy games and when the chosen option is clicked on a range of games based around the subject appears. Having looked at other games these do not show any creative design work, although having tackled such games I understand that designing these games are difficult.

This site has the potential to be good however the lack of design work detracts users away. If the children are to be interested they need something to be interested in. Previous sites that I have analysed have the design and I predict that they are more popular then ict-games.

PRP - Eighth artefact, Poptropica

I came across funbrain.com however registration was required but, I noticed a tab that sent the user to a place called Poptropica. With the target audience aimed towards 6-15 year olds and the game designed by the 'Family education network' I assumed that this game was an educational piece, although I'm not too sure that I was right.

The game is free for all users to play with no sign-up required. The game has been pre-scripted so communication is free from profanity, making the environment fairly safe. The main aim of the game is to travel to the different islands and complete
the missions on each island by solving clues. The character has the choice to battle against other characters.


Although I only played on the game for a short amount of time I found myself wanting to solve a mission. Even though there was not actually any games to help learn I found myself having to work out the puzzles, could this be a learning source? In my research document I spoke about how games could be a good learning source not just for school subjects but social skills and generally training your brain. This is what I feel the aim behind this game is. When children play this game they have to put find links in the clues to complete missions, you are constantly thinking about how to solve the mystery.

The design adapts well to the idea of a child's virtual world, and with the added animation makes it more than a game. The avatars are small characters not looking like any real person (again good for safety) but the player has the option to dress the character up how they like. The option is given to save the stages you are at, giving freedom to come and go to play the game as you please.

I will not be using this game as there is no actually educational learning outcomes however it is a good example of a virtual world for children, if more learning games were added then this would be ideal.

PRP - Eighth artefact, Fun School

Having browsed through many sites through this project is starting to make it more of a challenge to find new sources, especially when looking for a certain thing that I know will be beneficial to my research and now be a good test piece for children to analyse.

I came across 'funschool' (designed by Kaboose) through my searching and it looks like a site that could appeal to all ages.
Design

The overall design has used bright, bold colours that could catch the users eye from a distance, pink appears to be a popular colour used on the however this has been toned down by the use of the blues and oranges used on the navigation and tabs . Imagery has been used throughout the whole design with clear labelling. This is useful for the younger children who may not have fully learnt how certain words but recognise images.

The navigation of the site is packed with small interactive pieces i.e. sounds and animation that would appeal to a younger child. Although these aspects can be entertaining there are a number of different tabs that potentially a younger child could find confusing and so parental guidance could be needed.

What is noticeable is the advertisements sprawled all across the website. Its a big part of the site and this could easily detract users away from the website.

Interactivity and Learning

Browsing through the site it is clear that many games are available and for all subjects. From english to art funschool is guaranteed to have a game that would suit the child's needs. Many themes have been incorporated throughout the design work including dinosaurs for history and cowboys for descriptions. The majority of the games have a learning outcome and what is good about the funschool site is that all aspects of learning is included. Games have been designed to build on children's knowledge about the meanings of words, fractions and biology.

On the whole this site is a great example of an educational site. Apart from the large amount of advertising the design relates to the target audience and the interactivity has a quirky effect. The navigation could be a little less complicated although with all of the tabs labelled well with imagery and text this is not a big issue.

PRP - Eighth artefact ideas

Throughout the entire project I have been testing what teachers know, what children know, what makes a game, what subject suits best for computer technology etc and I have learnt a lot since starting this research and my views have definately on the computer learning subject. Throughout the research projects I have been observing the participants and taking notes on the way they act around computer technology, the way they act as a group/individually and listening to their thoughts and opinions.

In artefact five, I created the test from listening to the childrens opinions about imagery used. From doing this it brought to my attention that even though imagery and colours did not have a major effect on the game play, computer games could be a useful learning support source for certain children (lower literacy level skilled children adapted to the game quicker). From listening to the childrens opinions artefacts six and seven were created, both provided interesting information.

So for artefact eight I decided that I would like to pursue down this route again and get the child's view. There are many online sources that claim to be educational and fun, but are they? My aim of the research was to see whether games and learning could be combined to help with learning strategies. Rather than myself anaylising these websites and assuming I know the outcome I am going to have the children analyse these sites. After all they are the target audience and they will provide me with an honest answer.

I am going to research into some potential test sites that I think will be interesting to the children and also claim to be educational and fun.

PRP - Do brain training games work?

A program on BBC tested whether brain training games actually worked.



The results showed that there was little difference in the results between the users on the brain training game and the user not on the brain training game. My opinion since finishing my research document has not changed and I think that these programs are not looking at the larger picture. I believe that game can assist in learning, it will not make much improvement but it will develop social skills and will make learning, for some students a more enjoyable experience.

PRP - Seventh artefact, Second design attempt

After the first design attempt, the general coding of the game was finished however the overall design did not have any appeal that would attract a child. So before this artefact was tested a redesign was in order. I occurred to me that my previous artefact used characters that children recognised and it was decided that the same theme would be used across this test.

I decided that I would you the famous 'Looney Toons' characters as they are a recognisable group. The main frame of the game was to be kept i.e. the spellings, but as said before in my previous post I wanted to add something extra to the spelling to add to the childs experience. Looking back at my research some games added sentences with the spelling, giving the child an example of where the word could be place. Doing this not only provided the child with spellings but could also potentially help with reading skills. Adding the imagery automatically added character to the game. The previous design was plain and a bit dull but with the characters, there was more sense as to who the game will be aimed at.

The first design had a green background as this was classed as a neutral/creative colour, in spite of this I have changed the colour to a light blue. A few background colours were tested however the blue provides a more light-hearted look, using red was too overpowering and was drawing my attention away from the game, using purples/deep blues I thought might effect the game play when it comes down to a boy or girl playing and so a light blue seemed the best option.

As the main intention of the test was 'learning' a blackboard was also incorporated within the background to signify that this game is for learning, it is very subtle but I feel that using a blackboard does show that this game has bee built for learning.

If I had more time then ideally I would have liked to have created animation or sound to the game, although it might have resulted in being a distraction I think that it would have given the game a little more amusement. However time is up and it is now time to test the game on my participants to see how they act towards the game.

PRP - Seventh artefact, First design attempt

Ok having a look at the other spelling websites I decided to create a simple spelling test although I am not sure as to whether this will be the final choice. As previously said I am opting to go for a more learning appeal as opposed to the fun factor so this first design is a simple see the word and spell the word.

Remembering back when I was younger a method was used to help children spell; look, cover, write and check. This is the type of game that I am trying to create but on the computer. The design below shows an example of what the game currents looks like.



I decided to use a green background because the previous artefact showed that green represents 'creativity' and is overall a more neutral colour. The game consists of mainly four frames:

- The spelling
- The writing of the answer
- The correct screen to move onto next spelling
- The incorrect answer to retry the spelling

Sticking to the theme of colours I used red to signal that the participant made an incorrect answer, green to signal a correct colour and blue, as the neutral colour to check the spelling. The aim of this was make the participant aware of which button represented each move they make.



When coding timings for the game, the initial time was 3 seconds to look at the spelling however after continuous testing it proved to be too long a time to look at the spelling and so it was decided that the time was brought down to 2 seconds. This first initial game has been completed however I am not entirely happy with this outcome and I feel that it is the design that needs to be worked on.

I am going to include more imagery to the games to see if this makes any improvement but I also think I need to add another element to the game. Perhaps including a sentence that shows the user an example as to what the spelling means, which could potentially improve reading skills as well as spelling.

PRP - Seventh artefact, Spelling strategies and patterns

I came across an interesting book written by Sandra Wilde called 'Spelling strategies and Patterns'. Wilde's approach to spelling is to let the child construct their own knowledge on how language works, basically build on what the children already know through conversations.

Wilde continues to explain that actual set spelling test are not the best solution when it comes down to teaching children spellings. Rather than spelling tests perhaps through continous reading and writing will help the child remember the words and therefore help to spell. What people miss when teaching children spellings is in order to actually spell the child needs some knowledge on how to read and write first. Through reading and writing children can then pick up words through doing reading and writing activities and hence help improve spellings.

The overview of the book continues to explain that children at first represent letters as imagery. Through drawing/scribbles the child will slowly form the shape of the word and will start to recognise what that shape/letter represents.

However the overview goes on to explain that different children (and adults) have different strengths when it comes to learning. Overall the intro to the book provides an interesting point as to what makes children successful learners.

This makes me wonder does the traditional spelling tests work for some students? With a interactive spelling test I could perhaps create a spelling test which includes both reading, spelling and typing as children need to learn how to use a computer keyboard, something that could be beneficial for the children in future activities.

PRP - Seventh artefact, Spelling City

I came across spelling city when looking for inspiration for my design artefact. The whole site is based around helping people learn how to spell. What I noticed about this website however was that it allowed the user to input there own spellings, so this could work in either a classroom or home environment.

Spelling City gives the user three options: 'Test me, Teach me and Play me'. Test me is a simple spelling test, the user inputs the words which they are required to be tested on and a spelling test is created where the words are verbally said and the user has to type the correct answer. The 'Teach me' section provides the user with examples of how the word is used. Firstly by spelling the word followed by an example of where the word would be used. This is a good method to help the children learn where to use the spellings and not just know how to spell them. The final option is 'Play me' the user can select a game where they can learn the words whilst also play a game.

The website has support for the teachers and parents by providing tutorials on how to work Spell City. Not only is online support provided but the designers have also incorporated printable worksheets for users to print off and practice hand writing skills.

Overall I think that this site is a very strong source that would be beneficial for teaching students spellings. In my opinion is would be a stronger source for spelling exercises at home as the general User Interface is not very appealing to the younger target audience to whom I am looking to help. Even though games are apart of the site the home page does not represent this.

Even though I did mention that the aim of this test was to have more learning appeal rather then the fun factor I still think the general layout/interface needs some element that will interest the child.

PRP - Seventh artefact, BBC education

Through the research project the BBC education site has been a valuable piece of source for my research. The BBC learning site has been around for many years (since I was at school). Since I have returned to the site it has improved dramatically. Originally the learning was dedicated to schools, looking at the site now the site now aims to provide support to not only pupils but to teachers, parents, adult learners etc creating a central hub for people to help when learning.

The BBC site provides KS1 games, the level at which I am testing at. When viewing the KS1 revision support the main focus is on english and maths. When viewing the english revision games it appears that a number of options are provided that all support the english subject. This artefact is only testing spelling however the BBC Bitesize site not only offers spelling games but provides support in all aspects of english. Punctuation, rhyming words and the alphabet are all of the things that help support the childs learning ability.

Each game has clearly labelled the instructions with the added speech explaining each game (incase the child cannot read) When playing on the games simple animations have been included which I believe keeps the children interested as they the learning source as a game and not a learning task.

What the BBC website and my research has in common is that both sources have both computer and non-computing activities. This shows that this my research is going in the right direction. I need to find a good balance between activities on and off the computer, but the main aim is to seek out the best computer games that could help support learning.

PRP - Seventh artefact, Example of spelling games

Having a look at the different examples of spelling tests showed many different examples of how children can be tested on spellings but still have an enjoyable experience. I came across a number of different sites that provided spelling tests for all ages and in different forms of game play.

Spin and spell test

The spin and spell wheel game gives the players the option to play individually or with a friend providing the social activity between people. Giving the user the freedom of which test to participate in the user selects the chosen subject and then clicks on the image that they would like to spell. The user would spell the word, if its correct they move onto the next question and if its wrong then the user has to retry.

However there were a few issues that were found when playing the game and could be a slight issue when younger children try to play the game. Every time the user clicks on a letter the wheel spins, bearing in mind that this is the title of the game however it is more time-consuming and the player has to relocate the letters every time a letter is picked. This does not effect the user spelling the letter more wastes more time.

The game relies on the game player knowing how to spell the word by looking at an image, the game provides sound to say the word which will be helpful. Research in the previous artefact showed that children can spell when relating to an image however does this mean that they have to see the word with the image to make this work?

The Spelling match game

The spelling match game consists of the player to finish the words. Like the pairs game that has been created in the previous artefacts, this game has the same game play however rather than matching the same image the player has to complete the word.

The game is limited to how many games the player can participate in before they repeat the spelling tests. The game is a good way for people to create words and a good way for children to learn words. The game provides all level of spellings giving the option for the students at all levels to play this game, although the general imagery is more appealing to the younger target audience whereas the some of the games are aimed at an older audience.

Word Safari

The word safari I believed is more based around the fun factor rather then focusing on learning spellings. The user has to write the spellings that they intend to spell, using the keyboard controllers the players has to create the words by catching the letters. If they make a mistake they receive a warning.

Bearing in mind this is aimed at helping people to spell however I do not think that this is good example of a spelling game. It is clearly aimed towards creating a fun game element rather then improving spelling. However the game could help the participant remember the words that are needed in each word. The game animation is the most appealing out of all three games and this could also attract more games players.

PRP - Seventh artefact, ideas

Ok I know that we were only suppose to do seven but my research wasn't finished. In aftefact six I tested the children on 'art and design' skills on and off the computer. With the results showing that the children enjoyed playing on the paint program however overall the standard colouring activity using pencils appeared to be the popular choice. After testing this artefact it occurred to me that having tested the children on their creativity skills and the non-computer version being successful I have decided to test the children on literacy skills.

Literacy is an important subject within an the curriculum vitae and it will be interesting to see how computer technology could assist in a students in this area.

On my visit to the school I another teacher was testing children on spellings. From observation I assume that the students had to learn the spellings at home and were tested on how meant they learnt. I think my aim from this artefact will be to create an interactive element that students could potentially use as a learning source for when they need to study 'spellings' as homework. All previous results from my other artefacts have clearly shown me that children appear more enthusiastic when they know that they are going to do an activity on the computer.

I think that another aim for this artefact is to try and create a simple interactive element that could not only useful for the children but also in terms of learning. The previous artefacts have been based around designing an interactive element that is a good learning source but also a fun activity. This artefact will be based around more on creating a successful learning source.

Having observed the spelling test when doing my previous testing I think that I will create an interactive spelling test. I will research into different examples and see which ones relate to my artefact.