IDAT211 - The Game Design

The game for application will narrative based.  The game itself will be set in a environment that is similar to the real world so that the learners are able to relate to the system.  As well as this the narrative will allow users to make choices as to the elements they learn and so the path they take through the learning process will be self directed even if the user chooses not to chapter select.  This does begin to stray away from behaviourist learning as it is more self driven alike to cognitive learning, but by including certain elements like this it makes the game more interactive and so more engaging to the learner than having the process chosen for them.  The following game design is for a section of the game that focuses on the major scales section of learning for grade 1 music theory.  This sits in the middle of the learning process for music theory and so would also fit in the middle section of the overall game.  Although users will be able to choose certain paths in the game, the game will not be too fluid as otherwise the user may start with something too hard, or come across a subject that is too easy for them at their current stage of learning.  All interaction within the game will be controlled through use of the MIDI keyboard alike to that of the general interface.  To ensure that the MIDI keyboard controls do not conflict between the game and the interface the interface has a pause/continue function which will lock the other interface areas so that only this button will be important to relocate on the keyboard away from the keyboard keys used in the game.  Below is the game flow design, to see any of these images in a larger form simply click on them:

Starting screen

Initial Game Screen

Question 1

Learner answering

Learner answered

Next question

Learner answers wrong

(this would then go back to the screen above this)

Learner then reanswers correctly

After the other scales have been done correctly in the same style as those above the game is completed:

Next section of the environment and narrative

In these designs the character has not been designed as it requires complex imagery, but the basic format of the game is as it would be in the actual application.