A General Framework for Automatically Creating Games for Learning Hsin-Chang Yang Department of Information Management, Chang Jung University, Tainan, Taiwan
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Abstract Game-based learning has been recognized as an effective way for learning and has emerged to be a promising approach in addition to traditional lecturebased learning. Many schemes, methodologies, as well as systems were developed and applied to training courses in both academic and industrial domains. However, the creation of games for learning purposes is not easy for common teachers since it requires lots of specific knowledge about game development such as computer animations, programming, human-computer interface design, etc. Customized games are thus used for specific types of courses. Such customized games are, unfortunately, hard to adapt to individual courses and require much time for development. In this work, we propose a general framework for creating games that can be applied in many domains without much effort of the teachers. Teachers may create games through writing scripts that define the objectives of courses and the steps required to complete the objectives. The system will automatically create a game based on the scripts.
scripts. Another option is to provide some templates such as course slides and convert them into scripts as well as the game. We believe that such framework will contribute a lot to game-based learning in the way of simplify game development process.
2. Related work The general concepts and techniques for gamebased learning can be found in Mark Prensky’s work[1] and Mitchell and Savill-Smith’s review[2]. For game development tools, most of them focus on game authoring with predefined tools. The learning is achieved in the authoring process as well as playing the game. Examples include Alice [3] and Squeak [4]. Generating games through writing scripts provide a flexible way to create games. For example, Pygame [5] provides a set of Python modules for writing games. Scratch [6] is a LEGO-like programmable kit to enable children creating games. However, these systems focus on creating games, but not learning games that the proposed framework emphasizes.
3. A framework for generating games 1. Introduction 3.1 General description of the framework Game-based learning concerns of using games to draw attention of and make effective training to the trainees. It been widely used in children education since it has more fun than traditional lecture-based, face-to-face learning. Using games, the trainees will focus on the courses without even noticing they are being taught. Creating games, however, is not easy. A customized game (in fact, any type of software) is just too expensive to obtain for individual trainers. The need of easy-to-tailor learning game development tool is then aroused. In this work, we propose a framework that can produce a game for learning specific courses in a way of writing scripts. The trainers need not have knowledge about the details in game design. Instead, he only needs to define the goals of the courses and the steps to achieve the goals, and formulates them in
First we should describe the general theme of the created game. The games created by the system are typically Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) type games. A player should explore a region to achieve some goals such as finding treasures or rescuing someone. To achieve the goal, he needs to solve some puzzles and riddles, and asking help from other characters. In the mean time, he gets rewards when he achieves subgoals during the game. A game consists of two major components, which are the roles and the stories, respectively. The roles are the characters that involve in the game. Two different types of roles are used. The first type is player character (PC) that consists of the real players that use the game for training. The second type of role is called
Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT’05) 0-7695-2338-2/05 $20.00 © 2005 IEEE
non-player character (NPC). The PCs can use NPCs in ways such as asking them questions for clues, killing them for keys and treasures, or helping them for rewards. The training materials are embedded in the game in two ways. One way is to use NPCs to provide the knowledge. The other way is to embed them in the spatial and temporal properties of the story. For example, a training material can appear on the wall of a secret room, or in a system message that appears on some time, etc.
3.2 Descriptions of components We divide the framework into four parts. 3.2.1 Role generation. A role is a character that virtually involves in the game. By allowing the trainees creating their roles, it may increase the intention of the trainees to participate in the game. 3.3.2 Map generation. The map is the spatial area that the roles can wander around. There are several types of objects can be placed on the map. The map could be created manually through a map editor or automatically by generating from scripts that describe the map. 3.3.3 Script generation. Scripts play the most important role in the creation of games in our framework. Scripts define the necessary ingredients of the game such as the goals to complete the game, the procedure that is necessary to achieve the goals, the actions and responses of NPCs, the occasions of events, etc. The framework will provide the script language for such purpose. The scripts can be generated in two ways. The first way is to use a script editor to create scripts. Another simpler way to generate scripts is to transform some prefabricated templates to scripts automatically. 3.3.4 Game generation. A game contains roles, maps, objects, events, and interactions among them. In this section we have described the way to create roles, maps, and scripts that define the objects and events in the game. These items are combined into scenes according to the scripts.
4. System implementation The implementation the proposed framework contains at least the following components:
1.
Script editor: To allow trainers writing scripts to define the quests. 2. Map editor: To allow trainers creating maps for the game. 3. Template databases: For easy creation of the roles as well as NPCs and objects in the game. 4. The game: To allow trainees learning through playing. The implementation of the proposed framework should never be easy due to its multidiscipline nature. However, we may adapt some public domain games to meet our need. For example, many multi-user dungeons (MUD) platforms are open source. Although the proposed framework has not been designed for multi-users, we could still adapt MUD platform because it has good interactivity between players and NPCs, easy description and creation of maps and objects, as well as ways to describe and trigger events. We believe such adaptation will significantly reduce the cost of implementation.
5. Conclusions In this work a framework for creating learning games is proposed. The framework could generate a game for learning course materials automatically according to some scripts written by the trainers. The trainees could then create their own roles and play the game for learning in a D&D-style environment. The framework may simplify the task of game development and allow the trainers creating customized games for their courses.
6. Reference [1] M. Prensky, Digital Game-Based Learning, McGraw-Hill, 2001. [2] A. Mitchell and C. Savill-Smith, The Use of Computer and Video Games for Learning, Learning and Skill Development Agency, London, 2004. [3] M. Conway, et al., “Alice: Lessons Learned from Building a 3D System for Novices”, CHI 2000, Hague, Netherland, April 1-6, 2000. [4] http://www.squeakland.org [5] http://www.pygame.org [6] J. Maloney, L. Burd, Y. Kafai, N. Rusk, B. Silverman, and M. Resnick, “Scratch: A Sneak Preview”, Second International Conference on Creating, Connecting, and Collaborating through Computing, Kyoto, Japan, 2004, pp. 104-109.
Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT’05) 0-7695-2338-2/05 $20.00 © 2005 IEEE
