Here is the story bible for an educational videogame, Monkey Monastery. Thanks for reading!
I would appreciate feedback, especially on your emotional journey. If you prefer leading questions, then:
- Playful bits: Please quote the first few words of text where you wanted to play, and briefly express your motivation.
- Entertaining bits: Please quote the first few words of text where you felt humor, joy, wonder, empathy, or interest, and briefly express your feelings.
- Confusing bits: Please quote the first few words of text where you felt confused, and mention what is wrong.
- Boring bits: Please quote the first few words of text where you felt bored, distracted, or repelled, and briefly express your disinterest.
If you don't like leading questions, then detailed feedback in whatever mode you like is appreciated and reciprocated. I'll be happy to read and comment on your project. Even if you're not in CTIN 532.
Monkey Monastery is my thesis for 2009. I will begin prototyping and playtesting these exercises in January. I need help. If you're curious about playing or designing an entertaining game that teaches language, then use your magical gifts to contact me ... (k e n n e r l y @ u s c . e d u).
Comments (2)
Ethan,
Being a person who is not linguistically inclined, i was very excited to see someone with a sense for game design approach learning languages as an end goal.
1) On further review of the game, i think i like the Ant war! and its mechanic of protecting your fruit. i'd love to see the player able to power up the ants by naming the parts of their body.
2) I like the idea of a dynamic with monkeys and bats (in Tree of life and throughtout the game) as signifiers for puzzle outcomes/as penalties. is there a correspondance in Korean lore for those animals? Are there other animals that signify personality traits?
3) I think that the soccer portion of Trinity field, with naming where you believe the ball lands may not be as flexible as you hope. Perhaps something like a hide-and-seek game would allow you to draw from a wider pool of position modifying phrases.
4) I think the section that i like the least is the Jamo soup. While the idea is sound, and the gameplay is proven, i think that the game needs new gameplay ideas. I like the idea of chaining the letters together, and perhaps you could modify it to involve stacking the letters on top of one another, with the failure case causing the towers to topple.
Just from a personal standpoint, i found the fond a little hard to read. For things like the chapter/section titles it works, but it was a bit tiring trying to read the font on a cramped screen.
Other than that, i really enjoy the art style. Having worked with Ogre extensively over this last semester, I think it would be doable to replicate this style. Are you settled on that as the art direction, or are you still mulling over other ideas?
Posted by MikeRossmassler![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/ekennerly/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 17, 2007 10:46 PM
Posted on December 17, 2007 22:46
In an addendum, i think that it would be amazing to see this document printed out and taped together as if it really were a scroll.
Posted by MikeRossmassler![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/ekennerly/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 17, 2007 10:48 PM
Posted on December 17, 2007 22:48