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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / Fellow Teachers/Educators

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Igglepud
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 02:12
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Just wondering if any other teachers were having this experience: the majority of software for your field sucks.

I teach a foreign language, and when I look for "Spanish Games" I find a bunch of X-Word generators. That is not an educational game, that is a work sheet maker. Hence why I am here now.

www.dustinmcmurry.com
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Daniel wright 2311
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 02:30
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build it,and they will come

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Michael P
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 02:43
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Educational games does seem to have a massive void, but that might be due to lack of money to be made. I don't know though, the UK government seems quite happy to throw lots of money at useless educational technology, so why not throw it at something vaguely useful for a change?

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Igglepud
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 03:42
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That's how I feel. It seems like an un-tapped market. I know that I spent a hundred on TGC software...far more than I would for a video game. TGC only has my money because what I want doesn't exist.

www.dustinmcmurry.com
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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 12:13
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I'm not surprised a search for "Spanish Games" led nowhere. What does it mean precisely?

Games popular in Spain?
Games written in Spanish?
Games written by Spaniards?
Games to help you learn Spanish?
Games played at kids' parties in Spain?
PC Games?
Athletic events held in Spain?

Etc, etc.
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DVader
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 16:40
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Having worked in computer retail for 20 years, there is one rule to follow, do not buy edutainment titles because they are so hard to sell. It does not matter how large your range is, people always manage to ask for something that you have not got. Plus parents stop buying them as soon as they realize the kids don't really want to use them.
It is a difficult market, that most people would think a massive market, but those difficulties I mentioned, and the fact that most are plain boring, stops them selling in ANY numbers. Plus once kids realize they are edutainment they tend to switch off. Unless you are PC world or such, stocking those titles is a liability.
There probably is a market for such, just that most mainstream companies producing it don't really have a clue what kids will play. Orley's draw a Story is an exeption that was always in demand, but was hard to find typically. That played on the simple fact kids like to draw. Hell it even had our saturday lads hooked at one point lol!

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Igglepud
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 20:31
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I think it would be helpful if other educators knew what the software was. I think another problem is that Best Buy is not the place to sell Edutainment. I wouldn't market it to the kids; I'd market to the teachers. But, the teachers would have to know what makes an edutainment title effective in order to buy something worthwhile.

www.dustinmcmurry.com
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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 22:20
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Can someone tell me what "Spanish Games" has to do with what you are all discussing?
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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 23:25
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It was an example, such as when he searched for games to help teach Spanish he found nothing of any quality, and he (by the sounds of things) wishes to develop something of quality or request assistance or perhaps hire someone to do so for him.

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Igglepud
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 00:04
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@Planetary Funk: Well said. That is precisely how I feel.

I'm hoping someday to have a few people working on this with me and selling a suite of games for around $40-$50. By suite, I mean one program with several games inside, like Mario Party.

www.dustinmcmurry.com
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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 02:08
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Something got lost in the translation. The first post didn't mention games for teaching Spanish ...

The following search phrase produced lots of results on Google. At first sight some of them look relevant (I didn't look at them in detail though):

computer games for teaching Spanish

Are those the ones you are talking about?
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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 02:54 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2010 02:56
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After looking at the links google yielded from that search, they all look like crosswords and guess the word games, which I doubt any teenager (including myself) would play, and I doubt many other people would either.
"Edutainment" simply isn't engaging enough. I learnt more Spanish from pans labyrinth than I ever have from a software package (though not a lot) because it was more engaging to understand the story in its native language rather than reading subtitles, and I even learnt a bit from playing Pirates of the Caribbean in Spanish.
IF you could capture and enhance the elements that make it subtly educational and engaging, then you'd have a pretty good bit of edutainment.

Just an idea: I've picked up some Tagalog as my girlfriends mother constantly speaks it thinking I don't understand. If you make your game so some useful (but not necessarily vital) information is in another language, or where the player is continuously emerged in a foreign language I think that it would be pretty decent.

BASIC programmers never die, they GOSUB and don't RETURN.
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Igglepud
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 05:47
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@Green Gandalf: Yes, games for teaching Spanish. Most of them suck.

@Planetary Funk: I agree. The game I am working on now is based around a grammar concept. You have to constantly use the grammar concept to play. But there is more to it than just grammar. There is a high score table, sound effects, etc. Not the best, but it's my first game. And since I'm using it in my own classroom, it should be fairly effective.

Ideally, I would make something similar to Modern Warfare and somehow include verb conjugation (sniper the right ending or something, who knows?) but this is a start. Here is a link to my beta version.

http://dustinmcmurry.com/conjugator.exe

www.dustinmcmurry.com
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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 12:11
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Sounds like you're making good progress with this.
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Devonps
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 12:52
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For teaching Spanish I think you could find some good/useful inspiration from the cartoon Dora the Explorer, my kids certainly found it entertaining and really easy to understand.

Another approach would be to look at the syllabus for Spanish being taught and aim your game(s) at that.

Of course I've assumed you've identified your target age group with the above suggestions?

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Igglepud
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 15:28
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Dora is not going to do me any good; that show just goes over simple vocabulary. My target audience is my own students.

www.dustinmcmurry.com
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