2D Game project research and first thoughts and ideas.

2D Educational Game Research

2D educational games are a great way to get young ages to learn about certain subjects without making it boring.  There are many 2d educational games for all ages in the retail industry which help with different subjects within the school policy.

The Main retail 2D games which help with all ages are Brain trainer, Cooking Mama, Sudoku, Art

Academy and free games on the computer such as the BBC bit size website which is a website for all ages which want to learn about education but by playing games. When I was going through my years of school education I used this website and the games on there were puzzle, maths, science and English games.

Brain trainer: Brain trainer is a game for the Nintendo ds game and is aimed at all ages which teaches you about Maths, English and memory. It is a game which allows you to change the settings to your personal standards, such as change the difficulty of the questions and also test you on how clever you are gives you a rating and what age you are working at. This is a great feature because it allows you to be more competitive and train yourself to be for clever. The instructor in the game is called ‘Dr Kawahima’ and he talks you through all the game and gives you tips on how to improve your mental arithmetic’s.

Cooking Mama: Cooking Mama is a game for the Nintendo ds/Wii, it teaches you how to cook certain food, manage your time when cooking E.G How long a cooker has to be on for. It also teaches you what food it healthy and unhealthy. The game is aimed at 3-10 year olds which allows them to have a generally knowledge of cooking and how the process works for future references. It is a 2dgame which is cartoony and colourful which makes it aesthetically pleasing for a younger audience.

Sudoku: Sudoku is a game which tests you with your use of numbers. It is aimed at 12 year olds and up, you have to fill in a square with number from 1-9 and have to only have that number within the rows around it or the

number will be in the wrong place. The game takes patients and hard mental numeracy but when you complete it you feel proud and it keeps your brain active which is great for teenagers up to elderly people. 

This is an example of what Sudoku looks like and how you have to complete it. There are different settings which you can customise to suit your metal difficulty of the puzzles, such as the number of squares you have to complete and the amount of numbers you have to use within each box. It is not suitable for young children because it Is a very complex puzzle game.

Advantages and disadvantages

There are many positive points towards educational games. It helps you to concentrate better because you are enjoying playing the game without realising you are learning different key points for a certain subject within your education. The educational games are great for young children aged 3-11 because they get distracted easily so this is a great way to keep them focused and learn with ease.

The disadvantages of educational games is that some students can get distracted very easily because they do not the game as seriously so they don’t learn anything to do with education. In a way it is a way of getting out of education for some people.

What the game could be about?

I have looked at certain subjects what my game could be about. Maths, English, science and history are the topics which I want to choose out of. After researching about history educational games, I found out that they could be about flags to important dates or even important events. This helps me because it gives me a better view of what my game could be about. There are many educational games about maths science and English because they are the 3 main subjects you have to learn at school.

The game styles which I could use?

After I had a look at the software I am going to use I found out that there is 3 types of game styles you can have Platform, 8 Direction and Click and Drag. I researched on the internet about these styles of games and there are many educational games use drag and click, so I want to either create a game around platform or 8 Direction gameplay style.

This are the icons within the software which I am going to use. I have got images of these to show how they looked and link that with my reseach. These are great features within the software because now I can start to think of what game style I want to use and expand on my initial ideas.

Basic thoughts/ideas

After looking over my research and what kind of games are out there, I have decided to create an educational platform game which you have to answer questions related to History and maths. When you answer the certain question correct your will be allowed to pass through certain doors, however if you answer the question incorrectly you will have to face a certain consequence. The game will be aimed at 9 year old because the colours and the game style will be mordant violence suitable for a young age.

This is an image of how the games colours will make it aesthetically pleasing and will attract a young audience which my game is based at. I want to give my game a retro kind of theme to make it follow the platform style games.

I have research what aspects are in an 9 year old rated game and started to come  up with some initial ideas on paper and what my could be about. After researching about educational games and what certain aspects are in them I found it easier to come up with ideas for my game and now understand how appropriate my game has to be for a 9 year old.

I am still not sure what subject my game is going to be about but I am slowly coming up with initial on paper and what my could be about. After researching about educational games and what certain aspects are in them I found it easier to come up with ideas for my game and now understand how appropriate my game has to be for a 9 year old.