E-Game Project Possibilities

1. Nikon Reporter

Many people own Digital SLRs these days and don't know much about how to use them. The jump from a point and shoot camera to a DSLR is bigger than most expect, and so many camera owners just leave everything on automatic and hope for the best. in this project, the learner will play a local news reporter who is dispatched to take pictures under a variety of conditions: a press conference under fluorescent lights, a brush fire at night, a marathon. You have only a few seconds to take the shot, so knowing the camera controls cold is the key.

2. Captivatin' Simulatin'

Want to try building a software simulation? This hands-on project will be for anyone interested in building a tutorial in Adobe Captivate. Teach us how to use a complex website like Google Wave, then give us a training sim to see if we can master the basics. Most of the examples at Video-Tutes were created with Captivate, and might inspire your efforts. This project will use a modified version of the design document. Less documentin', more buildin'. No large groups for this challenge. Individuals or pairs only.

Be sure to check out Adobe's Captivate Developer Center

3. A Cure for Stupidity

Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid. This is Robert J. Sternberg's scholarly look at some puzzling human behavior. In a review of the book, Gavin McNett quotes a chapter by David Perkins:"Perkins lists eight deadly sins of the stupid smart person, which seem to sum it all up rather elegantly: impulsiveness (doing something rash), neglect (ignoring something important), procrastination (actively avoiding something important), vacillation (dithering), backsliding (capitulating to habit), indulgence (allowing oneself to fall into excess), overdoing (like indulgence, but with positive things) and walking the edge (tempting fate)." Those sound like a teachable set of concepts. Could you design a simulation/game for smart people to help them avoid doing dumb things?

4. Starry Nights at Juvie

The learners: a transient group of adolescents spending time at a juvenile detention center far from city lights. They probably haven't had much success at school. Can you create a game that will take advantage of their star-filled skies and give them perhaps their first experience at mastering a domain? Could you make it fun for them to learn the constellations, visible planets, and other stellar wonders?

5. Regex Race

Regular expressions are a fantastically useful tool for programmers. They allow pattern recognition for applications like validating information entered into forms. If you've ever had a website chide you for typing gibberish into a field that asked for your email address, then you've seen regex in action. In this project you'll design a game in which speed and accuracy are critical with the goal being the ability to generate regular expressions without having to stop and think.

6. Ethics for Kids

According to a study by the Josephson Institute of Ethics based on a national survey of 24,763 high school students, nearly two-thirds (62%) cheated on exams and more than one in four (27%) stole from a store within the past 12 months. Additionally, 40% admit they "sometimes lie to save money." With values education somewhat absent from schools, we may be growing a generation of semi-crooks. Is there a way to embed the learning of ethics in a non-preachy game or simulation? There has to be a more effective way than hiphop songfests. Perhaps the story-based approach of Philosophy for Kids provides a starting place.

7. ExperSim690

In a field like ours that prides itself on making decisions based on data, it's important to know how to collect data and analyze it. Unfortunately, that activity takes time and involves lots of other people and permissions. In the interest of speeding up process of learning experimental design or evaluation design, imagine being able to choose from among a variety of different measurements (surveys, observation protocols, interviews, etc.) and have simulated data sent back to you. You can't ask for all possible data because you're working within a simulated timeframe and budget. Based on a program from the 70s that is no longer available anywhere.

8. RPGs for Normal Life

Role Playing Games have incredible power to engage. Online environments like EverQuest have close to 400,000 players spending dozens of hours per month. Most RPGs are embedded in worlds based on fantasy or science fiction genres. How would you structure an online RPG to teach content about the actual real-life world? It could cover things like travel in another country, or office politics, or running for class president. How would you keep the fun while losing the dragons? The Big List of RPG Plots might come in handy here to kickstart your brain.

9. Mastering Mandarin

China is playing an increasingly important role in our global economy and businessmen want to learn to speak Mandarin. Ignore the difficult written text and design a fun and effective way for businessmen to learn speaking and listening skills via mobile devices like iPhones.

10. Getting Small

There are many topics to be learned about that exist primarily on a small, even microscopic scale. For example, processes like digestion, infection, or photosynthesis; or systems of living organisms like ant nests and bee hives. Game development engines like Unity and Atmosphir allow the creation of multiplayer virtual spaces that could take learners on an adventure into these smaller realms.

11. From Fat to Fit

The wii fit board literally opens up a new platform of gaming. Use this technology to design a game that helps get our younger generation up off the couch and exercising. Can you design a game that’s fun enough to fight childhood obesity?

12. Must Be Under 99 to Enter

Contests have many of the same motivational elements that make a game a powerful experience. There is competition, of course, but also the possibility of collaboration within a team. One difference is that a contest is usually spread out over weeks or months, giving the participants time to come up with a creative strategy. Can you design a contest that takes advantage of the web and lures the players into immersing themselves in some relevant content? See Educated Guess as an example that was born in EDTEC 670. Or The Death Game, which wasn't.

13. Adverb Blaster

The appeal of shoot-em-up games is undeniable. They have been harnessed since the early 80s to reinforce educational content with varying degrees of success. Kids have blasted away at math facts, mastered touch typing, and practiced spelling by responding quickly to some sensory-rich animations. Can you come up with a fresh approach of your own to teach parts of speech, Spanish vocabulary, or chemical elements? Game Salad would seem to be a good platform to try it on.