karl hendrikse. develop a video game to teach users concepts of rhythm in a fun, immersive way ...
TRANSCRIPT
Karl Hendrikse
Develop a video game to teach users concepts of rhythm in a fun, immersive way
Targeted to teenagers/adults of average gaming/musical competence
Rhythm is important – a fundamental human skill
People aren’t that great at rhythm I’m interested in rhythm
That’s what the kids are into these days Want to build on success of other
edutainment titles, investigate improvements
Play with plastic instruments...
...and match colored markers as they scroll towards you
They do get people thinking about music; make people a bit more rhythmical
Music is kind of presented in a blur Some bits can be pretty tricky/cerebral –
require practice Don’t reward the player for investing in
the musical content – not much immersion in the music
Commonly for kids, sometimes for adultsChildren’s math tutorsProfessional flight simulators
Generally developed on behalf of teachers to teach people things they need to know
Often give up a lot of the ‘tainment’ for the sake of ‘edu’
Generally quite narrow in content
More like ‘tools’ than actual ‘tutors’
With a teacherRequires a teacher
Without a teacherRequires effort and motivation from the
user
En
tert
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me
nt
Education
En
tert
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me
nt
Education
Bad teacher
Very good teacher
Good teacher
With
teach
er
En
tert
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me
nt
Education
Halo Guitar Hero
Bad teacher
Very good teacher
Good teacher
With
teach
er
Flight simulator
En
tert
ain
me
nt
Education
Halo Guitar Hero
Bad teacher
Very good teacher
Good teacherMath Blaster
With
teach
er
Flight simulator
En
tert
ain
me
nt
Education
Halo Guitar Hero
Bad teacher
Very good teacher
Good teacherMath Blaster
Textbook
With
teach
er
Tutor software
Flight simulator
En
tert
ain
me
nt
Education
Halo Guitar Hero
Bad teacher
Very good teacher
Goalarea
Good teacherMath Blaster
Textbook
With
teach
er
Tutor software
Flight simulator
Have been building the application in C++ using Direct3D 9
User interface built from scratch Very much styled as a video game
All the content is split into subject areas Within each subject area are a few
gameplay parts, which are short (say 1 minute) challenges
Various different gameplay modes ‘Slideshows’ explain new concepts with
musical examples Interactive bits – counting, rhythm
matching, drumming challenges Lots of examples of music using the
specific concept being taught
Like levels in a game – unlock one by one
Content goes from easy to hard as the user progresses
Subjects are split into intro, basic, intermediate and advanced
Drum kit (Wii version) has a Wiimote inside, connects via Bluetooth
Getting the Wiimote library all working and hacking it to support the drum kit
Initially used DirectSound for audio Latency was very bad – around 80ms ASIO library is better – around 30ms
80ms
Hit on snare drum
Audio response from program
Layout of gameplay sections, rhythms, slideshows etc. all defined in text files
Reload while running – easy tweaking of content
Demo goes here
More content User testing Achievements Polish