Playability and Knowing The Audience
Published June 12th, 2008 in Game ProgrammingEach group will be given an age group and they are to find an free online game that would make the game successful for that age. Then they are to write a short blog about the game and where to locate it.
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Age group 5-8
Pacman:
The game requires simple keyboard inputs. The objective is to eat all the dots without touching the ghosts. The enemy is dangerous but not scary. The game needs almost no instructions yet gets progressively more difficult. It emphasizes hand eye coordination. Both girls and boys are known to enjoy pacman. The game is very parent friendly but the noises might get annoying, so keep the volume low. This is a good transition game, this is because it starts out easy and is not scary, but it gets very difficult at higher levels. Most people enjoy this game through adulthood, probably because of its simplicity, and fun factor.
Luke Schwaner
Eric Baxtor
The game “Dog’s Letter Pit” at http://pbskids.org/games/index.html is well-suited for 2-4 year old players based upon the following features: voice cues tell the player what to do in the game, prompt the user for input and gives clues, and congratulates the player when he gets the answer correct. The graphics are simple and feature bright colors. The eponymous Dog barks and makes other dog noises, and runs around the screen at the player’s whim. The game uses the mouse for input, and the voice tells the player what to click with the mouse.
The object of the game is to select the appropriate letters to spell out a simple word. A voice prompts the player with the name of the letter and the sound that the letter makes. The player must only choose between half a dozen brightly-colored letters. The primary skill this game appears to reinforce is recognition of letters and what sound each letter makes. While the objective of the game is to spell a word, it does not rely at all on the player’s spelling ability. When a player successfully completes a word, the voice congratulates him, sounds out the word again, and the game displays a picture of what the word represents, thus teaching simple vocabulary with common words like “tub” and “van”.
This game seems very playable by 2-4 year-olds, giving them vibrant visuals, cute animations, and education all at once.
-Brandon & Dylan
Ages 7-11
Many Game Developers have attempted to get children to play video games at an early age. Several games for this age group are,
Moshi Monsters www.moshimonsters.com)
Gold Miner Flash http://www.jokefrog.com/games/gold-miner…)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis)
Pokemon (Red/Blue etc.)
Sims (PC)
Nintendogs (DS)
These games are good for this age group because they are challenging and they do not introduce adult themes (violence, cursing, blood, etc.) to them. They also involve puzzles which are not too complex and many online games involve parental involvement. The characters are “cool”, cartoon-like and are gender-neutral.
Age 4-5
http://phd.disney.go.com/playhouse/bunnytown/games/icecream.html
This game from the Disney website reinforces basic learning concepts such as colors and numbers. The game has several mechanisms to assist the player in completing the objectives of the game. A voice reads all directions and mouse-over text makes the voice read the text. If a player incorrectly moves a game piece the voice acknowledges an incorrect move and advises the player on a correct course of action. The game also selectively highlights the environment to focus the player on salient aspects. In its language, the game subtly reinforces proper socializing and manners.