A multiplayer 2D mobile plaformer made to assess and develop collaborative problem-solving skills in fifth and sixth grade students. This project was made to obtain the Master of Sciences degree and was part of a larger experiment regarding the assessment and measure of collaborative problem-solving skills. The game was played by more than one hundred students dividedd in groups of three. Each student managed a small colorful alien with its own unique ability. The first had the power of water and healing, the second of fire and destruction, and lastly of electricity and gravity. With this three skills combined, the players had to address six different levels that challenged every dimention of their collaborative problem-solving skills.
The game was made using Unity 5.x and its Low-level networking API. The purpose was to create an environment that could use game-based mechanics and dynamics so the users could achieve a learning curve mostly based on collaborative problem solving-skills. We used unity because it gave us the biggest array of tools with basically no budget available. The low-level api was used to insert a module for an Automated planner feedback system that was being developed by another Ms. student.
Since this was my first project and I had no prior programming experience, I have to say it was a massive learning process as a software developer. During the first six months, a group of second-year computer science students and a technical programmer helped me assemble the first prototypes. During that period I learned the basics of coding and became able to start working on the code myself. I would spend the next one and a half years developing and play-testing the game, learning both as a game designer and as a developer.
Though the game has many flaws and that today I would build it in a totally different way, I have to say I feel very proud of seeing the fun and enjoyment of the more than 100 kids who played the game during the experiment. I learned deeply on how to understand a game from a user’s perspective. How to understand a game in its bare logical elemetns for a feedback system. I also got the grasp of the vast complexity involved when designing and developing games. For this and many other reasons the this is one of my favorite –and probably most painful– learning experiences in my life story.