As we launch into the implementation phase of our project, we have paused to re-evaluate its aims and to ensure that the game we have created realistically pursues them. The game itself began with an assessment of the needs and tastes of the students and of Ms. Cresto. As educational theory was integrated into the creative aspects of our project, the needs of the classroom always remained foremost in our minds.

For which students is this game designed? They are mostly juniors in high school and are comprised of English as a Second Language and of special education students. They are overwhelmingly of minority descent. Their reading levels hover between grades two and five. They are avid consumers of video games and seem to enjoy that form of entertainment. Other interests of theirs include listening to music (especially rap and hiphop), shopping, and playing sports.

Who is the teacher and what are her needs for this program? Ms. Cresto is an enthusiastic woman who hopes our computer game will allow the students to practice grammar exercises, particularly those centering around punctuation, capitalization, and verb tense changes. She says that the students will play the game only about once a month for one class period, and thus the game need not be infinitely repeatable.

In the tradition of Dewey, we hoped to create a game that would serve as a legitimate learning experience rather than as a disconnected diversion. Initially we grappled with the issue of how to maintain students' interest while incorporating a large grammar component to the game. Our solution was to associate each category of grammar exercise with a specific tool that would be tied into the storyline of the game (namely, to thwart Sadina, the alien who tries to take over the world). For example, a time travel machine draws on exercises which invoke verb tense changes.

Much of the literature we read this semester emphasized user studies (and even design) of software. To this end, we attempted to involve the students at all points of the design and implementation progress. Early on, we brainstormed with the students as to possible plot-lines for the game (one involved a Carmen Sandiego-esque exploration of numerous countries, another was set exclusively in the future, etc.). The most appealing idea seemed to be that which was most closely correlated to the typical video game structure- completing missions/levels with an overarching goal in mind (in this case, to save the world from Sadina). In the design of the episodes, we asked the students what their interests were. When we wrote the episodes, we incorporated these interests directly into the plot (so that one level occurs at a concert, for example, and another at a party).

A particular issue of interest was how to make the game seem sophisticated enough for high school-aged students yet simple enough to be comprehensible to them given their reading levels. We decided that engaging graphics would be central to the game's success, especially in light of the tedious nature of the grammar exercises. The exercises themselves were integrated into the plot-line, so that by successfully completing an exercise a student could ensure a positive outcome within the story. Ms. Cresto provided us with exercise workbooks to better ascertain the language level of the students, and both Ms. Cresto and the students ultimately found the game to be sufficiently challenging yet readily understandable. While we decided to include scoring in order to provide added incentive to do well and to make the project more like a video game, it is not strongly emphasized and accordingly is located only in a corner of the interface.

Creating Sadina's Revenge has been a challenging yet satisfying experience for us. We are excited to see the project materialize, and Ms. Cresto and the students seem equally enthusiastic. Because of the episodic structure of the game, it is readily scalable. In fact, our group has discussed developing it further in the future. Overall, we are pleased with our project and anticipate that it will do well once introduced into the classroom.

For questions and feedback, please contact:

Nancy Birkholzer, Emily Bolon, Matt Howard, Guy Papstein, Ruiyan Xu