So judging by your thumbnails (some of which I like very much), you're sort of heading in a side-scrolling direction, where you're perhaps seeking to 'game-ify' the idea of the cell cycle - so there's a sense that the goal is to 'get past the check point' - so maybe being 'sent back' to the beginning for failing to make the grade (missing important power-ups on the way to the check point for example). Your challenge here is going to be to ensure that you get the information across and teach within your game metaphor idea - so perhaps you might consider loading screens or similar game grammar as the means by which to get the information on screen and ensure we're following the science as well as the gameplay. The one game that really springs to my mind is this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KzihWDZiPY
What you're going to have to be very mindful of is 'not' just creating an experience wherein we watch a glowing ball move hoveringly through a bunch of passages - this will quickly get boring - particularly if, by necessity of showing a few failed attempts, we see the same action again. I'm thinking now of another really dynamic game that might spark some further ideas;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ynmQ2R8eD4
So yes, I think using a game-based metaphor for the cell-cycle makes a lot of sense, but I have seen projects like this end up being much more 'boring' for the audience than the student predicted - because ultimately it's 'not' a game - it's an animation in fancy-dress. My advice it to really look at all the 'game grammar' you can - so how/when they use text/ cut scenes / audio etc. and ensure you've got a dynamic vocabulary in order to a) teach and b) entertain.
OGR 16/03/17
ReplyDeleteHey Alex,
So judging by your thumbnails (some of which I like very much), you're sort of heading in a side-scrolling direction, where you're perhaps seeking to 'game-ify' the idea of the cell cycle - so there's a sense that the goal is to 'get past the check point' - so maybe being 'sent back' to the beginning for failing to make the grade (missing important power-ups on the way to the check point for example). Your challenge here is going to be to ensure that you get the information across and teach within your game metaphor idea - so perhaps you might consider loading screens or similar game grammar as the means by which to get the information on screen and ensure we're following the science as well as the gameplay. The one game that really springs to my mind is this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KzihWDZiPY
What you're going to have to be very mindful of is 'not' just creating an experience wherein we watch a glowing ball move hoveringly through a bunch of passages - this will quickly get boring - particularly if, by necessity of showing a few failed attempts, we see the same action again. I'm thinking now of another really dynamic game that might spark some further ideas;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ynmQ2R8eD4
So yes, I think using a game-based metaphor for the cell-cycle makes a lot of sense, but I have seen projects like this end up being much more 'boring' for the audience than the student predicted - because ultimately it's 'not' a game - it's an animation in fancy-dress. My advice it to really look at all the 'game grammar' you can - so how/when they use text/ cut scenes / audio etc. and ensure you've got a dynamic vocabulary in order to a) teach and b) entertain.