1. Before creating a game, create a table with 6 columns namely: Name of gallery 1, Name of gallery 2, Name of gallery 3, Name of gallery 4, eLearning Link and More Information Link.
2. Fill in the rows where each row is a level (correct match of gallery 1, gallery 2, gallery 3 and gallery 4, eLearning Link and More Information link for that level). Lets call the elements of the galleries as Tiles.
3. Create powerpoint presentation where 1 slide contains 1 Tile. Use bigger font.
4. Save this presentation as .gif or .jpg or .png format where each slide will be saved as an image file.
5. These can be used to create galleries in 'Manage Galleries' section and the level information in the table can be used to create levels in 'Edit Games' section.
Game Designer Statistics
Game Designers can check the statistics of the games created by them in 'Profile' in home page. In 'Profile' view, in 'Statistics of games created by you' section, choose a game from the dropdown menu and it gives the most incorrectly answered levels by all players (Worst Levels) in that game and also the overall percentage of correct and wrong answers given by all players (Pie/Bar chart) in the game.
Steps to Create a Game
Game Designer View:
Steps to Create a Game:
Step 1: To create a game, we need the game components - Galleries and Connections.
Step 2: Galleries can be created in 'Manage Galleries' view. Check 'How to Manage Galleries' section for details.
Step 3: Connections can be created in 'Manage Connections' view. Check 'How to Manage Connections' section for details.
Step 4: After creating the game components, a new game can be created in 'Create Games' in 'Manage Games' view.
Step 5: In 'Create Games' view, select the desired galleries and connections and create a game. This creates an empty game and now this game is ready to be edited in 'Edit Games' view where levels can be added. Check 'How to Create Games' section for details.
Step 6: In 'Edit Games' view, create levels of the game. Check 'How to Edit Games' section for details.
How to Manage Galleries
1. Create a new gallery by giving gallery name (non empty) and description of the gallery. Gallery name is required to enable the 'Create' button
2. Click on the 'Create' button to create the gallery. This gallery will be added to the list of galleries in the 'Select Gallery to Edit' dropdown.
3. Select the gallery from the dropdown to enable 'Edit Gallery' and 'Delete Gallery' buttons. If you want to view other galleries created by other users, select the gallery and 'Show' button will be enabled instead of edit and delete buttons.
4. Click on 'Edit Gallery' button to edit the gallery. This displays the Gallery details and 'Add Tiles button'
5. Click on 'Save' button after making changes to the gallery details.
6. Galleries contain tiles which are image files (Refer to 'How to Create Image Files' below). To create tiles in the gallery, click on 'Add Tiles' button to upload the image files. Uploading multiple image files is possible.
7. To delete a tile from the gallery, click on the tile to be deleted to enable 'Delete Tile' button. Click on the button to delete the tile from the gallery.
8. 'Undo Tile Deletion' button appears immediately after deleting a tile. Click on it to restore the tile. This button disappears if any other action is performed.
9. To delete a gallery, select the gallery from the dropdwown menu and click on 'Delete Gallery'.
10. 'Undo Gallery Deletion' button appears after deleting the gallery. Click on it to restore the gallery. This button disappears if any other action is performed.
How to Create Image Files
Create a Powerpoint presentation with desired data. If the data is text, then create text with very large font.
While saving the presentation, choose the option to save it as image files. This will create a folder with all the slides of the presentation as image files. These image files can be uploaded via the uploader using 'Add Tiles' button
How to Manage Connections
1. Click on 'Show Connections' button to view existing connections.
2. Click on 'Add Connections' button to upload connections (only image files are allowed).
3. To delete a connection, click on the connection to enable 'Delete connection' button. Click on the button to delete the connection.
4. 'Undo Connection Deletion' button appears after deleting the connection. Click on it to restore the connection.
How to Create Games
Game Designer Details
1. Give your details : Name, Institution and Email in the 'Game Designer Details' section. These details will be shown on the 'Game Description' page which is shown when the user clicks on the game to play.
Game Details
1. To create a game, giving game name, choosing the number of galleries and selecting the galleries that are going to be in the game are mandatory to enable the 'Create' button.
2. Depending on the number of galleries selected (maximum of 4 galleries), dropdowns containing list of all galleries will be displayed. Also, you can select the connections between these galleries from 'Select Connection x' (x = 1 or 2 or 3). The following figure shows how the galleries selected would be positioned in the game view and how the connections selected would connect the tiles from these galleries. In the figure, c1 corresponds to connection1 which connects gallery 1 and 2, c2 to connection2 which connects gllery 2 and 3 and c3 to connection3 which connects gallery 3 and 4.
3. Additional details like selecting game category will place the game in that category. If the new game doesn't fit into any category in the dropdown list, make sure to select '--Select Category or Create New Category--' in 'Select Game Category' dropdown, and you can create a new category by entering the name in 'Create New Category' field. If no category is selected or created then the game will be placed in 'Other' by default.
4. 'Description of the game' shows below the game name in the games list and 'Detail Description of the game' is shown on the Game Description page as shown in the figure below.
5. Click on 'Create' button to create the game. This creates a basic game structure which does not contain any levels. To add levels in the game go to 'Edit Games' view. Please refer to 'How To Edit Games' section for more details.
How to Edit Games
1. Select a game from 'Select Game' dropdown list to enable 'Edit Game' and 'Delete Game' buttons.
2. Click on 'Delete Game' button to delete the game. 'Undo Game Deletion' button appears after game deletion. Click on it to restore the deleted game.
3. Click on 'Edit Game' button to edit the details of the game, add,edit and delete levels of the game and change connections.
4. Edit 'Game Designer Details' and Game Details if needed and click on 'Save' button to save the changes.
Add Levels
1. A level is a set of correct matching tiles from the galleries. In the following figure, the four tiles form a level. Also, each level has an eLearning link and more Information link associated with it which helps the player learn more about the subject.
2. In the 'Add Levels' section as shown in the figure below, select the set of tiles that form a level to enable the 'Add Level' button. Provide eLearning link which provides information about the subject briefly and more information link which provides in depth information about the subject. Click on 'Add Level' button to create the level.
Edit Levels
1. In th 'Edit Levels' section, choose a level using 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons.
2. Click on 'Delete Level' button to delete the chosen level. 'Undo Level Deletion' button appears after level deletion. Click on it to restore the deleted level.
3. Edit eLearning link and more Information link and click on 'Save' button below to save the changes.
Change Connection
To change connections, select a connection and click on 'Set Connection x'(where x = 1 or 2 or 3) to save the new connection.
Default values are set for Experience Calculation rule, Experience Levels and Trophies, Badges and Highscore Calculation rules for each game (these are created when a new game is created). All of these are customizable by the game designer.
When you create a new game, only 'Game Completion Badge' is required to be created. For this, please refer to 'How to Manage Badge Rules' and 'How to Set Game Assessment Rules' sections.
Assessment System Concept
Assessment System View:
There are three main customizable components of Assessment System namely Experience, Highscore and Badges.
Experience
1. Experience score is calculated over all games and it depends on the Highscore summary of all games, number of badges acquired, number of times user is logged in etc. Default Experience Calculation Rule is set and any Game Designer can change it.
2. A trophy can be given and level can be determined when Experience score reaches certain points.
3. Refer to 'How to Manage Experience Rules' for more details.
Highscore
1. Highscore is calculated by summing up Highscores acquired in each game. Highscore depends on the weights for correct answer, wrong answer and actions like using 'Show me' button etc.
2. Since each game has a different difficulty level, each game can have different Highscore calculation rule. When a new game is created via 'Game Designer View' default Highscore calculation rule version 1 is set. This can be changed in 'Game Assessment Rules' view.
3. Refer to 'How to Manage Highscore Rules' for more details.
Badges
1. There are two types of Badges namely Game Completion Badges and Game Statistics Badges.
2. To acquire a Badge, a Badge Requirement Criteria must be satisfied.
3. A Game Completion Badge can be allotted to a game in 'Game Assessment View'. This badge will be allotted when the player attempts all the levels in a game.
4. Refer to 'How to Manage Badge Rules' for more details.
How to Manage Experience Rules
Create Experience Trophy
1. Check the existing Trophies by clicking on 'Show Existing Trophies' button.
2. Give Trophy Level name and Required Points to enable 'Add Experience Trophy' button.
3. Click on 'Add Experience Trophy' button to upload the trophy image.
4. In the following figure, a trophy is created for Level 3, when the user acquires 250 Experience points.
Edit Experience Trophy
1. Select a trophy from the trophies gallery to enable 'Edit Trophy' and 'Delete Trophy' buttons.
2. Click on 'Edit Trophy' to edit the trophy details. Click on 'Save' button to save the changes.
3. Click on 'Delete Trophy' to delete the trophy. 'Undo Trophy Deletion' button appears after deleting the trophy. Click on it to restore the trophy.
Set Experience Rule
1. Experience Calculation formula shows how Experience score is calculated. The weight of each factor is customizable in the fields below the formula.
2. Edit Experience Rule and click on 'Save Rule' button to save the changes.
How to Manage Highscore Rules
1. Create a new highscore version by giving the details in 'Highscore Calculation Rules' section and click on 'Create New Version' to create the version. The new version created will be added to the 'Select Highscore Version to Edit' dropdown.
2. Select Highscore version from the 'Select Highscore Version to Edit' dropdown to enable 'Edit Highscore Version' and 'Delete Highscore Version' buttons. These buttons wil be enabled only if you have created the selected highscore version. Otherwise, 'Show' button is enabled.
3. Click on 'Edit Highscore Version' button to edit the highscore version. Click on 'Save' button to save the changes.
4. Click on 'Delete Highscore Version' to delete the highscore version. 'Undo Version Deletion' button appears after deleting the version. Click on it to restore the version.
5. Click on 'Reset' button to reset the view. This clears all the fields and resets the dropdown menu.
How to Manage Badge Rules
Create Badge
1. Give Badge Name and select Badge Requirement to enable to the 'Add Badge' button.
2. Some of the Badge types need numerical Requirement value to enable 'Add Badge' button. When the Badge Requirement is selected from the dropdown, if the text field next to it is enabled, then it implies that the Badge type requires a numerical Badge Requirement Value.
3. Click on 'Add Badge' button to upload the badge.
4. Click on 'Show Existing Badges' to view existing badges.
5. Select a badge by clicking on it in the badges gallery to enable 'Edit Badge' and 'Delete Badge' buttons.
6. Click on 'Edit Badge' to edit the badge details. Click on 'Save' button to save the changes.
7. Click on 'Delete Badge' to delete the badge. 'Undo Badge Deletion' button appears after deleting the badge. Click on it to restore the badge.
How to Set Game Assessment Rules
1. Select a game from the 'Select Game' dropdown menu to enable the 'Edit' button. Only those games that you have created will appear in the dropdown.
2. By default, a game has Highscore Version 1. Select the Highscore version from the dropdown to change it.
3. Select a Game Completion Badge for the game. This badge will be allotted when the player attempts all the levels in a game.
