Education - The RPG! (Revised)

(Revision and new ideas at bottom of original post.)

My topic of interest is helping the minds of the youth develop in such a way that they are prepared for the tasks in their future. I feel that kids in America aren't getting the education they both deserve and need. Schools will try and fix this by focusing on a few subjects, and then letting the others fall instead of trying to balance it out for all. Not only that, but we fall behind many other countries in terms of Languages. Kids in Europe can usually speak at least three languages by the time they reach middle school. Not all schools do bad at this, but it seems that as an overall majority the public school system falls short. I would like to encourage creative thinking in youth so that they enjoy and excel in Math, Science, Reading, Writing, and Art.

My idea for a game to get this across would combine a good amount of these elements so that the player has to use various techniques from every area to achieve their goal. I want to do it subtly, but also effectively. I feel that this will be the best way to do it because it isn't in your face about it, but merely makes you use your knowledge to move the game along. The gameplay type I am going to use will be that of an RPG.

To tackle reading, writing, and a good amount of imagination, I would create a simple but splendid story. Something that would attract a young player's mind into this world that I'm going to trick them into learning with. It would be your standard RPG formula: Strange events spark the arrival of problems for the area surrounding the main character's town. While going about doing their daily chores, like getting X amount of ingredients for mom because she only has Y amount but needs it to total Z, they stumble upon one of these “problems” which then sucks them into the main plot. Other tasks or quests along the line would require the players knowledge of elements, geometric shapes or languages to solve other puzzles. (Player needs to open a door that requires one element that you can only get by combining the two or three elements that make it. Things like that.)

The last piece of my game would be that of a combat or battle system. I would make it turn based, much like Final Fantasy, and have various battle options.

The player will be fighting monsters that are relevant to the story, and will do so in three ways:

1. Attack Combos: Each different Combo will have a different Base Number every battle. Each type of attack will have a different number as well. To actually do the Combo, the player has to choose the right types of attacks so that the numbers equal the desired Combo's base number.
2. Magic/Special Skills: Throughout the game, players will discover certain elements, and if they combine them right, will unlock spells.
3. Items: Players can do things like heal damage by using an item like Cloth to make a bandage. They can prevent certain status effects by knowing what types of foods prevent or help certain ailments.

As a whole, I think this game would be a success in both entertainment and education levels. If done right and frequently enough through the game, the kids might not even know they are learning right away. Even if they already have some of the knowledge, the game would reenforce it and help them practice it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts after getting feedback - 23 Jan 2011:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I must admit that I neglected to think of scale when forming this idea. Were it to follow the FF trend closely, the game would be massive and not doable in a semester. The only way I could think to make this J-RPG format work would be to do a very short story, like a single act from an FF game.

After getting feedback from Marty, I started looking at other game types and thinking of new ideas that could incorporate the elements I've already thought of. Two ideas that came to mind for a game using similar battle and item mechanics would be something closely related to either Diablo or King's Bounty. Both would still contain various RPG/RTS elements, but would not require an elaborate story or grand scale.

The only story in the game would be what is needed to set up the world the player is in. Gameplay would be sending the player to do various basic tasks/quests. The tasks could incorporate educational themes. (Math-based item collection quests, geometric puzzles, finding the right types of words to fill in a discovered distress note, etc.) Tasks give the player equippable items or gold. The gold can then be used to purchase items from an in-game shop. My main idea for items and avatars will be that players can customize their avatar in terms of look and items, and the incentive to come back and play more would be to get more gold and get more items for their character. Much like the basic carrot-on-stick mentality that various Facebook, web-based or MMO games have.

With both games, the player looks down on their character from above and clicks around on the map to move. They can left-click for the default action (talk for NPC's, attack monsters) or right-click to bring up a menu with more options.

My idea for a Math-based combo system could still work for battles. The main difference between my original idea and this is that rather than having a turn-based system with menus, the basic attacks that build the Math-based combos would be skills on an action bar.

--------------------------------------

The other idea that came to mind for me and an education game would be something similar to Myst in terms of gameplay. The player would start off knowing almost nothing, starting the game in a room with a table or desk that has a note on it. The note is from a mysterious character who's name is most likely fake. He tells them the basics: The player is trapped, what the player needs to do, why they need to do it, and where to go to start looking for clues.

The game will be a first-person view and movement will either be with WASD or a point/click system. The player will need to solve a set of puzzles to progress through each area, ultimately ending the game when they solve the last puzzle and are then able to leave. Geometric, word, color, and other various puzzle types. Clues on how to solve the puzzles will be located in any of the areas before the puzzle. Anything from a note to something scribbled in the corner of a picture on the wall.

The difficult parts of this game will be making the various puzzles and the amount of artwork that would be needed, but I think it would be well worth it to make.