Learn the Word with Magic
(Spanish title:
Memoriza la Palabra con Magia)
Aug 2015
Video game trailer
A video game featuring Speech Recognition, developed for my Degree Thesis.
To design this mini-video game, the thesis students met several times with language therapists from the I.V.A.L. Institute in Caracas, Venezuela, in order to understand the current methodology (which uses cards, toys and drawings to teach the words and sounds of letters), applied to children suffering from some speech or language disorder. Thanks to them were born three simple games, which try to emulate a final therapy test. They consist of two rounds: the first, in which all the letters and their associated sounds are shown, repeating each word three times to help the children to memorize them. In the second round the patient is asked: "What drawing does the card have?". If he/she responds correctly, it is celebrated with an animation of fireworks and audios with words of encouragement (chosen randomly); and the card is removed from the table. This process is repeated three times with each card until the turns are over or the table is empty.
It is made in 2D. We successfully achieved a 3D effect in the movement of the cards by implementing certain graphics tricks. The cards are instantly flipped to deceive the eye (thus avoiding the need for a complex animation). Zoom-in and zoom-out animations with smoothed movements (using mathematical equations) were also implemented, whose variables/parameters of size (width and height of each card) change in value according to the remaining distance to be covered; in order to reach a fixed and tested value (i.e.: the final size of a zoomed-in card on screen). An attempt was made to visually deceive the player, by making him believe that the card is suddenly approaching his face (by using a Zoom-in animation), when asking the question.
I was also indirectly inspired in the old game "Solitaire" by Microsoft and in the well known memory card games (board game).
It was developed using the LibGdx framework and the Java language.
To design this mini-video game, the thesis students met several times with language therapists from the I.V.A.L. Institute in Caracas, Venezuela, in order to understand the current methodology (which uses cards, toys and drawings to teach the words and sounds of letters), applied to children suffering from some speech or language disorder. Thanks to them were born three simple games, which try to emulate a final therapy test. They consist of two rounds: the first, in which all the letters and their associated sounds are shown, repeating each word three times to help the children to memorize them. In the second round the patient is asked: "What drawing does the card have?". If he/she responds correctly, it is celebrated with an animation of fireworks and audios with words of encouragement (chosen randomly); and the card is removed from the table. This process is repeated three times with each card until the turns are over or the table is empty.
It is made in 2D. We successfully achieved a 3D effect in the movement of the cards by implementing certain graphics tricks. The cards are instantly flipped to deceive the eye (thus avoiding the need for a complex animation). Zoom-in and zoom-out animations with smoothed movements (using mathematical equations) were also implemented, whose variables/parameters of size (width and height of each card) change in value according to the remaining distance to be covered; in order to reach a fixed and tested value (i.e.: the final size of a zoomed-in card on screen). An attempt was made to visually deceive the player, by making him believe that the card is suddenly approaching his face (by using a Zoom-in animation), when asking the question.
I was also indirectly inspired in the old game "Solitaire" by Microsoft and in the well known memory card games (board game).
It was developed using the LibGdx framework and the Java language.
Credits:
Designed and developed
by
Alejandro E. Almarza Martín
Juan De Jesús Mirelles
Graphic Art and Animations
by
Rosana C. Aular Mendoza
Voice-overs
by
Julio A. Suárez Novales
