Additional Software that Supports the Creation of the App

As this project involves the creation of all of the aspects of a fully functioning app, it is important to create a workflow that allows the creation of dynamic content quickly. Specifically images, animations and levels need to be created and positioned in a time efficient manner. Because Corona was chosen as the development kit, file formats that work well with Corona had to be created. Corona works with PNG sprite sheets for still images and multi-frame animations to economise processing power by loading single sheets with multiple images rather than large folders of individual image files. Adobe Photoshop and Flash Professional - https://creative.adobe.com - are used to create images and animations respectively. This creates individual PNGs that are then packed into sprite sheets by Texture Packer - https://www.codeandweb.com/texturepacker. As the levels are complex and contain many different sprites, another software tool is used to position the sprites within the level; Level Director - http://www.retrofitproductions.com/level-director/. Sublime text - http://www.sublimetext.com/ - is then used to edit the code that creates the software. The development pipeline connecting the different software tools used to create the mobile learning tool is shown in Figure 6 below.

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Figure 6: A diagram of the development pipeline used to create working prototypes

3.5.4

Defining the Nature of the Game World

The basic nature of the game world had to be defined quite early on to have some basis for creating a low-tech prototype. As one of the goals of the project was to develop and evaluate software that utilised the more dynamic features of modern software it was essential that some kind of game world be used. 3D was ruled out early on as it would involve the creation of more detailed assets that would not be able to be created within the timeframe of the project. 2D games are also very popular on mobile devices; mobile devices have smaller screens and less options for user input than consoles or computers. It was also decided very early on that the game had to involve a player character to give the user a feeling of virtual presence in the game world. A quick review of different 2D game genres that had a player character was undertaken to look at the advantages and disadvantages of each genre.

Table 4

Rubric evaluating different types of 2D games

Rubric of Popular 2D Game Formats

Format Advantages Disadvantages

Top down

Games viewed from a birds eye perspective

Allows the viewing and exploration of wide spaces; is good for games that require discovery.

It is not ideal for representing objects relating to vocabulary for language learning

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Isometric

A 3D perspective created with 2D graphics by showing all 3 dimensions; usually an aerial view pointing diagonally downwards

Creates the illusion of 3D with simpler 2D graphics; it can represent objects better than top down

It is not ideally suited to more action intensive single player gaming; it is more often used for games that involve building or controlling multiple characters; isometric views of some objects can be more complicated than simple 2D objects

Side on

A side on perspective in which a user can move up, down, left and right

Allows for more action intensive game play; objects can easily be displayed; it is a popular genre that is easy to control the player character

Limits some representation of depth; movements are limited to left and right

Side on was decided upon as the format for the game; this was because it allowed the easy controlling of a player character and more action intensive game play. Top down and isometric games are ideally suited to certain genres as they allow the representation of large areas. In the current game it was hoped to hold player engagement by including faster paced game elements that involved the careful movement of the player character; top down and isometric games can involve elements of this but it was decided that more action intensive elements of side on games

would be better. The most common genres of side on games are ‘platformers’ and ‘side-scrollers’; these games offer a reasonably close-up perspective involving real time user interaction to do things like avoid obstacles and collect bonuses. Mechanics from these games can potentially enhance user engagement and motivation. The representation of space in side on games is also ideal for representing objects and concepts in language learning as the perspective allows for the representation of smaller objects and positions above and below other objects more easily than top down views.

3.6

Ethics

A Low Risk Ethics Notification was sought for the project. The research fell in this category as it only involved anonymous user testing of the software; it did not involve any individual grades

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being kept that related to students and it did not interfere with their existing learning program. The most common data collection method was qualitative results relating to how students were using the software. As most students were under 16 permission was sought from their parents to have students use software in the classroom. The low risk ethics notification is included in Appendix B.