Monday, October 13, 2014

Wanna Play?



Escape the Room Games

There are many different types of game genres. Today I focused on Escaping the Room Games. These types of games are played by pointing and clicking around the screen to explore a world of your choice. The main task you are trying to full fill is to help your character by reading the pop ups directing you what to do and clicking around to find items or trigger actions.



The game I chose to play is called Phantasy Quest.  I played the game 2 different times for about an hour and then for 45 minutes. If you like this game comes with an option of using a walkthrough to aid you in the game.

The main plot of this game is you are stuck on a deserted island (well it seems that way at first). You are given no back story at first and you start on the beach by yourself and you are able to click arrows to move around the island. As you play you start to figure out information about how you got there and you learn that you are maybe not alone. As you move around you pick up items and use them to complete small tasks by taking them out of your inventory and clicking them on things in hopes an action will occur.

Here is a description of how to play the game from the website itself:
Use your mouse! Just click anywhere on the game screen. Some things you can activate simply by clicking on them, while others you may have to use an item that you have collected in your inventory.
To use an inventory item, move the pointer over it, click and while holding the mouse button, drag the item out of the inventory bar onto the game screen, then release the button. The item should then move with your cursor, and you can click it on things in the game screen. To put the item back in your inventory, just click it on the inventory bar.

 I found this game fun and quite addicting. It followed an easily hookable storyline and I wanted to keep following it to find out what was going to happen next. Once I found the gate I really wanted to get inside and figure out why I was stranded on this island! I found myself playing the game for longer than I wanted instead of doing other homework, oops! I think there are plenty of performance indicators that can be included with this game.

  • Problem solving is a great performance indicator. Students must analyse their actions and what they want to do next as well as anticipate consequences. Students can discuss with each other game strategies and why one thing must be completed before another and use reasoning to back it up. To assess this indicator the teacher could place bench markers in the walkthrough where students will stop to anticipate consequences and discuss with their partners what they should do next. 
  • Storytelling can be used to retell the story using sequencing vocabulary. They could use the game as an inspiration to write a narrative. This would be a great time to use images from the game to help prompt specific points in the game so students can write about them using sequencing. The teacher can then assess the sequencing to see if it was similar to the game and note the rationale behind it.

 I would use a walkthrough with this game because with the use of the walkthrough the students can follow the directions and follow the sequencing. This will allow them to continue with the game even if they are confused. Then the teacher will be a helper and can help aid them with what to do next but the walkthrough will help them out the most. Though the teacher can also ask thought provoking questions about why would we need to push the rock off before we entered the gate? This will make students actively think about the walkthrough while they are reading it and anticipate further sequencing according to the feedback the game gives them.

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