THE TASKMASTER SHIP #1

The TaskMaster Rocket Ship. It's word-fuelled.

As this is one of the most pressing issues I've attacked it first.
Learning grammar and new words can be tedious, requiring a lot of repetition.
The idea behind this 'game' is to turn flash card learning into a visual treat.

Not only does it ask the general TaskMaster vocab questions but it mixes them up a little and asks the same questions in many different ways. The game also contains some motor skills to rotate the ship and click on annoying hitch-hikers (aliens!). The psychological interruption of changing from purely cognitive to motor tasks breaks the monotony but has also been shown to enhance recall. Short bursts of adrenaline and endorphins.*

*You can see the words 'Blue Umbrella' written in graffiti and you probably will forget it in an few weeks. A stranger walks up and says 'Blue Umbrella' to you and walks off, you'll remember it a lot longer.But a stranger who walks up, says 'Blue Umbrella', SLAPS YOU IN THE FACE, and runs away; you'll remember that for the rest of your life, even if English isn't your first language.

At the moment the questions are asked in as many different ways as possible. And soon, there will be many different ways of answering the questions too. Once the student answers a question correctly a number of times the 'randomness' of the next questions are weighted accordingly. That is, they are more likely to encounter their weaker words than the ones they obviously know.
So the student seamlessly moves along the word list (and course).


THE WAYS OF ASKING:

1. The kids are given the usual taskmaster 'fill in the blank' question with multiple options. They click on the correct one to fuel the rocket. Usually there are 5 words to select from and all are real words.
2. There is a second set of blank questions based on the same words but using a different version of the word. (Adjective instead of verb, past instead of present etc.). Again though, all options are real words. 
3. There is a small subset of questions where a blank is given in a sentence but the multiple options are now all different words from the course and the student must choose the right one.
4. Using the same word list questions such as 'Which one of these words is FAKE' appear. This gives multiple versions of a course word with one glaring error. They must spot the impostor.
5. Using the same word list again, the question 'Which one of these words is REAL' appears. Again multiple answers appear with misspellings, corruptions, common mistakes and they must choose the correct one.
6. Optional and elaborated on below. The student must TYPE the correct answer!

THE WAYS OF ANSWERING:

1. They student is given 5-6 multiple options and must click on one of the answers. If correct they are immediately given a new question and the ship is given a little more 'word fuel'. If incorrect they are given the correct answer and a painful wait of 3 seconds. If your ship is losing altitude, you really do feel it!
2. The student is given just two options. This is easier that the previous method but less fuel is added to the ship, so it balances out (game-wise). Not only can they click on the correct answer but the keys "1" or "2" can be pressed or the LEFT & RIGHT arrows can also be used.
3. The student is given two options again BUT this time they either have to wave their right or left arm, lean to the left or right or  STAND UP and JUMP to the left or right. This is just to add a bit more real life action to the game. (no aliens will annoy you in this version).
4. This is the HARDEST. The student must TYPE the correct answer. No options are given. The only help is the dictionary version of the word required. Once the correct word is entered the ship gets a refuel. This is really hard!

BEHIND THE SCENES:

The answers are recorded and weaker words come up more often. The game blends the taskmaster levels into each other but the starting level can be chosen if needed.
When the student plays the game again their computer will remember where they failed, which words are their best and the game will simply start from where they ended it. With a fresh new ship obviously.
There will be an option to erase all history and play from the beginning again. In the real world this would be called reviewing. In the game it's a good way of beating your high score.
Answer times and problem words can be recorded so that the staff can collect data from all computers and another app (which I will make) will show you the statistics of ALL (not individual) students.
In this way difficult parts of the course can be targeted and the general reading speed of a class per TaskMaster level can be ascertained.

The game graphics and answering methods can be used for just about ANY list that can be compiled from flash-cards. So it can be applied to other subjects if necessary. The difficulty level can be set by choosing the answering method, fuel amounts given per word or increasing the gravity on the ship.
I've programmed in multiple looks for the game including a cartoon style sky for younger kids.

I am also in the process of converting all the mechanics of the rocket ship to be fuelled by 'KIDDIE-ENERGY'. But I'll discuss that in the next post :)

Here are some of the game graphics so far....

The basic ship and multiple question layout

The camera can be rotated and zoomed in or out using the trackpad or mouse

The ship in flight. YES that is a Death-Star in the distance. Sue me. There is a lot to discover the higher you go

Occasionally alien hitch-hikers will appear from another dimension because, em, science!

They're cute but they make the ship heavier. Click on them a few times to knock them off

Don't worry. They do this for fun, they can't get hurt

And here are variations on the graphics. Changing the backdrops can have a dramatic effect on the look of the game. These can be chosen in advance or changed during the game (SHIFT + S) and really show off the power of Unity 5. The camera angle and zoom is completed under the control of the player. Zooming in is handy for finding those pesky aliens.

Sailing into the sunset

Of course if the student answers incorrectly while airborne the ship will begin to descend fast and faster. Although they might never reach their highest altitude (the score) again this time they will be given a bonus is they can at least answer a few questions and slow up the ship just enough to land gently (or not so gently).

Landing hard isn't a good option but it's LOUD and very pretty....