Carbon-12 is a first-person chemistry crafting and puzzle-solving game that is designed to teach GCSE students about the fundamentals of Chemistry. This document aims to communicate the vision of Carbon-12 and discuss intent in planning and composition. The primary purpose of Carbon-12 is to educate the player about the atomic structure and the processes involved in atomic bonding but to do so in an entertaining and meaningful way. Therefore it is intended that Carbon-12 be classified as a serious game, a topic that will be discussed later on in this document.
“…it has become evident that special care must be taken while developing training scenarios that are both engaging and informative. Satisfying both criteria can be difficult, especially when weighing the potential effects of negative learning and lack of “fun factor.”(Applied Visions, Inc, n.d.)
Getting the balance between entertainment and education is a significant priority in the development of this project and will be the main focus in terms of research and design principles.
The overview of Carbon-12 is based upon a combination of crafting atoms and molecules to then be moved around and launched at certain structures in a similar way to the gravity gun in Half-Life 2 (2004). Atomic crafting will involve the assembly of the Atomic Structure (Figure 1) using a puzzle design based on the game Puzzle Pirates (2003). Molecular Crafting will be a more interactive activity where the player will use his Atomic Gauntlet (Figure 2) to move electrons from one atom onto another. The player can then pick up the bonded molecule to activate or deactivate components in the room to enable progression. These interactions will be discussed in more detail in the design section of this document.
Figure 1 - Atomic Structure of Hydrogen and Carbon, atomic crafting puzzles will be based upon this
Figure 2 - Gravity Gun in Half-Life Representing Concept of potential aesthetics of Atomic Gauntlet
The unique selling points of Carbon-12 stem from subliminal learning. The game is designed to teach through the methodology of game theory, making the player unaware he is learning and rather be submerged in the gameplay. This will be done through careful planning and testing. The player should believe that the primary purpose of the game is entertainment but will come away with a grasp of key structures in chemistry. However, this approach has critics and therefore may be supplemented with other teaching theories during the iterative process.
The project was conceptualised due to personal experience of the power of video games. People can spend many hours in video games but may find it hard to do the same for studying. Kankaanranta and Neittaanmäki ’s (2010) research expresses the potential for serious games for efficient learning.
“There are significant opportunities as well as challenges for the use of serious games in schools. The common understanding among researchers and industry alike seems to be that serious games have great potential of becoming more and more influential in many walks of life in the future. Need for lifelong learning, exponential growth in the amount of information and the complex interdependencies on phenomena of today’s world require new methods for more efficient learning.” (Kankaanranta and Neittaanmäki, 2010)
The amount of information that is accessible in our era constantly increases. If the method of learning remains static then people may become overburdened and unmotivated. Games have been used as a tool to add to the variety of teaching and learning strategies. Combining education and gamming should produce successful results, as Laurel (1991) states ‘Learning through direct experience has, in many contexts, been demonstrated to be more effective and enjoyable than learning through ‘information communicated as facts’’. We are able to see the demand for educational games as ‘Traditional agencies are increasingly funding research for a number of reasons, one of which includes a small but increasing number of games in-education success stories.’(Kirriemuir & Mcfarlane, 2004) Therefore I’m attempting to develop an enjoyable experience of learning with my game Carbon – 12, which, if successful, will serve as an example of the potential of educational gaming.
Portal 2 (2011) is a well-known first-person puzzle game where the player is presented with a clear problem and needs to find a solution to the problem by using the accessible tools in the room (Figure 3). Essentially he will find the main obstacle such as a locked door, he will then progressively find issues that link to the main obstacle and will need to work through them to access the next area. This system of game design inspires the core gameplay of Carbon-12. In the same way, the player will find a primary obstacle e.g. a malfunctioning door with an overheated motor. He will need water to cool the motor which is crafted by fusing Oxygen and Hydrogen. He must craft Hydrogen and Oxygen using the Atomic Crafter. But to do this he needs the schematics for these atoms for the crafting to be accessible.
After he has successfully gathered the schematics, crafted the atoms and fused the atoms together, he will then be able to use the formed water to cool down the motor and open the next door. This is based on the work of Henrik Schoenau-Fog who states "An engaged player can have the desire to continue performing activities as long as the objective is not reached, in order to experience accomplishment as a result of successfully performing the activity" (Henrik Schoenau-Fog, 2018). Carbon-12 will always have a new objective until the final objective has been resolved to keep the player engaged. But the game will also have breakpoints established by different rooms to give the player a sense of progression and prevent exhaustion.
Figure 3 - Portal 2 Gameplay, Picking up reflective cube to disable a sentry and gain access to a door
Figure 4 - Puzzle Pirates Navigation Gameplay