For People and Planet: Teachers’ Evaluation of an Educational Mobile Game and Resource Pack

For People and Planet: An SDG Adventure refers to a freely available Android-based narrative adventure game and teacher resource pack that helps learners see the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their day-to-day lives. In this paper, we describe the results of an evaluation of both the game and the resource pack by eight (8) middle school teachers. After playing the game and reading the resource pack, teachers gave their feedback about what they liked best and least about the materials, how they could use these resources for their classes, and how these resources could be improved further. Overall, teachers’ feedback was positive. They complemented the game’s visuals and sound design and appreciated the game’s contextualization. They affirmed the relevance of the game’s contents to their lessons and the usefulness of the teacher resource pack as it provided them with notes, additional activities, and sample assessments. They gave some useful suggestions such as the need for more visual cues within the game and tutorials for the mini-games, and glossary of terms for the teacher resource pack. The game and resource pack underwent some revision following the feedback of the teachers. Performing the user test was essential to ensuring the quality of the game and the resource pack, and to increase the probability that the game will actually be used in schools

Design and Development of “Slow Art” Experience for Tapaya’s Earthly Desires

We describe the design and development of a “slow art” experience of Rodel Tapaya’s painting, Earthly Desires, which was developed for the Microsoft HoloLens. The painting is a mix of mythological and historical imagery and can be appreciated from multiple perspectives. The experience that we designed offers viewers on a particular thread, provided by the artist himself, in which he describes how the painting emanated from the image and theme of the agimat or talisman. The experience was implemented using the Unity game engine and the Vuforia AR plugin for Unity. Due to community quarantines associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, we were not able to gather feedback from museum visitors regarding the experience but will be performed in the future

Usability Study of an Augmented Reality Game for Philippine History

We investigate the extent to which Augmented Reality can contribute to effectiveness and enjoyment in the context of history-game-based learning. This paper presents a series of usability tests of a mobile Augmented Reality game application for learning Philippine history, Igpaw: Intramuros, with representatives of the game’s target audience. These tests discovered issues that compromised player enjoyment, including fatigue during gameplay, hurdles in learning AR-specific game mechanics, game repetitiveness, and outdoor safety concerns, in addition to minor technical issues. Nevertheless, the tests show the game’s high effectivity in teaching Philippine history

Evaluation of a Cognitive-Behavioral Game Design-Based Mobile Game on Alcohol Use for Adolescents

The study sought to determine the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioral game design (CBGD) based mobile game as an alcohol use intervention. An experimental design was used with 140 participants randomly assigned to either play the mobile game (n=69) or a video documentary (n=71). Both groups displayed decrease in intent to use. Although the video intervention was superior in affecting actual use, the game intervention was more powerful in disseminating knowledge of alcohol facts and protective behavioral techniques. Findings suggest the need to consider the use of emotions or apply multi-modal approaches when addressing alcohol-use cognitions, attitudes and behaviors

Igpaw: Loyola — Design of a Campus-Wide Augmented Reality Game Using MAGIS

We present Igpaw: Loyola, a new location-based mobile AR (augmented reality) adventure game designed to be played within the campus grounds of the Ateneo de Manila University. Igpaw: Loyola improves upon its predecessor, Igpaw: Intramuros, by upgrading gameplay mechanics to accommodate lengthier learning modules, improving the usability of both interactive (AR) and navigation (non-AR) portions of the game, and enhancing the game authoring process with the help of an improved version of the MAGIS (Mobile Augmented-Reality Game-Engine for Instructional Support) framework. A preliminary user evaluation is also presented

Drug Defense: A Mobile Game for Prevention of Alcohol Abuse

We present Drug Defense, a mobile tower defense game designed to prevent alcohol abuse. The game makes use of the Cognitive Behavioral Game Design (CBGD) methodology to encourage the retention of knowledge about the consequences of excessive alcohol use. The researchers compared used pretest and posttest to determine the game aided in greater retention. The researchers also assessed the playability of the game was also evaluated using a questionnaire adapted from the Heuristics to Evaluate the Playability (HEP) of Games. Data analysis showed that the players had significantly increased knowledge on alcohol and its use. Players also enjoyed the game’s narrative and the need to strategize

Tuklas: Design, Development and Testing of an Augmented Reality Experience for a Children’s Museum

We describe the design, development, and testing of Tuklas, an augmented reality experience for children visiting Museo Pambata (Children\u27s Museum) in Manila, Philippines. Because the target audience was 7 years old and below, the game minimized the use of text. Instead, it adopted an aim-and-click interaction style coupled with a collection mechanic to increase the children\u27s engagement with the museum exhibits. During the post-game interviews with the children\u27s parents or guardians, feedback was highly positive. The interface was easy to use, and the game mechanic was easy to understand. The children enjoyed watching the animations after completing each scene

Development and Testing of a Mobile Game for English Proficiency Among Filipino Learners

This paper presents the testing and development of Learning Likha, an English language-based digital game for Filipino learners from 9- to 12-years old. The game focuses on the literacy skill of noting explicit details while incidentally learning about Filipino culture. In an in-vivo pilot test, we measured student comprehension and engagement. We found that the students who performed better and had greater confidence enjoyed using the software but were less engaged than those who performed more poorly

A RECIPE for Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals

Every individual is responsible for sustainable development and therefore awareness of sustainability should begin at a young age, when mindsets and habits are formed. One form which sustainability education takes is computer-based games. We describe how we used Nicholson’s Meaningful Gamification framework to design For People and Planet: An SDG Adventure, a narrative-based adventure game that teaches middle school children about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In this paper, we describe the framework’s six elements--play, exposition, choice, information, engagement, and reflection--and show how our design choices align with these elements