[gcompris-devel] Thoughts on gletters redesign + wordsgame levels

[Fòram na Gàidhlig]

Hi all,

working on my digraph problem, I have been taking a look at the gletters 
activity (falling letters in the periphery -> keyboard section), and I 
would like some input / a green light before I go ahead.

=========================================
1. Moving the level design to an XML file
=========================================

Currently, the level design is hard coded and not adaptable for other 
languages. My language doesn't only have digraphs, but accented vowels 
as well that require an extra keypress. The way the game is currently 
designed, these complex letters either appear straight away at the first 
level, or I can't teach them at all.

I think the easiest way to give localizers control over the level design 
is to adapt the code from the wordsgame, listing letters instead of 
words in the XML file. The only new coding needed for this would be for 
making the uppercase mode work.


======================================
2. Redesign the upper/lowercase levels
======================================

When playtesting the English version in the upper/lowercase mode, I 
found it confusing that at the lower levels, I don't need the shift key 
for the uppercase letters, but at the higher levels I do. Also, 
languages that don't use the Latin alphabet won't necessarily have an 
upper/lowercase distinction.

For English, I think this mode should start with lowercase letters and 
numbers. The current level design is:

Level 1: uppercase
Level 2: uppercase + numbers
Level 3: lowercase
Level 4: lowercase + numbers
Level 5: lowercase + uppercase
Level 6: lowercase + uppercase + numbers

And I would suggest:

Level 1: lowercase
Level 2: lowercase+ numbers
Level 3: uppercase
Level 4: uppercase + numbers
Level 5: lowercase + uppercase
Level 6: lowercase + uppercase + numbers


================================
3. Redesign the uppercase levels
================================

For the uppercase mode, I found the level progression a bit strange:

Level 1: uppercase
Level 2: uppercase + numbers
Level 3: uppercase
Level 4: uppercase + numbers
Level 5: uppercase + numbers
Level 6: uppercase + numbers

How about:

Level 1: vowels
Level 2: vowels + numbers
Level 3: consonants
Level 4: consonants + numbers
Level 5: vowels + consonants
Level 6: vowels + consonants + numbers

=======================
4. Level size and speed
=======================

In wordsgame.c, the level size and speed is currently hard coded. I 
suggest 3 new XML attributes: speed, fallspeed and levellength. This 
would give more control over level design to those localizers who have 
complex letters to teach. We might want the option of having shorter or 
slower levels later on when we need more levels.

If I understand the code correctly, this would be an XML representation 
of the current state of affairs for the wordsgame:

<level value="1" speed="150" fallspeed="7000" levellength="10">
</level>
<level value="2" speed="150" fallspeed="7000" levellength="15">
</level>
<level value="3" speed="150" fallspeed="7000" levellength="20">
</level>
<level value="4" speed="150" fallspeed="7000" levellength="25">
</level>
<level value="5" speed="150" fallspeed="7000" levellength="30">
</level>
<level value="6" speed="150" fallspeed="1200" levellength="35">
</level>

and since we can have more levels now when my patch for this gets 
integrated:

<level value="7" speed="150" fallspeed="1400" levellength="35">
</level>
<level value="8" speed="150" fallspeed="1600" levellength="35">
</level>

etc...

and for gletters (with rounded speed):

<level value="1" speed="140" fallspeed="9000" levellength="8">
</level>
<level value="2" speed="90" fallspeed="5000" levellength="11">
</level>
<level value="3" speed="73" fallspeed="3667" levellength="8">
</level>
<level value="4" speed="65" fallspeed="3000" levellength="11">
</level>
<level value="5" speed="60" fallspeed="2600" levellength="11">
</level>
<level value="6" speed="57" fallspeed="2333" levellength="11">
</level>