[gcompris-devel] Animations and story leading to Game Play?

[Bruno Coudoin]

Le 28/11/2013 22:51, roopesh shenoy a écrit :
> Hi Bruno,
>
> Thanks for GCompris.
>
> We've been trialing GCompris in a few places, and one of the key feedback,
> is that kids exposed to quality Ipad games (such as ones by Duck-duck
> moose) don't really get excited by GCompris interface. Of course, it's a
> different question whether those kids are good target subjects for
> GCompris, but generally speaking, the games themselves are quite good and
> educational once kids are nudged to start playing; it's the starting and
> the perception that's the problem.
Hi,

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I was not aware of "duck duck moose". I 
just got a look at it. To tell you the truth, we don't have the 
workforce to do something similar. It is closer to a cartoon with some 
educational game in it.

>
> I've tried out quite a few of the Duck Duck moose games (and a lot of other
> IPad edu-games) and the educational part is not really that better than
> GCompris - what is better is animation and story around the game play that
> keep kids interested; the whole entertainment aspect before getting to the
> educational bit.
>
> Is this something we have explored? I wanted to trial out this theory (that
> adding some animation and some story-line will actually make it more
> interesting for kids) but wanted to check whether any such efforts have
> already taken place (or if there are any ideas around this) before
> investing time and money.

My vision, and my hope,  is that GCompris despite being less fun and a 
little bit harder to get in may be better suited for some situations.

I may say that our weaknesses are our strengths. Because we cannot 
afford to make a cartoon like software we propose something strictly 
educational where some parents and some teachers will feel better. I 
don't know if this is the case with 'duck duck moose' but in my 
experience the software companies being these titles want to keep the 
children addict by adding some game content. In the end the children 
spend all their time on the game part an none on the educational part 
but the parents are happy because their children use the software they 
bought.

Our workforce is limited and I prefer to spend time adding a new 
activity than adding animations for the only benefit to hook the 
children. We have to think that we want GCompris to be translatable on a 
community based effort. These game studio pay graphic artists and record 
actors for the voices. Even if we pay one in a given language, what 
about the others. How do we manage updates. GCompris is a live ongoing 
development, not a boxed one that you stop once it hit the shelves and 
that disappear once it doesn't make enough money.

Bruno.