Rekenwereld 1 - Getallenkoekjes bakken
Development: Springlab
Software: Unity
Role: Game design, Interaction design, UX design, Level design, Narrative design, Interactive storytelling, Voice actor, Dialog director
Target audience: Age group 4-6
Released: 2020
In this game the players travel in their spaceship to the Rekenwereld, together with Skip. After they have landed they meet Grandma Wobbel. She is famous for her delicious cookies. Wobbels from all over the Rekenwereld want to buy them. But she doesn’t remember which cookie is which number! She needs help.
So each time she puts a baking mold for a cookie on the baking tray, Skip and the kids help Grandma Wobbel identify and name the correct number for that baking mold.
While playing the game preschoolers learn the numbers from 1 to 20 in different difficulty levels. Starting easy and getting progressively more difficult.
How it works
The goal is for the children to fill the large baking mold on the floor with their bodies. Together they stand, sit, roll or crawl in the baking mold to fill it entirely. Children must be solution-oriented, willing to communicate and collaborate and discover for themselves what works best. When the baking mold is filled enough, it turns into a delicious number cookie and Grandma Wobbel has learned a new letter.
Sometimes the players also have to deal with the mini-Wobbels who want to eat Grandma's tasty cookies! They have to chase these little cookie monsters away as fast as possible.
The game adjusts itself according to the results of the players. The pace goes up when things are going well and goes down again when things aren't going well.
Didactic content
With this game, children learn about the concept of numbers. They have to work in a solution-oriented way and are challenged to work together. The main purpose of the game is to be able to recognize and read the numbers correctly. Every time a number shape appears on the floor the children have to call out what number it is and stand in the shape together in order to fill it. If successful, the shape turns into a number cookie. If they take too long and aren't able to work together and fill up the shape, then they get another chance.
Children learn to recognize and read numbers in different levels;
- Numbers 0 to 5
- Numbers 6 to 10
- Numbers 0 to 10
- Numbers 11 to 20
- Numbers 0 to 20
My role
For this project I started to research which way numbers are taught to children. Which steps are taken in order to teach them what they need to know? Following this I developed the concept and tested out prototypes with the target group. In multiple iterations we improved the game and created a fun, balanced experience for the players. While teaching them numbers we alternate between learning and having fun. Furthermore I did all the narrative design and interactive storytelling for the game. I was the dialog director for all the voice actors in the game and I myself did the voice of Grandma Wobbel.
