There's a really interesting experiment going on over at GamingYourWay.com.

Richard "Squize" Myles, one of Gaming Your Way's two members, is posting every single build in the development of his new game X++.

In his words:

"Rather than doing a diary style collection of posts about a specific game's development, I'm going to post daily builds. Every day I work on it, even if it's just to tweak a sprites position quickly 'cause it's bugging me, I'll upload that new build."

I'm pretty jealous. I wish I could make an unfinished game look so good! I usually have "programmer art" in the game until most of the programming's actually done. Watching a game develop this way might be just a curiosity for a non-developer, but for another developer, there's a lot to learn. We all know that every programmer approaches a problem differently, but we don't always know just how their approach differs. Talking to another developer lets you see ways of doing something you wouldn't have thought of, and it lets you feel smart by pointing out your techniques as well. Squize's approach to programming a game is very different from mine...

"I'm weird when it comes to coding. I know a lot of developers just like to get in there and get the engine working, and then work back from that. I'm very linear, like a bad fps. I need to start from the beginning, the title screen. It's important to get that look & feel in place to set the tone for the rest of the game."

One thing Squize programmed into X++ before I would have is the "Tip of the Day" feature. This is a common feature in many complicated computer programs, not just games. A "tip of the day" tells the user about one feature or shortcut each time the program starts up. This way, a user can gradually absorb information about all the features that they probably would never have gone looking for, while still being able to use the program. It's another method of avoiding cognitive overload, but it's much less structured than a tutorial. Tips of the day are usually random, and often you'll see the same tip multiple times, but that's okay. It's a scattershot approach to providing contextualized information. While playing X++, you'll probably read "The pulse powerup is the most powerful weapon, but it also has the longest reload time and the shortest range" many times, but the information lacks context until you actually pick up the powerup its talking about. You might ignore the tip the first time you read it, but maybe you'll remember it the first time you get a pulse powerup. If not, you'll probably see the tip again, and this time it will mean more.

A tip of the day is no replacement for a good tutorial, but it might be a good way to supplement learning if there's a lot of random information you want to eventually convey.

Now, let's contrast the "Tip of the Day" with something I've seen many Educational Games offer - Random Trivia.

At first glance, Random Trivia looks exactly the same as a "Tip of the Day". It's a bit of random information pulled from an unorganized number of facts. The main difference is, while a "Tip of the Day" might take a scattershot approach to context, Random Trivia is totally context-free. It's trivial!

I'm not going to name names, but let’s pretend you're playing a game that takes place underwater. You control a little fish that's trying to eat smaller fish, while trying to avoid being eaten by larger fish. You manage to beat a level, and a little bit of text pops up that says "Octopuses have special cells in their skin called chromatophores that let them change color and patterns in order to camouflage themselves". Since there aren't any octopuses in the game, that information isn't especially useful to you. Maybe you'll think it's interesting, and remember it, but chances are you won't. It's not contextual to the game, and even though it's a fact about something in reality, you have no context for it. To call that game educational is a stretch.

But what if we were to combine the concepts of Random Trivia and Tip of the Day? Could we have tips that concern reality, but are also contextual to the game? Of course we can! All we have to do is change the game to include situations where knowing the "trivia" is important. One way to do this is to have a "guardian at the gate" character ask you "what are the names of the cells that octopuses use to change color for camouflage." But this is a terrible idea! We really need to get away from the idea that it's okay for an educational game just be a pretty-looking quiz. We're looking for a way to make information important and contextual. I suggest we make the octopus into an enemy in the game. The octopus could be disguised as a rock, or as a patch of sand, and only reveal itself when your fish swims near it. Having a rock transform into an octopus and swallow the player's fish is a great way to drive home the fact that octopuses can disguise themselves as rocks in order to catch prey. Now we can also include a warning somewhere in the game that says "Watch out for suspicious looking rocks! Octopuses have special cells in their skin called chromatophores that let them change color and patterns in order to camouflage themselves." The important information is there, along with some extra facts that might stick in your mind. Maybe you won't remember the word "chromatophore", but frankly that's not very important. You’ve had the experience of being eaten by a disguised octopus. You now know that he has the ability to change color.  You're probably not going to forget that!

Can you think of some other bits of marine biology trivia we could teach with our new hypothetical fish game? Why not leave a comment?

Play X++ and stay tuned as it develops.