ADay Mwaa was a game I developed for my MSc Dissertation project. I researched into educational games and particularly educational games for learning languages. I found that 3D games have benefits over 2D games for language learning, they can create a safe playful environment where learners are not afraid to make mistakes and promote deeper learning. I made this game in collaboration with my friend who is a French teacher, who also lived in France for much of her adult life. All the grammar and syntax need to be correct to learn a language and she has noted that there are Apps out on the market which do not necessarily teach French correctly.
You are A-Day-Mwaa, you are an alien who decided to come to earth because you love learning new languages! You particularly like French food and the sound of the French language!! You come from a very helpful race of beings, who just love to help anyone they can! Which is just as well as your name is A-Day-Mwaa, which in French also means, Help Me! (Aidez Moi in French). So every time you hear A-Day-Mwaa you come running to the rescue!!
We used the phonic pronunciation for the name as the teacher I worked with, uses phonics/sound banks to teach her pupils. Eg Oi in French is a Wa sound. This is the same way French children also learn their language. The importance of phonics is also integrated into the game. 
The Story Of The Game:
You (as A Day Mwaa) have arrived in Paris in time for the festival that is Mardi Gras. So you are in Paris, although it’s not Paris as we know today, it’s Paris in the future. In 2049 to be precise. Lots of new things have happened and some people can time travel from the past……..! One of these time travellers being Camille Saint-Saens, (a very famous composer of pop music in the 1800’s, although we call it classical music nowadays). Anyway he has travelled from the 1800’s to perform his musical creation, Carnival of the Animals, to entertain people at the Mardi Gras festivities. And instead of bringing an orchestra, (which is very, very, extremely, very costly in time travel money), he has brought his mechanical animals. Each animal/animals can perform their piece from Carnival Of The Animals, so it really does save on bringing a whole orchestra! Also as Saint-Saens is a curious kind of guy for his time, and so are his animals, they are kind of a cross between Steam Punk and strange modern art beings, (so they are very, very odd indeed…..)!
The music of Saint-Saens will be incorporated into the game but with a modern twist (my brother is re-working Carnival of the Animals).
Developments for the Game Going Forwards to the Future
Due to time constraints I did not have time to finish the particular architectural genre I wanted for the game environment. The environment which I wish to develop will be a mixture of historic Paris and 'Jetson' style modern architectural style buildings, so that it be similar to the cities of today with a mix of architectural periods, except this will be a historic city with futuristic architecture in the mix. Also I did not have chance to develop the characters and gameplay so I have been working on character development and also a trailer/animated film to better describe how I would like the gameplay to develop.
The Saint-Saens character on the left and A Day Mwaa talking to Saint-Saens on the right at the start of Gameplay. This is where he obtains his first character to look for.
Buildings which would be included in the next development of the game, together with the historical buildings on the right of the image, which have already been incorporated.
The Objective Of The Game
To Find Saint Saens’s lost animals through an adventure which also rewards with points for the shop where you can buy custom ‘skins’.
All Saint-Saens animals are very excited to be in Paris, in fact they have never been to Paris before, so they are more than excited, they are SUPER excited. So much so, on their trip through the city towards the stage where they will perform, they get a bit distracted. In fact so distracted, by the time Saint-Saens gets to the stage he has lost them all!!! Aidez Moi he cries!!! You hear your name and you come running to help!! Your job as A-Day-Mwaa is to help poor Mr Saint-Saens find all his animals so they can all perform their show.
As this is future Paris it’s a bit different to Paris today. So to get through various barriers you have to find the right buttons to press to open doors. However to open doors you will have to help people with their problems, which will put you on the right path to opening the doors, getting points, bonus items and finding the where the animal of the level has disappeared to! You cannot progress unless a task is completed correctly.
Above is the Elephant character who is called 'Elesse' which is the first character you must find in the game to get through to the second part of the first level. She is stuck behind a barrier and you need to find how to bring this holographic barrier down. Elesse has gone through quite a few stages of development since she was first created. She started off as a character with musical references (on the body) as to the instrument which is used in his piece in The Carnival of the Animals which is the double bass. Since then she has become a porcelain elephant with an Art Nouveau ceramic style of decoration. Below are some examples of the initial character development.
The Elephant character before development as she currently appears in the game.
ADay Mwaa sees that The Elephant character (Elesse) is stuck behind the holo barrier. ADay Mwaa is currently in the Elephant Zone. He knows this because the sign (designed to represent the original Paris signs) says 'Place De L' elephant.' There is also a stone statue in the middle of the city square which is also labelled to let the character know where they are.
To the right, this is the clue which tells ADay what he should be looking out for in the first level. On the left after ADay has completed the level the 'holo barrier' comes down and ADay has to follow The Elephant 'Elesse' to the next zone.
To find Saint Saens lost animals you must first help non player characters such as Marie (above image). Marie asks for something she wants and ADay has to go and find it. You cannot go into the shop unless you have have pressed to 'speak' to Marie. When you help these characters they give you clues as to what to do next to find the particular animal. The player can click on the buttons to listen to the character talk as much as they want, and they can also stop them if they have listed enough!
This is the place ADay finds the first character he must help, it is the non player character Marie. All the shop items and words on the windows of the shops can be clicked on so that the player can listen to the sentence and then the items in the correct way to ask in French. This was constructed to help children build grammar and sentences in French. Also incidental features such as the shop name can be clicked on and also the shop signs and numbers. The whole environment is designed so that when players click on any object an audio voice will say what the object is.
ADay enters the shop. The game is designed so there are barriers that need to be interacted with, so that the player is looking at the signs and listening to the language. For example every time A Day enters the shop from ground level to inside he has to press the 'enter' button. There are clues and visual/audio speech bubbles to give hints throughout the game these will also 'speak' when clicked on. The whole game is in French to immerse the player in the language. The immersion theory is discussed in depth in the dissertation on the subject..
The 'Je Voudrais Machine' (The 'I would like' Machine)
The 'Je Voudrais Machine' is designed as a 'Jetsons' type Science Fiction holographic machine where you can order particular items from in particular shops. Developments have been discussed where if the wrong answer occurs 3 times then you get sent to a kind of bonus learning vocabulary level. At the moment the game asks you to try again (in French of course)!
An example of another shop. Throughout the levels there is always a recurring and reinforcing theme where colours and other items are reinforced. For example in the first zone Marie asks ADay to go and get her 7 Lemons. In the next zone the player might get asked (as one of the tasks) to find a 'yellow and lemon cake' so reinforcing what has been learnt before. The game will not consist of just asking for things in shops there are other types of challenges to be included. Eg mini games which will be just for fun.
Characters for the Lion and Rooster Zone. These will make up all the characters to be found on the first level. Once all these characters are found the player can progress to the 2nd Level of the game.