Knight Elimar s Last Joust, A Game for Promoting Literacy Richard M. Levy, PhD, Annika Orich, Row Owston,PhD, Herb Wideman, PhD

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1 Knight Elimar s Last Joust, A Game for Promoting Literacy Richard M. Levy, PhD, Annika Orich, Row Owston,PhD, Herb Wideman, PhD Abstract Role-playing games set in immersive virtual environments can leverage student interest in narrative and fantasy to motivate learning. This presentation describes an educational roleplaying game developed to enhance student literacy and designed to run on a typical classroom computer. Its development was guided by empirical findings and theoretical considerations discussed in the paper s introduction. The game is set in a virtual medieval village, and incorporates a mystery quest that can only be solved by successfully unraveling a series of challenging written and verbal clues. Observational data on student interaction, engagement, and technical problems gathered during the course of testing, was analyzed and used to assess the student perspective on the game. Installation (TEST version) 1) This game runs with the plugin from Virtools. Go to their website and download the plugin. 2) To Download the supporting test materials go to: 3) To Download the virtual world go to: Download the file below to your hard drive. Elimar.vmo 4) Open the file with Internet Explorer. I have also had some success limited success with Mozilla Firefox, though Internet Explorer offers better performance. 1

2 5) KEY COMMANDS: Forward Arrow - Forward Backward Arrow - Back Right Arrow - Right Left Arrow - Left F6 - Rotate Left F7- Rotate Right Home Reset camera view to horizontal PageUp - Up PageDown - Down Home - Reset View Home - Reset View F8 - Help/ F9 - Close help screen F10/F11 - Statistics on/off Insert/Delete Avitar view / Knight Timeme s. View Help Screen (Test Version) Student version will not have access to Statistics (F10/F12). 2

3 Here are the words you need to type in to get through the levels. We are still working on the workbook that students will use during the course of the game. Note words should be entered in lower case, backspace to correct a word and "Enter (return) to reset: 1) first gate - breastplate 2) second gate to the right as you go through the first gage - sword 3) third gate - gauntlet 4) fourth gate - greave 5) Fifth level: chapel - coat of arms 6) Movement of the wall (secret passage) inside the chapel sabaton NOTES: 1) Play Time: This version is doable in about 35 to 45 mins depending on how the experience and capability of the gamer. 2) New Features: There are three indication of time. Five hour glasses appear at the beginning of the game. An hour glass will disappear after 9 mins. The last one will disappear after 45 mins. There are also two clocks, one counts down from 45 mins and the other is timed with the hour glasses. These two clocks will not be part of the actual game. 3) Loading: It will take approximately one minute to load depending on your computer. You will see the Virtools splash page when loading. 3

4 Once the game loads you should see the following image: If you can t navigate in the game, left click once inside the window. 4) Performance: If hit the F10 key you will get frame rate (first number in the column). Please let me know what the value is on the computers planned for the test. 5) Settings: Once the environment appears you may change settings by right click on the window to change settings. Right click also allows you to pause, and restart the game. Generally the game should run well under DX9. However if you have a good video card that supports OpenGL, running under OpenGL may give better results. Inexpensive E-machines will probably not run well under OpenGL. One way to check on performance is to run under each setting and compare the frame rate (F10). 6) Internet Explorer You may want to run in full screen mode. Press F11 or go to View/Full screen. Note using full screen by right click on the window may cause problems. Also, note this game has been sized for an 800x600 screen. If you have a laptop that is wide screen format you will have a dark border on the left and right side of the screen in full screen mode. You may want to scale your window accordingly. If you plan to run the game with an aspect that is not 4:3 in ratio contact me at rmlevy@ucalgary.ca. Depending on your requirements, I may be able to provide you with a custom version that meets your intended display. 4

5 Virtools settings window. Right click on the game window after it is running to open this dialogue box. 7) Log File: There is a log file that is created each time the game is played. This information tracks time and position of the user throughout the game. These files should be wiped out before the actual test. After the actual test these files should be saved. I would recommend the file name to name of the computer. If the survey keeps track of the computer identification that will help with the analysis of the test findings. C:/User10sec.txt C:/Usertime2sec.txt 5

6 Once the test is completed please save these files and provide copies to the researchers in charge of the project. If there is any questions please contact me, Prof. R.M.Levy at 6

7 Instructions to Knight Elimar s Last Joust How to play Knight Elimar s Last Joust 1. Have your pen and booklet ready. 2. Pay attention to the screen. 3. In the right bottom corner of your screen, you can see what level you are on. 4. Find the corresponding page number in your booklet. For example, if you are on level 4, you have to open page 4 in your booklet. Every time you enter a new level, you must also turn to a different page in your booklet. Therefore, always turn the page before you walk through a gate to the next level! 5. On each level, objects and people will talk to you when you get close to them. It does not matter in which order you find them. 6. Listen to the audio clues very carefully! The clues will give you all the information you need. At the end, they will ask you a question about something they just talked about. While they talk, you cannot move around (only buttons F6 and F7 work, so you can look around). Clues will play twice after 12 seconds if you stay in the same position. You can also approach clues again, and they will play again. 7. Answer the questions by either solving a crossword puzzle (level 1, 2, 4) or finding the answer in a word search puzzle (level 3, 5) in your booklet. 8. Normally, one audio clue will correspond to one question. EXCEPTION: on level 4, the griffin at the cathedral will ask three questions, each question s answer belongs in a different column (6, 7, 8) in the same crossword puzzle on page 4 of the booklet. Please only inform students about the one exception but not where this is to be found. 9. When you know the password, type in the password. If you found the password by solving a word search puzzle, only enter the second word you created from the left-over letters. Passwords must be correctly spelled in order for a gate to open. When you typed in the correct password, an image of the password and an explanation will be heard. Listen to and read the name of the part of armour or weapon you found. After that, enter the next level through the open gate. You may have to look around for the open gate. If you type in a password and nothing happens, you may have the wrong password. Check your spelling! 10. If you cannot find the gate, then look out for Knight Timeme, he is eager to get to the next level as well and may give you an idea which gate is the right one! 11. Turn to the next page in your booklet, go through the gate, and begin the next level. 12. Repeat step 1 to 12 again until you reach the end of the game. 13. If you cannot find the right gate or solve the password, find Knight Timeme. He will eventually show you where to go. However, if you rely on him to play the game, you will use valuable time. Eventually, the correct password will also appear above the gate; this way you will have an opportunity to move on, even if you cannot find all the answers. Again, if you wait for the password, you will loose valuable time. 14. If you can t solve a riddle, don t stick around too long but move on to the next one. You can always return later, as long as you are still on the same level. Sometimes it helps to have some of the other answers to find the password! 7

8 15. You will know that you finished the game and successfully collected Knight Elimar s armour when you meet the Golden Knight at the end of the game. 16. Good luck and enjoy! 8

9 17. Crossword puzzles: Objects and people will tell you which page of your booklet you have to open. They will also give you a number, so you know where exactly you have to write down your answer to the question you were asked. For example, an audio clue in the game will give you some information, ask you a question, and then tell you to open page 5 and to enter your answer under row (or column) 3. Once you have solved the entire crossword puzzle, write down the letters in the black boxes. Write them down on the line underneath the crossword puzzle in exactly the same order as they appear in the crossword puzzle. The solution always is a word that describes a piece of armour, a weapon, or a part essential to being a knight. You must type in this password at the gate to enter the next level. Here is an example of a crossword puzzle page (the level number will, of course, be differently; This example corresponds with the practice one for students). In this example, four words are already found. The last clue is the following: Excuse me! Could you please help me to solve this riddle? I m looking for a type of weapon that knights used for hunting. It says: a weapon that is made of a strip of flexible wood with a cord connecting the two ends and holding the strip bent and that is used to propel an arrow. I really don t know what is meant by this description. Do you know? Here, I say it again: a weapon that is made of a strip of flexible wood with a cord connecting the two ends and holding the strip bent and that is used to propel an arrow. Write down the answer in the practice crossword puzzle, row 2. After listening to the clue, students have to turn to the booklet (practice page) and find the word bow (in this example, spelled in italics and underlined for demonstration purposes, row 2) in the crossword puzzle (see below) Practice Crossword Puzzle Listen to all the clues and solve the crossword puzzle. 1 k n i g h t 2 b o w 3 d r a w b r i D g e 4 s p e a r 5 t o w e r 9

10 The password (letters in the black boxes) is: (horse) (Type in this word to open the gate to level 3) Students then must go on, find the gate to the next level, and enter the password horse. 18. Word search puzzles: The objects and people will tell you which page of your booklet you have to open. For example, an object in the game will give you some information, ask you a question, and then tell you to open page 3. There you will find a word search puzzle. You must find the answer to the question you were asked in the word search puzzle. The answer may be hidden diagonally, vertically, horizontally, and sometimes even backwards. Cross out each word that you find in the word search puzzle. Once you answered all the questions on one level and crossed out all the words you were supposed to find, you must write down the left-over letters that you can still see in the word search puzzle on the lines below the puzzle. The left-over letters will always spell the word password and another word that describes a piece of armour. You will have to enter this second word at the gate to the next level. Here is an example of a word search puzzle page (the level number will, of course, be differently; This example corresponds with the practice one for students). In this example, five words are already found. The last clue is the following: Hey! Are you on your way to the joust between Knight Timeme and Knight Elimar? Yes, it will be great, it s taking place right behind the cathedral later on today! You have to come, everyone will be there! What do you mean? No, I m not talking about the arcade game Joust. I mean a real joust! You don t know what that is? And you have never been to a joust before? Well, a joust is a battle between knights, generally while they are on their horses. They battle each other with their swords or lances. Well, I know you want to help Knight Elimar, so here is the question for the practice word search puzzle: What is another name for a battle in which knights fight each other on horse-back? After listening to the clue, students have to turn to the booklet (practice page) and find the word joust (in this example, spelled in italics and underlined for demonstration purposes) in the word search puzzle (see below) 10

11 Practice Word Search Puzzle Listen to all the clues and find the six answers in the word search puzzle. e p r i n c e s s p e t a g n i k s s w o d a r d j o u s t c a i g s s p e a r t l e r Once you have answered all questions on level 3, write down the left-over letters below (keep the same order as above) Remember, only type in the second word to open the gate to level 4! After finding all six words in the word search puzzle, the left-over letters will spell the following: 1. (password) 2. castle Students then must go on and find the gate to the next level and enter the password castle. 11