Angle Jungle Critique
Angle Jungle — An educational game about angles
My first critique centers on a game called Angle Jungle, a game designed to supplement angle education for students in fourth to sixth grade [1]. The game was developed by a group of ETC students known as Team Tiny; Xueyang Lena Wang (producer/concept artist), Jun Wang (producer/UX designer), Yonglin Carl Zhang (software engineer), and Jibran Khan (game designer). In this game, the goal is to complete puzzles and clear a path to treasure by rotating beams into target positions. Angle Jungle is available on the App Store (iPad only) and Google Play
Learning Objectives
The goal of Angle Jungle is to teach the fundamentals of angles. The game is built with the Pennsylvania Core Curriculum of fourth to sixth grade in mind, and has the overall aim of teaching how to recognize and estimate angle measurements [2]. More specifically, the game has the following learning objectives:
- Recognize and convert between the numeric and spatial representation of an angle
- Estimate angle measurements
- Understand how to use a protractor
- Gain familiarity with positive and negative representations of angles
As identified by Team Tiny, students in this demographic struggle with associating the numeric and spatial representations of angles, protractor use, and recognizing clockwise and counterclockwise rotation [1].
Game Elements
The game consists of thirty levels, each having the player try to open a path to the treasure so that the Treasure Hunter character can access it. The path is cleared when the player channels the beam from the “beam maker” to the objective. The “beam” (i.e. the spatial representation of the angle) must be manipulated to the correct angle by placing the correct “gems” (i.e. the numeric representation of the angle) into the slots on the beam maker. The player can tap on the beam maker to open up a protractor that allows them to estimate the target angle’s measure. As the player progresses, new elements are introduced; additional slots on the beam maker, red gems (i.e. negative angles), multiple beam makers, and multiple objectives.
Using Zubeck’s updated version of the MDA framework, Angle Jungle can be broken down as follows:
Mechanics — The game is a 2D world where the entire level is visible on screen at one time. There are thirty levels, and in each level, there are gems, beam makers, beams, power gems, protractor, and a treasure. The game is touch-based and allows the player to drag gems or tap the protractor and treasure. No other game object can be controlled except the gems, protractor and treasure (at the end of the level). If the correct gems are placed in the beam maker, the power gem is activated and the level is complete. Visually, the game employs a 2D jungle art style.
Systems — There are a few systems at play in Angle Jungle. There is a trophy system that rewards players when they complete a certain amount of levels. The thirty levels also combine to form a map system that can be accessible from the main menu. The protractor tool can be considered a system since it relies on the power gem positioning to be useful, however it is also arguably just a mechanic. The most important system is the beam manipulation system that combines the gem dragging, beams and power gem to clear a level.
Dynamics — The gem dragging mechanic and beam manipulation system offer immediate feedback to the player, which encourages experimentation with different gem placements. The protractor exists as a scaffolding tool such that when the player is stuck, they can open up the tool to measure the target angle. This protractor elicits a slower and more logical style from the player, as it lets them deduce what the target angle measure is so that they can strategize with the available gems. An undesired behavior that this game encourages is due to the lack of clarity on what can and can’t be touched. While the gems and protractor offer immediate feedback once dragged or tapped, it is not clear that most other objects cannot be controlled. Some of the foliage in the background moves slightly, which suggests that it may be tapped or dragged and can further confuse the player.
Aesthetics — The use of the Treasure Hunter character, art style, and treasure hunting goal adds to the player experience because it helps motivate the player to try and solve the puzzles. Without these elements, players may not be motivated to solve the angle puzzles at all. The introduction of a trophy system also adds motivation and a feeling of accomplishment for players when they receive a trophy. This feeling of accomplishment is reinforced upon completing a level by the visuals and celebratory audio.
Learning Science Principles
Angle Jungle uses scaffolding as one of its primary learning science principles (as do many educational games). Every two to three levels, a new concept is introduced that increases the difficulty of the game. The protractor tool itself is also a form of scaffolding to help support the player if they are struggling with angle estimates. Despite these scaffolding mechanisms, I do think the game can do better with supporting players if they are really stuck by using hints.
Other learning science principles used by the game can be drawn from Mayer’s multimedia principles; segmenting, weeding (e.g. removing extraneous text), temporal contiguity, and elimination of redundancy.
Overall Critique
Angle Jungle’s art style, premise, and simple control scheme, combined with varied puzzles of increasing difficulty make it a very approachable experience for students struggling with angle fundamentals. The educational objectives involving numeric-spatial reasoning, protractor use, and rotation are well integrated in the design of the game, helping it achieve the “angle-essential experience” the team was aiming for [1]. My doubts with this educational game lie with how well the integrated ideas are reinforced and transferred to educational settings. The game is relatively short, and the pace at which new concepts are introduced along with limited scaffolding (the protractor is the only scaffolding, no hints are available) may not completely alleviate the struggles that students are reported to have. That being said, I think the game, as the creators stated, works as an excellent supplement to the existing curriculum and as a collaborative learning experience [1].
Angle Jungle is a student-made game and was completed in a single semester. Knowing this, I believe Team Tiny made an excellent educational game that should serve as a foundation for a more substantial educational game in the future.
References
[1] Jibran Khan, Jun Wang, Xueyang Wang, Yonglin Zhang, Jessica Hammer, Scott Stevens, and Ricardo Washington. 2017. Angle Jungle: An Educational Game about Angles. Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 633–638. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3130859.3130867
[2] Pennslyvania Department of Education. Common Core Standards. 2017. Retrieved January 2017.https://www.pdesas.org/Standard/PACore