by admin | Oct 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
We are not sure about the characters yet, since I didn’t agree for the warriors. I thought of giving the characters different features based on their factors and everyone agrees. Moreover, the number cards need to be part of the story too. Something you use to get, create, capture or save the characters. We decided that the number cards will be a bit smaller than the usual size of playing cards and the answer cards will be bigger and maybe... Read More
by admin | Oct 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
Today I had a long discussion with my advisors (my sons) about the story behind our game. They are nine and seven years old, they are advanced learners and experienced card and board game players. They also have the most amazing and vivid imaginations in the whole wide world. After a while it was just the two of them brainstorming ideas about the characters of the game and having a blast. To be honest, at some point I felt a bit overwhelmed because their stories and characters were getting a bit too complicated for a game and for me to follow. Decisions of the day: 1)Every answer number card will be a character of some kind. You collect the characters while playing. At the end the winner is the one with the most characters, or the most powerful ones. 2) Maybe we can make a mini game that you play using the characters you earned. Kind of like Pokemon, but simple. The idea is to encourage children to collect the characters. Character ideas: warriors, knights, alien creatures, ninjas, animals… We need to find a type of character that both boys and girls will like, and one that I can create a variety of. My sons are really excited about warriors but I think it will be difficult to create 42 different warriors. I like the idea of alien or strange... Read More
by admin | Oct 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
More than anything, the game needs a theme, a story, a background. Children like games in which they get to play roles and be part of a story. I learnt that well, not only from my teaching experience but also from my three sons who love games with a big dose of imagination, fantasy and science fiction. Games like Pokemon, and magic the gathering are very popular among children. My boys, for example like to collect Pokemon cards and talk about who has the more powerful or rare ones. I want the cards of our game to be interesting and attractive for children, and the story behind the game to excite their imagination. I love creating characters and stories for games, but until now my games were aiming younger children ages 4 -7. I believe this game is suitable for children 7 and up, since multiplication tables are introduced in grades 2/3 .So the story needs to be appealing to older children, and that is a great... Read More
by admin | Oct 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
Back to the game:) A new day has come and I still believe that our game is really interesting, and I am very excited to work on it. Let’s see what do we need to fix. The idea of the game is good, but it doesn’t look very attractive with the playing cards and the recycled paper cards. It needs color and pictures for sure, but I will think about that later. Functionality is more important right now. First of all the numbers on the answer cards should be visible from both sides, since in a multiplayer game players usually sit in a circle or on opposite sides. ( my boys kept on turning the number cards while playing to see the numbers). Especially when the numbers to consider are many. I like the idea of a design like playing cards for the number cards. It makes it easy to see the numbers without having to move your cards around. Maybe both the number cards and the answer cards can have a design like this maybe with a picture in the middle. So this is the first design for the cards. Pretty... Read More
by admin | Oct 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
Yesterday, while tidying up the kitchen I found the cards of the game that me and my boys had designed. I started thinking about it and my teaching brain took over! As a teacher I knew that learning and memorizing the multiplication tables was often a difficult and boring task for the children. I remember always looking for new ways to make practicing the multiplication tables fun and exciting. This was a game that I could easily include in my math activities at school. It could be good for grades three and up, even for advanced students at lower grades that need to be challenged. It could be a single player game (see how many answer cards you can get) or a multiplayer game. It could be made easy or difficult based on the answers that you put down. Students can even work/play with one or two tables at a time. I realized at that time, that this game was going to be my project for the next few months and I was very excited. I had been designing educational ipad applications for few years now but the idea of making an actual physical card game was very appealing indeed.... Read More
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