I want to learn French one day but I think using flashcards is boring, so what about a language learning game in Flash? Not like a flashcard “game” or something but a game with a real story. For example, to learn French it could be set in France and you have to complete certain tasks like firstly leaving the airport and getting to your hotel by conversing with a taxi driver.
Here’s one small dialogue I made. The dialogues are stored in XML files.
Message: “You see a stranger. To him, say ‘excuse me’”
To continue, player types: excusez-moi
Message: “He replies ‘bonjour’. Ask for the time”
Player types: quelle heure est-il?
Message: He replies ‘il est trois heures’. What hour is this?
Player types: 3 or three
Message: To him, say 'thank you, goodbye
Player types: merci, au revoir
Here’s what it looks like:
(I don’t really animate, lol)
Also, before each stage, you would have to pass a test involving flashcards with the relevant dialogue. e.g. in the next stage the player goes to the zoo, so you would have to look at some animal words before you can play that stage.
Dialogues would get harder, longer, etc.
The most basic difficulty level could have the player responding to text and the next level could have the player responding to voice without seeing the text, the next level up could have time limits for replying.
What do you think? I would love some suggestions. I REALLY want to see a language learning game with a story, because I haven’t seen any, just flashcard type ones or “word games” like hangman, crosswords etc.
The game could be fitted for multiple languages, too, not just French.
If this turned into a project it would need native speakers to write dialogues for how people actually speak 99% of the time, voice actors, animators etc.
What do you think?
