The fact that 7-year olds and 97-year olds enjoy the Bookworm series equally is a reflection of this.īookworm Adventures has a rather kid-friendly attire, yet the meat and bones of the gameplay as well as some of the dialogue is often rather challenging to younger audiences. We’re all about making our games as fun as they can be for as wide an audience as possible. You change the focus of the game, and the audience to which it will appeal. The reason is very simple: when you set out to make an educational game, or attempt to add educational elements to an existing game, you immediately veer from the fun path. But we’ve never made an educational version of either game, and if/when we do, we will tread very lightly. We’ve localized Bookworm and Bookworm Adventures in French, German, Italian, and Spanish, and Bookworm is also available in Dutch and Swedish. With such strong feedback given to the educational factors of Bookworm Adventures, have you ever considered making a version specifically geared towards language education or an international market? We love to hear that our games are helping people in any way, and improved spelling and vocabulary are frequently cited by our customers as benefits of playing Bookworm, Bookworm Adventures, Bonnie’s Bookstore or Word Harmony. What do you think about BWA being used as a tool to teach English either as a first or second language? The game requires players to string together letters to create morphemes which are then, in turn used to create whole words. What I've noticed when playing the original BWA is how it improved my consciousness of the way words are constructed. Turns out if you make a really solid, fun word game it will be educational simply by virtue of the fact that constructing words or dissecting words requires you to consider the structure of words, and ultimately push the boundaries of your word-building abilities in order to play the game as successfully as possible. We never set out to make an educational game, nor have we ever modified a game in development in order to make it more educational. Is Bookworm first an enjoyment game or an educational game? How do you balance these two divisions? Tysen Henderson: We always design our games with fun as the overriding goal. On top of this, BWA is also rather educational or at least a requires a significant degree of brain power. Of course, the sequel to Bookworm Adventures has just been released, so in the fight for relevance, I caught up with senior producer of the series, Tysen Henderson, to trade ideas.Ĭlearly PopCap's catalog of games are designed as easily consumable, instantly-fun experiences which Bookworm Adventures lovingly fits the description of. Together, these simple, distilled elements make for an enthralling title which is not only immensely enjoyable, but significantly aids in language development. This foundation is wrapped in lite RPG elements and a narrative, which push you forward and diversify the progression where needed. The title's core mechanic tasks the players with building words to defeat a string of fiendish monsters. ![]() I started playing Bookworm Adventures roughly a year ago now and was mesmerized by the challenging word-'em-up gameplay and lovingly-crafted personalities of the cast. Maybe if I had a game like Bookworm Adventures when I was growing up, English and I wouldn't fight so much. Broken logic forced together in the most contradictory fashion, constructed with a counter-intuitive alphabet from whence it's impossible to discern orthographic and semantic sense.Įven recently, as a semi-competent writer, I sat in an English writing course only to be reminded of those unrelenting spelling and grammar tests. ![]() I hated spelling and grammar exercises as a kid - didn't we all? English, after all, is a catastrophe of a language. Fortunately computers are good at fixing one of those, just not the other. On the feedback sheet they included the results of a pre-interview exercise in which they expressed concern over my (self-admitted) weak spelling and (also self-admitted!) gaps in knowledge of grammar. The interview was for a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course I plan on taking near the year's end. Last week I received results back from an interview I'd taken several weeks prior.
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