Pablo Moreno-Ger’s blog

We have just finished working on a new release of the <e-Adventure> platform, already available for download on the <e-Adventure> website.

This new version is, in fact, a major release. We have completely redesigned the implementation of the project management process, thus solving all (or most) of the problems related to file saving and the ocasional .EAD file getting corrupted.

We have also included improved editor pages for assessment and adaptation profiles, timed events, timed assessment rules, active areas… It is the result of more than 3 months of work and probably the biggest update to the platform yet.

We would like to encourage all our users to upgrade to the new version (it is backwards compatible) and let us hear your feedback. The next release will focus on usability improvements so, feedback is more important than ever.

Last summer we were thinking about <e-Adventure> and how its simplicity might be an issue for some student profiles demanding games that were more up to date with their gaming expectations. We wondered whether a fully featured 3D adventure game editor and engine would be as simple to use as the original <e-Adventure> editor.

The conclusion was that it would probably be too hard. An editor capable of helping instructors to develop 3D adventure games would be too complex, and of course not as simple to use as the original editor. However, it was worth a try and so we started developing an experimental 3D version of <e-Adventure>

The work has been mostly carried out by three brilliant developers (Ángel del Blanco, Guillermo Cañizal and Javier Torrente) that decided to prove that it was doable. Their work has surpassed all the intial expectations and their results after one year of work are great. This is how the editor looks like:

The <e-Adventure3D> game platform is now officially a sister project of <e-Adventure>, where we will be exploring educational 3D gaming, bringing the games ten years closer to the current state of the art in entertainment gaming. Note that <e-Adventure3D> does not supercede the original platform. Both projects will continue to grow in parallel, for they serve different purposes and audiences, and represent alternative lines of research.

We belive that, even though it is still under development, we can now proudly announce the <e-Adventure3D> website, where we will be posting updated news about the 3D version of the platform and publish the beta release as soon as it is ready for the great public. Please visit the website and add it to your bookmarks.

Last week travelled north to meet the members of the CATEDU, the Aragonese Center for Educational Technologies.

We organized a full-day hands-on course about so that they could get a taste of what is, what can be done with it and establish future plans for collaboration. After a quick morning trip on the AVE (yay!), we arrived in Zaragoza, tired but ready. The experience was very interesting and our hosts simply amazing (they treated us great and planned a wonderful lunch-break for us).

Regarding the main objectives of the visit, I think the results were very satisfying. Even though we could have used some more time, the attendants got a feeling of the platform and managed to create part of a small game during the day (we gave them the art assets and the general storyboard). They learned a lot and seemed happy with the results. Even though the beta versions of the tools displayed some ocasional hiccups, lived up to its promise and I think we could call the course a success. Yes, the tools still have some usability issues, but we are quickly advancing in the correct direction.

However, I did also have an interest in seeing real-life teachers mess with the tools and observe their reactions (OK, they were teachers, but they also work in a center that promotes learning technologies which sort of biases the sample). In that sense, I must confess I was delighted. Walking around the room I could see them interact with the editor, stumble against the bad portions, but also explore beyond the requirements of the course. As the day advanced and they started to get a feeling of the tools, they started enjoying it.

There was something very special in seeing a group of people explore the possibility of creating the type of content that I proselytize, using my platform and having fun. Yes, they paid us to go there, but seeing them enjoy while playing with was so gratifying that I would have paid to go.

After that confession, I just hope they never find this blog.

The <e-Adventure> project was developed as a prototype for my thesis work. It was born as a development process model for educational adventure games, but eventually the tools developed as support for the process model have grown into fully functional products.

We have recently released both the <e-Adventure> editor and the <e-Adventure> engine for everyone to use. Leaving aside the development process model for large teams originally devised, these tools can be used by anyone interested in creating adventure games to create their own adventures without any programming knowledge. In this sense, this tool is trying to compete against initiatives such as the Wintermute Engine or the Adventure Game Studio.

Even if <e-Adventure> is not as mature as those tools, it offers some cool aspects worth checking out. To begin with, the games are stored as human-readable XML documents. This improves the maintainability and allows anyone, even without the editor, to tweak minor aspects of the gam. Additionally, it includes pedagogical features such as an internal assessment and game adaptation to suit learning styles. These mechanisms can actually be controlled from a Learning Management System, enabling online educational processes in which the games are deployed from the server as part of a course, enrichening the learning experience. For example, the games can include interactive exams and the grade can be automatically stored in the server.

I would like to invite my readers to test drive our current release (v0.2) and let us know your first impressions (write us at e-adventure#e-ucm.es) . We are still behind our competitors, but plan on catching up really soon.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I am again enjoying a research fellowship at the MGH / HMS Lab of Computer Science in Boston. Even though I am involved in a number of projects here, the main objective of the stay is to integrate the <e-Adventure> engine with the .LRN online learning environment that recently announced support for the IMS LD specification.

What does integration mean here? The idea is that <e-Adventure> games can be embedded in an IMSLD Unit of Learning and launched in the student’s computer from the .LRN platform. <e-Adventure> includes built-in mechanisms for assessment and adaptive learning, and these systems are connected to the Unit of Learning.

What does connected mean here? It means that the events that happen during the execution of the UoL before launching the game will affect the behavior of the game (tapping into the adaptation mechanism) and that whatever happens inside the game is logged by the assessment mechanism and reported to the .LRN environment in order to affect the execution of the UoL after the game.

The objective is thus to replicate and enhance the work I did at the Open University of the Netherlands a few months ago, although this time we will be paying special attention to making a general purpose solution. This means that the integration will be designed in such a way that the <e-Adventure> side should work with any IMSLD compliant system and that the .LRN side should work with any game that follows the public APIs that I’m developing here.

Moreover, in order to demonstrate all this, we will be developing at least two games during my stay. One should be an adventure game implemented with <e-Adventure> and the other a small game developed from scratch that uses the APIs to communicate with .LRN. Both games will be included in a couple of Units of Learning that will also contain “traditional” content. Unfortunately, we still haven’t found an appropriate topic for the games/UoLs. Fortunately, you are reading this and maybe you have suggestion.

Additionally, I’m taking advantage of the fact that I’m staying in Boston and going to a lot of talks, conferences and events, where I’m meeting a lot of very interesting people. I’m glad to say that <e-Adventure> seems to be gathering a nice amount of interest, which has finally driven me to update the project’s website. New samples, revised texts and… Yes! We have finally published a fully-functional version of the engine for download!

Mind you, it is not a release, just a stable snapshot of the codebase, compiled as a jar file and offered for download. It is an uncompleted and unsupported download. The official beta release of the <e-Adventure> engine is scheduled for July 2007.

Enjoy!

After several considerations, talking with some colleagues and the knowledge that in some circles the term e-game was associated with online casinos and such, we have decided to rebrand the <e-game> project.

From now on the project has been rebranded as <e-Adventure> and we have celebrated it by finally fulfilling the long term promise of updating its website. You can find it here. Feel free to visit it and celebrate with us. Also, why don’t you spend a couple of minutes telling us what you think of the new name. Is it better? More descriptive? Is it a mistake to change the name after all this time?

Anyhow, a big thank you for Bruno Torijano for the design of the new website. He is one fo the most recent acquisitions of the <e-UCM> research group and is proving to be a rough diamond.