[Tux4kids-discuss] [Tuxmath-devel] GSoC 2012 potential - my introduction and some ideas for mobile

[Brendan Luchen]

Hey Kento,

Like I said, these ideas all have potential. I don't think any of them is a
clear winner. I'm personally sort of partial towards the music idea, but
like I said, it has to actually be an educational tool and not a toy.

It's a tough decision you have to make yourself. For your proposal you can
can mention all four and say you'll decide later--that's fine. You will
have to pick a game to stick with, though--quality over quantity. You might
want to dedicate a week or so to banging out prototypes and then, based on
feedback (hopefully you can find some real, authentic kids to play with,
too), pick one to develop fully and polish.

Let me know if you have more questions ;)

-Brendan

On Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Kento Locatelli <me at klocatelli.name> wrote:

> Hi Brendan!
>
> I appreciate your advice, I'm new to the development side of educational
> apps for kids and knew some of my assumptions wouldn't hold. If chosen I
> will definitely try to make the end product play nicely on as many
> platforms/devices as possible... whether it's a cheap android phone or an
> iPad. In fact compatibility one of my most important criteria for both
> concept and framework; my goal is to make a new tux4kids educational app,
> without a "for Android" or "for Linux" or any other qualifier.
>
> That said, I was wondering if you thought any of those concepts in
> particular were a better fit for kids or the tux4kids family than the rest?
> I don't really have a way to measure the newer concepts I've had without
> having to guess or share them all (besides comparing them to existing
> tux4kids apps). I'd also like to start refining/creating mockups of ideas,
> but I can't decide where to direct my effort.
>
> Thank you for your time,
> Kento Locatelli
>
>
> On 3/19/2012 6:22 PM, Brendan Luchen wrote:
>
>> Hi Kento,
>>
>> It sounds like you've already put some thought into your proposal--that's
>> great. Everything you mentioned sounds reasonable, so I only have a couple
>> of thoughts:
>>
>> * I don't necessarily agree that the "target demographic" (I'm assuming
>> you mean kids here) will be more likely to rock a cheap Android phone. The
>> way I've typically seen kids play mobile games is on mom or dad's device,
>> which could be an iPad, an Android phone, a Blackberry, whatever. Older
>> kids may have smartphones of their own, but I feel like that's even
>> relatively rare. I'll let the parents on the list chime in on this one :)
>>
>> * Any of the game concepts you mentioned have potential if fleshed out, I
>> think. Worder makes me think of Mad Libs. Jesus Mager did some work on a
>> "TuxHistory" game, you may want to chat with him about that.
>> * I wouldn't discount your music idea as not viable--especially if it's
>> something you're personally vested in. It will take some effort, though, to
>> give it a real educati
>> onal component, and not be simply a toy. Illustrating basic music theory
>> concepts so a 5-year-old can grasp them would be amazing, IMO.
>>
>> Good luck on your exams.
>>
>> Best,
>> Brendan
>>
>
>
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