Making Educational Products and Games

Eightieth Post: Making Educational Products and Games

I was recently read a column in the Sept. 6, 2005 PC Magazine (page 8) about how all the educational software has disappeared. All but the traditional products have disappeared. That and Microsoft Student is one of the only choices for young students. The writer went on to ask why there is dozens of titles of first person shooters on store shelves while the education software is hard to find.

His point is valid. There does need to be more educational software. But just maybe, this lack of development opens the door to the independent developer or amateur game designer. A team of college students or a group of teachers teaming up to build a tool that promotes learning or is just a puzzle game or adventure. Something like Zelda or Tetris appear to be games but are actually learning tools. Of coarse the needs to be software that applies the topics learned in class. Math, reading, science, and art are the easiest to teach by software and the most popular. All they need is something that intrigues the student and captures their interest.

But let’s not forget how tech-savvy today’s children are. They have grown up with computers. They are bored by the simple programs they are taught in school. They can understand the programs older students use and are often more knowledgeable then the teachers think. Simple programs like a world editor (such as the Unreal Editor) or games like Block Land in which the user creates there own world. What I’m proposing is software developers to make an art studio or game design studio for kids, but we already have programs like Paint Shop Pro, Photo Shop, and Paint that they already know how to use and there are many programs that anyone can build simple worlds. So making educational games is more challenging and designing one has more value than first thought, but we must be able to see the value of the software that is already out there.