Creating Games for the Classroom

Nora Elattar, Verrazzano Class of 2020, completed Major in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics

As a freshman, I learned that Verrazano students had to take part in a research project that involved a mentor. I was extremely intimidated because I did not know what I was interested in at the time. 

Realizing I had an interest in games, I decided to look more into it. To my luck, when I went for advisement with Cheryl, she told about a game development class and I took it immediately. That class is where I learned how to develop 2D games on Unity, using C#. I also developed a game called Chemiga, which was an educational game that taught students chemical formulas which was used in several different college classrooms.

I learned so much valuable information in the process of this research including how to develop games on phones and even including 3D components. I also learned the business side of developing games and how to make a game that can appeal to the masses. I learned how educational games are different from normal games and I learned what Serious Games are as well.

Throughout my research process, I was introduced to several different points of view of using games in the classroom, including pros and cons and different findings from various people.

Given that this game is still very elementary, it can be improved in multiple ways. There is a lot of room for graphic improvement which could include adding more 3D components and different points of view. Also, there can be improvements in how the questions are distributed as well, possibly taking them from a larger dataset and distributing them that way. I can also test this with a larger group of people to get more accurate results and more things to report on.