Number Spells

Inspiration

We were inspired by the ability of games to have such a powerful influence over a student's learning capabilities! A lot of times, students gain motivation and a strong sense of reward from video games that they can’t get otherwise at home or school. It is no surprise that around 97% of teen boys and 83% of teen girls play video games using a device (Pew Research Center). However, when it comes to math, around 93% of Americans reported experiencing some level of math anxiety in their lifetime (Harvard Business Review). Not only is it bad with adults, but around half of first and second grade students feel somewhat anxious about math, which can impact math abilities(Harvard Business Review). In order to learn math, students need as much experience as possible not getting right answers, but trial and error and building confidence! We integrated math into a fun video game 6th grade and 8th grade students will love!

What it does

Our math game is an RPG game, where students can go to different areas by typing the command ‘goto,’ and can try out different potions and help different people on the ‘other side.’ Students use the search bar at the top to navigate to different places and choose between different items. There is also a dialogue box to see the conversation, and a main screen of the video game to see the players and characters.

How we built it

We built our app using Repl.it, and we coded the game using Javascript, HTML, and CSS. The images that we used were mainly from DeviantArt with free non-copyright sprites. We used a lot of functions in Javascript as the basis of our website components like the different dialogues and the search bar navigations, as well as if statements for the different choices.

Challenges we ran into

Some of the biggest challenges that we ran into included a lot of bugs and errors with the code and it not doing what it was intended to do. We were having a bit of trouble doing some of the styling components and the CSS for the buttons, as well as the numerous errors with the search library not taking user input, not understanding the commands, the code not leading to the room because of a syntax error that needed to be resolved, etc.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

In 3 days, we were able to: -Make a fully-functioning website/video game in Javascript as beginner hackers -Make it look like a real video game -Collaborate successfully and effectively as a team -Take our skills to the next level and push our abilities. Before this, we were just able to create a simple website.

What we learned

Some of the things that we learned were how to create a search bar navigation for different locations, and how to use local and global variables in Javascript. We also learned more in-depth how to make a video game using just HTML and CSS and Javascript, and how functions can be used to create different dialogues, and how to use them to display different locations.

What's next for Number Spells

Probably a bigger, better game interface with multiple locations. More NPCs like Petunia. We are hoping to take it to the next level with our graphics by using different fonts, sound effects, as well as keyboard navigation movements like a common RPG game once we start experimenting with more software tools used to make video games. We also hope to include more math challenges for students to solve.