The Story of My Life

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Inspiration

We were inspired by the immersion method of language learning. This is where everything you consume visually and audibly is in a different language of your choosing, offering a faster path to learning that language. We wanted to make this concept more fun so we chose to make a game out of it. We thought that this idea connect great with the them of identity as language is a huge part of identity.

What it does

Our game, The Story of My Life, allows you to play different memories (levels) to learn and unlock new vocabulary and grammar in a target language. You can practice your listening skills by listening to NPCs, or practice your reading skills by reading new words, or even practice speaking by talking to NPCs.

How we built it

We used Unity and C# to build the game. We utilized OpenRouter's API for access to models for text translation and ElevenLab's API for text to speech and speech to text functionality.

Challenges we ran into

There were plenty of challenges along the way. It was a great learning experience for all of us as we were all unfamiliar with Unity. This proved challenging as Unity as a software is fairly complex on its own. We also faced some challenges when dealing with the API integration as we had to use Unity's way of calling API's and not just the normal C# way.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of our integration of the API's having our game feel more immersive for the player. We're also proud of getting something out as we were all unfamiliar and unsure about Unity at first.

What we learned

We learned a ton. From the basics of Unity to API calling in Unity to pixel art, this project challenged our skills in every medium. However, through these challenges we grew our skills and learned how to overcome these challenges.

What's next for The Story of My Life

Ideally this project would continue on with more levels/scenarios. Included with these extra levels would be more advanced NPC interaction for more fluid and meaningful conversations as well as dynamic difficulty in order to challenge the player and make them grow as a language learner.