This guide is designed to help onboard people who might not be familiar with video games, reduce frustration around getting stuck with game controls, and help professionals help their players that are stuck.
Questions answered:
On Social Cipher’s platform, we offer a series of different educational video games for players to enjoy. That means there are multiple games, and some have different types of gameplay!
These games are designed to be played in any order, but feature the same cast of characters, so you can decide which game to have your player(s) play first based on what SEL (social and emotional learning) skill you want them to focus on.
You can learn more about the game’s cast of characters in the ‘Who are the Characters in the Game?’ section.
<aside> 💡 If you’re not sure where to start, try out the ‘Trust’ module. It introduces Ava’s crew members and provides a good example of gameplay.
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In most of our games, the player spends a lot of time platforming. This is a game term which means controlling the movement of the titular character, Ava, in her two-dimensional environment. The name comes from the idea of hopping from ‘platform’ to ‘platform’ in the game. This movement allows the player to explore, interact with the world, and progress the story— it’s a lot like the popular video game ‘Mario.’
Ava using her grappling hook to jump from platform to platform
Then, when Ava talks with a character, we switch into a dialogue segment. This is where a lot of the SEL instruction happens. In these parts of the game, the player is not just reading and listening to the conversation between Ava and the other character(s), but also choosing how Ava responds. When it’s time for a player to make a choice, they will be presented with up to four dialogue options.
Additionally, before and after a quest, the players will receive a pre and post assessment question. This question is aimed directly at the player for them to answer as themselves, not Ava. These questions have to do with the SEL competency focused on in the quest. For the pre-assessment, questions are phrased to focus on the player’s current habits. For the post-assessment, questions ask about what a player might do in the future.
An example of a pre assessment question from the ‘Needs’ Module
Sometimes, Ava also does crafting. This is a game term that means playing the game by building things. We give the players tools to place different objects in the world environment, which Ava can then interact with (and even platform on!). It is similar to the popular game ‘Minecraft’ or using building blocks.