An Analysis Framework for Designing Declarative Knowledge Training Games Using Roguelite Genre

Abstract

The training of declarative knowledge requires repetition and adaptation to learners’ needs. Learning games for training purposes should then offer a wide range of adapted and varied game situations where facts are questioned. Furthermore, answering these questions may involve many gameplays that keep the learner-players engaged and motivated to practice again and again. This article presents and justifies how the Roguelite game genre is well-adapted to tackle these challenges. It also proposes an analysis framework to support pluridisciplinary teams of teachers and game developers in identifying the key orientations for designing such training games. This framework is composed of questions to consider during the preliminary design of the training game. We have identified and used this proposition in a specific research context about multiplication tables training. The article illustrates the first results obtained which led to our first playable prototype. Finally, we outlined the major drawbacks of our first game design (i.e., first analysis), which brought us to carry out a second analysis through our proposed framework.