This is a topic I’ve been meaning to write a post about for some time now, namely what an educational game should look like.  Or probably better worded, what educational gaming means to me (and ultimately what we’re trying to do here at Hug a Panda).

The allure of educational games

For a long time people have been betting that educational games (ie games that help people learn stuff) would revolutionize the way people learn.  The pitch is great.  Play games (which are fun) and learn stuff at the same time.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to do that?  Sign me up.  The reality, however, is that while many people have made educational games very few have been successful or reached critical mass.  Given the choice I think most people would rather play Halo than Jimmy’s Calculus Adventures (I just made that game up).

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You would think the answer would be straightforward, but the reality is that the answer to how much time Americn teens spend online depends on who you ask…

Some background.  I’ve been putting together a proposal for a project we are submitting for the Digital Media Learning competition.  You may or may not know that we are creating an educational iPhone game called Q Racer.  I was curious to see how teens spend their time to see potentially what kinds of other distractions our game might have to compete against (that is if teens dig our game…game is also for adults too).  However, as I was researching this topic the answer to the question of how much time American teens actually spend online started getting confusing.

Personally, I think kids/teens are online like all of the time…I’m assuming they are the ones responsible for most of the inane comments  I see on Youtube…and they must be watching all the Twilight trailers and stuff like this (Justin Bieber video had 13 million views): Read more »

I thought I would do a post on some of the lessons I’ve learned after going through one round of “beta” testing with Q Racer.  Especially since after our last beta testing round we decided to delay our game (not a good sign, right).

Background

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Time flies when you’re having fun doesn’t it?  While we were having fun, unfortunately we missed our launch deadline for Q Racer.

We were aiming to bring you the super hyper-awesome-est iPhone game since Enviro-Bear this past November, but seeing that it’s already the middle of December, I regret to inform you that we have failed you, our loyal followers and fans (which I think is only my mom…actually she doesn’t even read our blog anymore).   If I were an honorable samurai warrior I would commit seppuku and slice my belly wide open for dishonoring my word…

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I’ve wanted educational games for the longest time in my life.  My mom used to tell me that I was lazy and didn’t work hard.  My counter argument to this statement was simple and poignant.  If I didn’t work hard than how could I sit in front of the TV for hours straight leveling up Squall Leonheart from Final Fantasy VIII?  Huh?  What now mom??  Look at what Squall has become?  He’s so powerful!  I don’t even need the rest of the team to beat the boss.

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After my last post where I learned how much gamers love KFC (and more importantly how much KFC likes advertising towards gamers) I had an epiphany of sorts.  I called together an emergency team meeting.  This was important.

As we are a new iPhone game development company I wanted to give our readers some insight how we run my dictatorship the company.  Here’s how our meeting went:

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Randy, one of our partners, sent this video to us from Gametrailer.com’s show Bonus Round.

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Alright, so I finally got around to finishing the Hug a Panda website.  I had something up previously but it was pretty sorry looking as websites go.  (I should have taken a screen shot!)

Anyway, most of our time has been focused on getting our soon to be launched iPhone game which we are calling “Q Racer” into your grubby little hands.  What is Q Racer?

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You won't have to wait as long as hachiko

Can’t say much about it…but we’re busy working on launching some fun stuff soon.  I’m sure the suspense is killing you.  Good things come to those who wait.   You won’t have to wait as long Hachiko did…