Advanced functionalities for creating educational games in Unity

Raziskave (Prensky, 2001Gee, 2003Backlund in Hendrix, 2013) so pokazale, da izobraževalne igre pripomorejo k boljši motivaciji, omogočajo ustvarjanje okolij po načelih konstruktivistične teorije učenja ter opazovanje konceptov iz različnih zornih kotov, poleg tega pa učenci snov, ki je podana s pomočjo izobraževalnih iger, bolje razumejo ter si jo lažje in hitreje zapomnijo. Na Pedagoški fakulteti, na programu dvopredmetni učitelj, smer matematika-računalništvo, izvajalci uporabljajo pristop učenja s pomočjo snovanja računalniških izobraževalnih iger (angl. GDBL oziroma Game design based learning) z namenom, da bi študenti pridobili kompetence, ki jih bodo kot bodoči učitelji potrebovali za izdelavo kakovostnih učnih gradiv. Cilj je, da se naučijo zasnovati in izdelati IKT gradiva (izobraževalne igre), pridobivati izkušnje z delom v skupini, reševati probleme s pomočjo digitalnih tehnologij ter ustvarjena gradiva tudi kritično ovrednotiti in analizirati. Igra, ki jo študenti zasnujejo in razvijejo v okviru predmeta, je sicer uporabna v pedagoškem procesu, vendar ni njegov glavni cilj (Zapušek in Rugelj, 2014). Za izdelavo izobraževalnih iger so na fakulteti sprva uporabljali program eAdventure, ki je sicer enostaven za uporabo, vendar pa ima zelo omejen nabor funkcionalnosti, ki so prilagojene za ustvarjanje iger iz žanra - pustolovščine, zato z njim drugih iger ni mogoče programirati. Orodje je zaradi svojih pomanjkljivosti študente vedno bolj omejevalo pri delu, zato so se izvajalci odločili, da ga nadomestijo s programom Unity. To programsko okolje ponuja širok nabor funkcionalnosti, v njem pa je možno izdelati igro poljubnega žanra in jo z manjšimi prilagoditvami izvoziti na poljubno napravo (npr. mobilne telefone, tablice, konzole) oziroma operacijski sistem (Windows, Mac ali Linux). Slaba stran orodja je njegova relativno velika kompleksnost, ki zahteva veliko časa za učenje, kar je imelo za posledico, da so študenti veliko časa porabili za programiranje, kar pa ni bil osnovni namen predmeta. V diplomskem delu sem zato preučeval možnosti, ki bi študentom olajšale programiranje, da bi se lahko bolje osredotočili na didaktične vidike snovanja izobraževalnih iger. Da ne bi porabili preveč časa za iskanje virov ter učenje o tem, kako program deluje, sem pregledal in preučil veliko virov in vodičev ter iz njih poskušal povzeti najbolj bistvene, razumljive in enostavne pristope pri programiranju, ki so koristni pri izdelavi skoraj vsake izobraževalne igre, kot npr.: premikanje igralca in kamere, števec točk, prikaz besedila, delo s trkalniki, reference do komponent objekta oziroma drugih objektov, nahrbtnik igralca idr. V primerjavi z diplomskim delom (Brglez, 2017), v katerem so opisane predvsem osnove programa Unity, se v svojem delu osredotočam na naprednejše funkcionalnosti programiranja iger v 2D načinu, prav tako pa obravnavam pristope, ki so namenjeni programiranju iger v 3D. V diplomskem delu predpostavljam, da ima bralec osnove programerskega znanja, a je na področju izdelovanja izobraževalnih iger v programu Unity začetnik. Nivo pisanja oziroma uporaba strokovnega jezika v delu je prilagojena študentom univerzitetnih pedagoških programov in zainteresiranim učiteljem.Studies (Prensky, 2001Gee, 2003Backlund & Hendrix, 2013) have shown that educational games help to get better motivation, enable to create an environment according to standards of constructive theory in studying and observing the concepts from different viewing angels and furthermore the students understand more and remember the subject that is shown faster with the help of educational games. On Faculty of Education, program the two-subject teacher (Mathematics - Computer science), the developers approach studying with the help of devising computer-educational games with the purpose of students acquiring competences which they will need as future teachers for creating quality study material. The goal is that they learn to devise and design ICT material (educational games), to gain experience with working in a group, to solve problems with the help of digital technology and also to critically evaluate designed material and analyse it. The game that students devise and develop within the subject course is usable in the educational process however it is not its main goal (Zapušek & Rugelj, 2014). To develop the educational games, they first used the program eAdventure on the faculty, which is actually easy to use but it has a very limited collection of functionality that are adjusted to developing games from the genre – adventures, which is why it isn’t possible to program other games. The tool because of its shortcomings restricted the students more and more, so the developers decided to substitute it with the program Unity. This program environment offers a wide collection of functionality, there is a possibility of creating a game of optional genre and with minor adjustments to import it to a wanted device (i.e. mobile phones, tablets, consoles) or operation system (Windows, Mac or Linux). The bad side of the tool is its relatively big complexity which requires a lot of time for studying which had a consequence that students spent a lot of time on programming and that wasn’t the main purpose of the subject. In my thesis I therefore studied the possibilities that would make programming easier for the students so they could focus more on didactical views of developing educational games. So to not use too much time on searching for sources and studying about how the program works I checked and studied a lot of sources and guidelines and tried to summarize the most basic ones, understandable and easy approaches to programming that are beneficial when developing almost every educational game, for example: moving the player and camera, the counter of points, the display of the text, working with colliders, references to components of the object or other objects, the backpack of the player and so on. In comparison with the thesis (Brglez, 2017) in which the basics of the program Unity are described, in my thesis I am focusing on advanced functionality of programming the games in 2D mode and I also deal with approaches that are meant to programme the game in 3D mode. In my thesis I presume that a reader knows the basics of programming but is a beginner at developing the educational games in the program Unity. The level of writing or the use of technical language in the thesis is adjusted to students of university educational programs and teachers that are interested