Japanese learners start with learning the Japanese Alphabet: Hiragana and Katakana. There is also Kanji but they are scripts and next-level stuff.
Hiragana and Katakana learning apps have a simple system. First, it shows you the alphabet in parts, then asks them in a random order. After a while, it becomes so boring to do so.
Japanese Warrior comes to the rescue! You are learning on a screen where you match alphabets while you are getting help with the correct matching order you see above. Then, you can start practicing. The fun part!
You are defending the Castle! There are mutant turtles attacking you. Whenever you give the correct answer, you earn a blade to throw to attacking enemies. Wrong answers give causes a delay for the next question which makes you nervous because the enemy doesn't stop!
Enemies come in waves and each wave is more difficult than the previous one. They are speeding up, getting different mutations, and being bigger and stronger! Eventually, you hunt you down and take the Castle!
The goal is to defend the castle as long as possible. Just like the Flappy Bird, you are competing with your older self! How many waves can you handle this time?
And there is also a multiplayer version! Real fun relies on competing with your peers, right? Although the multiplayer version was a demo and it was actually a bot, it was the very next thing I would do after the success of the Open Beta version. You can watch the full video of the game from here
I also developed an Algorithm to evaluate the learner's acquisition of certain words, and alphabets. The order of questions wasn't random in Japanese Warrior, it was ordered by algorithm! The basic mechanism of it was deciding the learner's acquisition level (new, weak, moderate....Native) and giving questions accordingly.
It is more likely to ask you to the ones you are weak on. While the learner's acquisition level is increasing with more intense correct answers, the chances of encountering that word decrease. But if the learner answers wrong on that word after a while, the word starts to appear more! The app guarantees that you'll learn everything! You can find the Algorithm code here, in the Japanese Warrior > Assets > Scripts.
- An algorithm that makes sure you learn everything well!
- User authentication and database
- Lazy login: Keeps user data saved locally until the user registers!
- Exciting and fun practice!
- Multiplayer: Even though it's a bot for now.
✅ Creating a language learning algorithm and data structure was quite challenging. Displaying these contents in learning scenes and practice scenes was the first challenge I handled.
✅ The second challenge was the game itself. Creating a game design that the enemy comes in different waves and starts to get better in each wave was really fun!
✅ The biggest challenge in this app was the Learning Algorithm. Previously I was displaying content randomly but then I developed an algorithm to evaluate learner's acquisition of certain words. Then this app questions and tests the learner and makes sure that every word is being saved in the long memory of that human brain! This was the most difficult thing that I have done in this project!
✅ I have implemented a User Authentication and Database system with Firebase to save learners' data in the cloud. This was the first time I have created such systems. Learning how this system works and implementing them into this kind of complicated project was quite educational and experimental.
❌ I wanted to complete the multiplayer feature of the app but couldn't find the motivation to do so. Because the app didn't get any traction with its Open Beta version.
Even though the app didn't get much traction at first, I continued to develop it. I added User Authentication and Data Base as you can see in this update video. But, in the end, the app couldn't achieve +50 install for a long time. And I left the project as it was, in Open Beta. But, you can try the app and learn some Japanese!! Download it from Google Play Store!
Sad story, but, I continued to develop the idea into a simulation metaverse called Metalife! You can find more about it on my Github profile!