Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) have developed a multi-lingual free of cost digital game to create public awareness on Covid-19, the institute said on 2 November 2020.
“IIT Madras Covid Game” takes inspiration from the famous “Super Mario” game and is available in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu, besides English,” it said.
Students have developed the browser-based digital game to create awareness among the general public, particularly children, on the importance of following precautions announced by the government to safeguard themselves against coronavirus.
“The game takes inspiration from the famous Super Mario game and consists of a character who encounters various right things-like masks, washing hands and also encounters things to be avoided like hugs, handshakes.”
“As the character does the right things, points keep getting added. If the character fails to avoid a wrong thing, points get deducted to highlight the consequence. The game goes on for one minute and the players should aim for maximum points,” IIT Madras institute said in a press statement.
The game was created by students who took a nine-credit elective course called “Let’s Play To Learn” offered during the January to May 2020 semester, in which they were taught game-based learning tools and techniques, it added.
According to the institute, the game can be played on personal computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. It is available free of cost and can be played from the home page of www.letsplaytolearn.com, adding, the game was also available on the website of IIT Madras under https://dost.iitm.ac.in/iitmdost/pages/game-corner.
Professor Preeti Aghalayam, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITM, a co-facilitator for the elective course, said, “The IIT Madras Covid game is a small but very meaningful and engaging contribution. It clearly exhibits how thoughtful and aware our students are.”
Kartic Vaidyanathan, founder, LetsPlayToLearn, and a co-facilitator, said the students applied the concepts and created several game design prototypes relevant to science and engineering be used in IIT Madras courses.
