Interactive Quiz Game - Asking too much?
Aug 30, 2017
Would like to develop a quiz game to mirror a work order system for generating notifications and completing work orders. This will be a game to help teach and reinforce how to use the system. Players will receive tangible cash rewards points to purchase items from company catalog based on their game rank. Each question would begin with a scenario and the player must select all the correct variables for each scenario. Would like the game based on these variables.
1. Add scenarios/questions based on a random time variable and also based on the variable of how many questions answered correctly and incorrectly. When a player is not playing the game, questions will continue to accrue until the player returns and starts answering questions. Questions will accrue indefinitely.
2. Increase question complexity based on correct responses and level advancement. Decrease or maintain question complexity based on incorrect questions.
3. Allow for multiple responses. Most questions will have a variety of combination response. All correct responses must be selected.
4. Allow player to pose challenge questions to other players and develop their questions from a pre-set selection of questions and responses.
5. Maintain Leaderboard where correct results are tallied and awarded points.
6. Add and remove points based on variables. Example, questions must be answered within a certain number of days or player loses points. Thus, players will be encouraged to continue to play or drop down in points, potentially back to zero if absent for long periods of time.
7. Have a monthly and annual leader board.
8. Allow for families of similar questions. More questions from these families will appear if questions are answered incorrectly or as the player progresses levels.
Am I asking too much from Storyline to create this type of game?
1 Reply
Hi Frank!
Thank you so much for joining the E-Learning Heroes Community and for posting your question here.
Sounds like you have a really cool project in mind, with lots of specific gaming aspects/components you want to include. I’ll run through your list and let you know what I think is possible and what might not be possible with Storyline. From what I’ve read it would definitely need to work hand-in-hand with a Learning Management System (LMS), because certain things like a leaderboard, and tracking, would be done through an LMS and not with Storyline.
First and foremost, my question is.. have you calculated the ROI for this project, or completed a detailed training needs analysis for this course/game you want to develop? Good for you for taking on a new challenge but it sounds like a pretty complicated game that would include a lot of components, including an LMS system with the right features, and no exaggeration, this type of interactivity (as you’ve described) would take many hours to build, tweak and get it working just right - and that’s even for someone who is an expert level Storyline user. For someone new or just getting to know variables, triggers, etc. it would take even longer.
I’m an advocate for always being able to show that the ROI of the time/effort it will take to develop the training is worthwhile as compared to what people will learn and how it will improve their skills/the company’s bottom line. Will you be able to show or prove that the organization has saved more money in the end, from delivering this training, that it will have cost you to create it? Your learners may very well benefit just as much from a basic software simulation (which will take a lot less time to build and develop) than a complex game, so that being the case, is it worth all the development, testing, and review time that it would take to build out a complex game? Something important to consider. Here’s a few articles about training needs analysis and calculating ROI that you might want to have a look through:
Have you considered doing a simple software simulation to let learners click through the system? Sounds like, at the heart of it, what you want to do is get learners familiarized with a computer system. Here’s some articles about creating software sims in Storyline:
That being said, let me run through what I think is possible from your list of questions...
#1. As far as I know, you cannot add a random time variable with Storyline. If you wanted to create a random time variable, you would need to use Javascript. (You can read more about using Javascript in Storyline here, it’s not something we support, but it is do-able). You also (as far as I know) can’t have the game accrue questions while the player is not playing the game. In Storyline, things can only happen when the e-learning module is active/has been launched.
#2. Increase the complexity of questions based on whether questions were answered correctly or incorrectly.. This is possible with Storyline through branching and the use of variables. You could have it so that the feedback for correct choices branches (aka hyperlinks) to a more difficult question, and the feedback for incorrect choice links to an easier question. You could also create a variable that is adjusted depending on whether it’s a right or wrong answer and have the next question/slide they go to be determined by that variable.
#3. You can easily create multiple response quiz slides in Storyline. You can use the Freeform Pick Many quiz slide or use a Multiple Response quiz slide.
#4. You cannot allow players to pose challenge questions to other players from within Storyline, at least not without using some kind of Javascript or an LMS system that has social features and allows this type of thing.
#5 A leaderboard is usually something that’s done within an LMS. The LMS is what keeps track of all the learners scores and how well everyone is doing. This is where the leaderboard would pull it’s data from and so it would have to live online, probably in the LMS. You’d want to find an LMS that has gaming components such as the leaderboard you’re looking for. I don’t believe this is something they all have by default. Selecting, purchasing, and implementing a new LMS system is a huge undertaking of it’s own.
#6 While you can add and remove points based on variables in Storyline, you cannot do it over a number of days unless you’re using an LMS system to track and bookmark where your learners are in the course, where they have left off, etc.
#7. I reiterate point #5.. This is something you’d have to do on the LMS side of things :)
#8. You could do “families” of similar questions by doing question banks in Storyline. Here’s a few links to articles about using question banks (here and here). In order to make a certain type of question appear more than others you’d have to use some kind of variable in the background that tracks your learners score and then pulls questions based on that score/variable value. I believe it’s possible with Storyline but could be quite complicated to set up and get it working right.
Hope this helps answer your questions and gets you on the right track Frank. Again, good for you for having this vision and wanting to do something really cool! Hopefully this doesn’t discourage you, just want to give you realistic expectations about what is do-able. Let us know if you have any follow up questions or comments, we’re always here and happy to help!
Nicole :)
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