StoryLine Games Challenges

Feb 24, 2014

Russ Sawchuk
By Russ Sawchuk

Out of our 100+ nursing games, this one - Tablet Dosages - is the most popular. This game was created using a StoryLine template that I purchased. I have no idea why it is the most popular, but generally our StoryLine drag and drop games are most frequently played.

We have used this template for a number of other similar games. However, there are a number of things that I don't like about this template / approach:

  • It is one slide with multiple layers - this makes it resource heavy to work with.
  • The answers on the drop and drag boxes have to be unique ... this limits the number of questions that can be asked.
  • The answer boxes are always in the same position and order ... so after a while it is easy to learn which box is the likely to be the correct answer.
  • The answer boxes are not replaced ... therefore towards the end of the game, it is much easier to guess the right answer as there are only a few options left.
  • There is no randomization of questions or answers ... thus making the game very predictable.

Looking for ways to overcome these limitations, I developed the Tablet Dosages II game. It dawned on me that by using the test items bank, I could still create drag and drop questions, that could be randomly selected and presented. In my opinion, this is a better game design. Whether our nurses think so, only time will tell!

Finally, trying to make the game even more realistic, I developed a third variation - Tablet Dosages III game. In this game you drag and drop the actual number of pills into the patient's mouth.

This works fine EXCEPT that the pills must be delivered in order! That is, if the correct answer is 2 pills, you must drag and drop the first two capsules to the patient. If you drag and drop the last two capsules, you will get an incorrect answer. This is determined by how the drag and drop table works.

QUESTION: How can I set up each slide so that the correct answer is dependent on the right number of pills, rather than their position? It should be possible to do this using variables,but have not been able to come up with a solution. So I am seeking your ideas and solutions. I have attached an shortened version of this game to make it easier for you to experiment with.

Any other suggestions and ideas for improving this game are welcome.

Thanks,

Russ

5 Replies
Alexandros Anoyatis
10 years ago02/24/14 at 12:13 pm (UTC)

Hi Russ,

First of all let me comment that your version of the game is far superior to the template you bought...

I am attaching your story back with a few changes in slide 2.1.

Using the freeform drag n drop is exactly the reason you are in this loophole in the first place. So instead of that, I opted for a simple "Pick One" which will change depending on the value of variable "currentAnswer". Then it works like a charm.

There are a couple of things you have to take into account here.
A) Redraging the pill to mouth still adds an extra mg (although it should not).
B) Redraging the pill to it's original position does not subtract the mg.

The easiest workaround for this is to just hide the pill after it has been dropped to mouth.

Let me know what you think.

I hope this helps,
Alex

Russ Sawchuk
10 years ago02/26/14 at 10:46 am (UTC)

Alexandros,

Thanks so much for your solution. Yes, it works and I will keep it handy as I refine and develop this and other games.

For those looking for more ideas for games, here are a couple of my other recent revisions to the SL template games:

Word Roots from Template    My version of Word Roots Game

Metric Conversions from Template   My version of Metric Measurements Game

Feel free to use in your own applications.

Thanks,

Russ

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