The Translation Game - Week 1 Of 2

Alejandro L. Ruata
Mar 19, 2018
8 min read

Updated: Aug 17, 2020

Date: 03/19/18

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Entity for Project 4 To create a game that facilitates the creation of a large repository of translation pairs between complex phrases and their translations into simplified text that has been curated by human players. The facts: As game creators, you will be given two items in relation to one another. You do NOT gather these two items yourself. One: a phrase in English. This will be sourced from Wikipedia and could be on any topic but you could choose to get chunks of one particular topic though order would not be guaranteed. Two: a second English phrase that represents what is believed to be a simplified translation of the first phrase.

They will come as a pair. This will be sourced from the matching entry in SimpleWikipedia. The goal of the user is to, in some fashion determined by you as the game creator, indicate if and/or how accurate the two phrases work as translations. This could be a binary rating of 1 for works or 0 for does not work; or it could be on a likert scale from 0 to 5 or something similar, indicating how effective the translation is from 0 as not effective at all, 3 could be a decent or one viable translation, and 5 could be a good or most common translation. The player will in any one sitting, provide ranking/scores for a number of pairs. While you probably do not want to repeat the pairs for the player in a single setting, if they receive repeats during replay sessions, this is not necessarily bad. All users will pull from the same pool of pairs, and it is important that each pair is ranked/scored/reviewed by more than one player, so this is a good thing. The game must store the given phrase pair and the score/ranking received.

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Idea 1 - Name: “Barrier Break”

Genre(s):

Educational/Trivia/Minor Real Time Strategy (RTS) Elements [chat elements]

Core Mechanic(s):

Simple Trivia - In “Barrier Break’s” Trivia Mode, players are tasked to analyse English Phrases sourced from Wikipedia and match them to an appropriate second English phrase (one of four to choose from, also sourced from Wikipedia as possible translations for original phrase) that they believe best represents a simplified translation of their given first phrase. No time limits, no repercussions for messing up; a simple starter mode for players struggling with getting a grasp on English to begin learning how to associate phrases to themselves and to others in simplified, universal terms.
Speed Trivia - Fast-paced and timed version of simple trivia, for more advanced players who want to try their hand at a more robust word/phrase simplification (in itself, this is incentive to play and do well).
Hard Trivia - Like simple trivia, expect hard. As the phrases may be very long and difficult to comprehend, this will never be timed.
The Discussion Table - The reason players will want to play the trivia in the first place, this mode is a dynamic and expansive online chat where players can talk and connect with other players on a wide variety of subjects… only using the phrases that they themselves have already identified simplified phrases for in trivia. This is so players can take the phrases (and their simplified counterparts) they’ve already worked with in previous trivia modes and apply them in actual conversations with others just like them (providing necessary context to any answers). This will help in not only breaking a language barrier, but the “slang” barrier that exists between struggling English speakers and native English Speakers.
Wikipedia Mode - Wikipedia is all about being a tool anyone can edit… games on the other hand are something only developers can truly work with. This seeks to be a middle ground. Wikipedia Mode is a Handy tool to get in touch with Developers and discuss the addition of phrases, challenge translations as presented in game, etc.
The Barrier Book - A Dictionary comprised of phrases and their simplified translations (will have a base of initial phrases & translations given by Wikipedia for initial release but will be ever expanding and changing as players translate more and more phrases - it’s possible some simplified phrases will change as consensus is reached regarding universally accepted simplified phrases).

Game(s) with similar mechanic(s):

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eeIFzAgEAE&t=108s [Reference For Trivia Modes]
The Translation Pair Dictionary and chat room ideas don’t come from specific games (although The Barrier Book mechanic could be in reference to Assassin’s Creed’s Database:

The chat rooms will function similar to Google Hangouts if anything… except you can only apply phrases you’ve learned in pre-chosen conversation topics (not including free for all mode).

Game with similar look and or style/Explanation:

We’ll be looking to ‘Trivia Crack’ for a lighthearted, colorful, and animated look/feel to keep players entertained and coming back for more.

Serious Game Objective/Explanation:

This game seeks to help players struggling with getting a firm grasp on using the English language (built in incentive to play). Through intensive and focused trivia, players will learn to simplify complicated English phrases into universally accepted “slang” (simplified phrasing) that they may then learn the appropriate context of through use in online conversation. As players identify and agree on appropriate “slang” for phrases, that “slang” will simultaneously entered into a repository of translation pairs for later reference by players in game, or online users of Wikipedia.
So I think it isn’t simply enough for players to match phrases to other phrases and call it a day. The simplified phrases that are identified have to be used in some sort of monitored context for players looking to grasp the English language to understand not just how it associates to the initial starting phrase… but how it can in turn be used in their day to day life. This will keep players invested in this product, not just as a fun game… but as a fun and massively useful tool that has the potential to instill usable “slang” English into the minds of people needing to master English for normal day to day conversations. Because the game will serve a useful purpose, the repository of translation pairs requested can potentially be built and expanded upon at a massive rate.

(Unique) Attributes List:

Ranking System - In Trivia, each answer is to be rated on scale of 1 - 5, with 1 being farthest from the meaning of original phrase, and 5 being the closest to meaning of the original phrase.
Trivia phrases will have option of being used in a context (audio sentence, video clip, picture with a brief explanation, etc.) to help players in picking the best answer possible (only in simple mode)
A Free-for-all conversation mode where players create topics that last 24 hours and must draw from Barrier Break’s repository of translation pairs to pose questions to chat participants.
Chat mode is not as limited as it may appear from above description - players must use previously translated phrases as a starting point for conversation messages (with the ability to expound on it before it is viewed by other players in the chat).
Developer Discussions; it’s already explained above, it is an opportunity to directly chat with developers on the types of phrases to see in the game next, possible corrections to translations already available, and more!
Dedicated, on staff chat members to provide native English speakers to practice phrases off of.

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Idea 2 - “Phrase to Phrase”

Genre(s):

Card Game, Party Game

Core Mechanic(s):

Random mode - Players are randomly placed in a party where they must compete to earn as much points as possible within the round limit. Each round, one player will become the judge. The task for the judge is randomly draw a card from main card pile of Wikipedia phrase while other players are handed with the same hand of cards. The rest of the players must decide the best translation for the Wikipedia phrase. Before the players reveal their cards, the judge will named his or her best translation, and the players with the same answer will earn a point. Once the last round end, the players with the most points will become the winner.
Smart mode - Similar to the random mode, however, the phrase will be longer and harder to comprehend. There will be a time limit for each round.

Game(s) with similar mechanic(s):

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDmam1VC61E
The game mechanics style is similar to Evil Apple, Cards Against Humanity, or Apple to Apple. In term of mechanics is similar to Evil Apple app except the cards aren’t as dirty as Evil Apple.

Game with similar look and or style:

The game with similar style will be The Jackbox Party Fibbage. We want the game to have simple UI and a colorful display.
- Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUei44p8BQQ

Serious Game Objective/Explanation:

This game is a perfect way to respond a translation between a complex phrase and a simple phrase. It is because there are no correct answers to the player’s response. The correct answers are based on what a person’s belief.
Since purpose of this game is to create a storage of translation between complex phrases and simple text phrases that has been selected by human insight. We don’t want any influence from the game, rather, the answer should come from the player.

(Unique) Attributes List:

Ranking System - The players are placed in game based on their level. The higher of their level, the phrase will be harder to translate.
Global - The players are allowed to play with people around the world.

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Idea 3 - “Summary Summit”

Genre(s):

Matching/Puzzle

Core Mechanic(s):

Rapid-Fire Sorting - The player will be given small blurbs from the Wikipedia and SimpleWikipedia pages of certain topics. The player will be tasked with choosing the most accurate summarization from a list of three from the database. At the end, the player will receive a score for the speed of their answers and get their answers sent off to another player to review and see how well they did from on a scale of 1 to 100. Upon feedback being given, the results will be returned to the player and sent into the system. This will be encouraged to other players by giving them more to do within Slow-Form Sorting.
Slow-Form Sorting - Similar to the normal game mode of Rapid-Fire Sorting, except with a twist. The Wikipedia phrases will be given to the player and two SimpleWikipedia phrases believed to be summarizations will be given to the player with the words of both scattered across the answering field. It is up to the player to best assemble the words in the correct order and discard the words of the phrases into the “recycle bin” that they don’t feel are necessary. The player will be given 5 of these per time that they play, and the words in the recycling bin for the mode will stay there until their rounds are finished or the player discards them permanently. These summarizations will be sent off to other players to review and give a rating of 1 to 100 as well.

Game(s) with similar mechanic(s):

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOEgmzsqrgw (Gameplay starts at 4:30)
The Rapid-Fire Sorting is inspired by the basic gameplay of Brain Age where the player has to answer math problems in quick succession in order to improve how well their abilities are with math. Slow-Form Sorting doesn’t really come from this, although something similar does exist in one area of gameplay where the player must connect dots with their stylus in the correct order listed on the dots all around the screen.

Game with similar look and or style:

A simple, but visually appealing style like Quiz Bowl’s would be ideal for it so the player is visually grabbed by interesting color schemes that don’t overload the mind with too much visual information.

Serious Game Objective/Explanation:

Through the rating of player to player on a scale of 1 to 100 for effectiveness, this will allow a more objective eye of feedback from others to be given on how well someone does for summarization instead of letting the players do their own ratings for their gameplay. This will also include a player incentive to come back based on their speed and quality scores, similar to Brain Age, in order to want to come back to it and improve how they do in both ways.

(Unique) Attributes List:

Two different game modes that provide similar outcomes for feedback and give the player gameplay variety for the serious problems gamified solution.
Through scoring other players, players are given the incentive to solve the serious problem and, at the same time, provide incentive for retention of players.

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