DaaD: A Mobile Game as an Educational Tool for Learning Arabic Language

Abstract

his project introduces a mobile game “DaaD” as a tool for learning Arabic language characters. Daad is a match game, where the core gameplay is based on swapping two adjacent characters among several on the game board to make a row or column of at least 2 characters that form a word. To enhance the learning process, this game must have an attractive storyline, pleasant game environment, nice and suitable sound effects, elegant character design as well as great animations. When the game starts, the kid can select his preferred character. Daad game consists of several levels. Each level has 1) a matrix of characters, 2) a question (e.g. For example, find a word of 4 letters that is an animal whose name starts with d), and 3) helping tools. There are three helping tools, the shuffle tool that allow a player to shuffle the characters in the matrix. The bird pin allows the player to blow or remove a character in the matrix and the character above the removed one fall into the empty space, and a spear that allows a player to blow a row of characters and characters above the removed row falls into the empty spaces. In each level a number of questions will be appeared to the player that should swap the characters scattered around the matrix to form the word that answer the question. When forming a word, the word characters are removed from the board, and characters or letters above them fall into the empty spaces, with new question and new characters appearing from the top of the board. This may create a new matched set of characters, which is automatically cleared in the same manner. The game is split among many levels, which must be completed in sequence. Each level poses a different challenge to the player, such as forming a word in a fixed number of moves. Boards have a number of different configurations and may include special spaces that have their own unique rules, such as spaces covered with Latin character that must be cleared by making a match on that space. If the player meets the level’s goal, they will be given from one to three stars based on their score and can proceed onto the next level. Otherwise, they will lose one life and must try again. If the player runs out of lives, they have to wait for some period of real-world time while their lives regeneration before attempting the level again. Completed levels can be replayed if desired. The first level display 4 by 4 matrix and 5 questions. The dimension of the matrix increases in each level to increase the difficulty of the game. In addition, upon finishing each level, the player will earn a great deal of rewards. These rewards can be used later to pay helping tools. All questions are applied with Arabic Language knowledge through several levels in the game.