Launchpad 2017
Jason Kappes

Jason Kappes

Founder

Primary Audience: Government/Adult Ed., High School, K-12

Newcomer is a language-learning video game that immerses players in their target language. Newcomer is unique from other language learning games in that it situates the player in a highly contextualized and input rich environment similar to an immersion experience. The game carefully guides players through increasingly difficult conversation tasks that naturally scaffold the language learning process. As players participate in conversation, their proficiency improves and new in-game areas and experiences become available. Beginner mode gives language learners the opportunity to converse by building multi-word expressions, while intermediate mode users can type and speak with in-game characters.

LaunchPad Questions

During the LaunchPad, the audience had an opportunity to ask questions about the products. The Tech Center shared those questions with the entrepreneurs and here are the responses. 

Is there a way to hide the translations of the phrases? It seems that learners might overrely on them, instead of paying attention to the target language.

There is not a way to hide translations of phrases. Although, translations are hidden by default until the learner chooses to activate the translation.

Why the admittedly cute but perhaps eventually tiresome low-res pixelated (retro?) graphics?

8 bit graphics are still beloved to this day, although they may not appeal to everyone.

How do you identify and define the language chunks?

One can manually define the chunks for the sentences in the game or figure out how to get AI to define the chunks dynamically.

Can you change the L1 as well as the target language?

Yes.

How do the language targets scale with the learner if the game path is scripted?

Language targets are hardcoded in the game.

Can your product allow learners to choose practices by their language level?

In Newcomer, there are two difficulties: Beginner and Intermediate.

This looks ‘old school’ but I like old school!

Heck yeah.

What languages do you support? Are you planning to add more? How soon?

Newcomer supports English, Spanish, French, and Italian. Users will choose their L1 and then their L2. More languages are in development.

Are there any immediate feedback and suggestions for the learners about grammar or syntax? (Lina)

Users can click individual words in the game for grammar explanations.

How time-consuming is it to scale to a new language in Newcomer?

It is time-consuming and too difficult to say.

What is the total possible game-play time available right now?

Beginner mode takes 4 – 8 hours to complete, while intermediate mode takes 4 –16 hours to complete.

For which specific age audience do you think this is more targeted towards?

This game is designed for adult language learners, although one can see how kids would like to play Newcomer.

How fun is the game aspect compared with similar RPGs?

Newcomer is more fun than your average language learning application, but not as fun as regular RPGs.

How will you use the affordances of your RPG immersive gameworld to feature authentic cultural realia and drive intercultural competencies?

Newcomer has not figured out a good way to do this.

Will there be a collaborative tool or chat so players can play or have conversations while playing ? Even if playing individually

No

I love the use of communicative goals; do those communicative goals match up with game goals?

Communicative goals are mostly optional.

Is the font difficult for people with dysgraphia and dyslexia?

I’m not sure.

What happens if the learner uses dialect or more colloquial forms

Newcomer can handle it.

How do you create the permanence for the GPT-generated conversations?

This is too difficult to explain.

Hiding translations might be a concern if Newcomer is used in a course, but if users are intrinsically motivated (which they seem to be), I think it’s not issue

Agreed.

Are there different location/theme settings for the game or you only offer the old style game and fonts?

There are different locations in the game, however the font always stays the same. But there could be an opportunity to add more fonts in the future.

Do you have score board to motivate the players?

No.

How do you balance the tension between wanting to play fast and stay engaged, and the time it takes to formulate sentences and actually understand/learn?

This is something I am still trying to figure out.

How does the game address pragmatic features? What sort of feedback is provided, and how might it represent pragmatic variation?

The game does not provide detailed feedback about this.

Contact Information

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Honolulu, HI 96822

tech.center@hawaii.edu

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The Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center is funded under a grant from the Institute of International Education (IIE), acting as the administrative agent of the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO) for The Language Flagship. One should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project P.I.: Dr. Julio C. Rodriguez