demo video - run on vs code
What is this project?
The Georgia Tech Computer Science capstone course is a year-long software design project that aims to solve real world problems. Projects are led by clients and professionals within the GT community. For our team of 6 students, Professor and Korean Language Director Yongtaek Kim asked us to find en engaging, gamified edutech solution to teaching his KOR 1001 class.
Problem
Students dread language learning if it feels like a chore, and this is often the case when class assignments consist solely of reading a textbook and completing worksheets. Lingual and cultural interactions are a tried and true way of engaging students in language learning, but this is difficult for professors to implement without actually taking their students abroad. The goal of our project is to create a fun and engaging application that helps students learn both the Korean language and culture. Current language learning applications like DuoLingo exist, but they do not teach the cultural aspect of languages.
Solution
Dr Kim has been hoping to solve the problem of demotivated students for years now, and a solution idea presented itself as the Korean language and culture has rapidly grown in popularity. The solution takes inspiration from the vastly popular Netflix show called Squid Game. Squid Game is a Korean drama in which characters are faced with deadly stakes while competing in Korean children's games in hopes of securing a huge prize. Given that Squid Game is now the most-watched Netflix show of all time, Dr. Kim had the idea to utilize its momentum and create a fun beginner's Korean game application that consists of language learning minigames created based on the games from the show, such as red light green light and tug of war.
Our product vision is to create an application that combines the best of all worlds. That is, we want our application to include study features similar to DuoLingo, but we also want it to be tailored specifically to KOR 1001 and include minigames that will make using the app fun. In addition to the learning minigames, the application will include flashcards for each unit of Korean 1001, as we hope to make our app a one-stop-shop for all the studying and learning needs of its users. Overall, we hope the auditory, verbal, and visual features of our app will provide an engaging experience and make it so that studying for Korean class feels more like a hobby than a chore.
User Research
When we first started this Junior Design Project, we had to research different aspects of this project to create a game app that met Professor Kim’s goals.
We decided to use a Google form poll to complete our primary research because it is a quick and convenient way to gather information, and because Professor Kim has access to the Korean course Emailing list, we were able to send it out to our primary audience: Korean students.
Based on our user research and surveys, we came to the conclusion that there is broad support among GT Korean students for a game-based language learning app, with an overwhelming majority saying that this app would be a needed/wanted study tool. Also, through our survey, we also found that repetition is a heavily requested feature. Audio recordings of vocabulary and questions were also requested multiple times. In addition, flash cards to practice vocabulary were explicitly mentioned in the responses to the survey. All of these responses show us that there are a few core features that users care about.
Additionally, we read 2 articles as our secondary research to better understand the development of a Korean language app. We wanted to research about how other language apps in the past were developed to find out what the most common trends in language-learning software are. We knew that it was extremely important to be up to date on recent software and applications, so that we can learn from past projects and better implement our own app.
Through our secondary research, we became up to date on modern language apps and what users want most. Trends show that PC apps are currently the most popular. However, with the increasing availability of smartphones, mobile apps are becoming more standard. The most frequent users of these apps are university students, with most users reporting positive outcomes and language learning growth. By looking at other applications, such as the mobile game “Infinite Korean”, and by reading user reviews, we also found that people prefer auditory repetition as a language learning feature. Additionally, users report that having the choice of toggling romanization on or off as a feature was preferable for language apps.
The Website
To accomplish this, our UI has an easy interface to understand and use as we will show in our live demo at the end. Each unit of the KOR 1001 curriculum is clearly available to the user, and the user can decide to study grammar and vocabulary through their game, or study vocabulary through flashcards as we will show in our demo later.
For our learning game we decided to create our own interpretation of the red light green light game from Squid Games. It was the most iconic game of the show and it has easy enough rules to follow.
In our version of the game, the robot doll will say a Korean word or phrase and the user must select the correct word or phrase that has been said. If they get it right, they will get a point and their goal is to get 10 points. If they get it wrong, they will lose a life, and they have 3 lives before they lose the game. They can also lose the game if they do not finish within the time limit.
This will hopefully create an engaging way for users to learn through an auditory component as well as through repeated use of words and phrases as the students we surveyed had requested.
My Role
Software Developer & Lead Artist:
- UI/UX Contributor: Collaborated on designing intuitive navigation and adhering to standard UI/UX principles for button placement and overall site flow.
- Software Developer: Contributed to the front-end development of the React-based website.
- Sole Lead Artist: Responsible for all visual assets, including Squid Game-themed character drawings, homepage artwork, assassin wallpapers, and the website logo. Utilized a vibrant color palette directly inspired by the series to ensure visual appeal and engagement.
Process & Key Features
Our team followed a Scrum methodology, focusing on end-to-end development from user research to iterative prototyping and milestone delivery.
- User Research & Ideation: Collaborated with the professor to understand pain points in language learning and brainstormed gamified solutions, drawing inspiration from the popularity of Squid Game.
- Visual Asset Creation: Designed and produced all custom artwork in Adobe Photoshop and Procreate, ensuring a cohesive and visually striking aesthetic that aligned with the Squid Game theme. This included adaptive designs for wallpapers and homepage art to ensure natural scaling across different screen sizes.
- Interactive Mini-Games: Developed engaging features like a Squid Game Tug-of-War mini-game where correct answers propelled the user's team forward, adding a dynamic, competitive element to vocabulary recall.
- Consolidated Learning Hub: Implemented Quizlet-like flashcards and quizzes, centralizing vocabulary and audio resources for easy access and review.
- Adaptive Visuals: Addressed challenges related to image sizing and responsiveness to ensure all custom artwork scaled naturally across various viewports.
Results and Future Work
- Enhanced Engagement: Created a unique, visually captivating learning environment that significantly increased the potential for student engagement in Korean language studies.
- Streamlined Resources: Provided a centralized, user-friendly platform for all Korean 1001 learning materials, reducing reliance on disparate external tools.
- Competitive Motivation: Introduced gamified elements designed to foster healthy competition and motivate consistent vocabulary memorization.
- Real-World Application: Successfully delivered a functional web application within a real-world academic context, demonstrating proficiency in team-based software development and creative problem-solving.
Since the creation of this project by our team, other teams have since worked on the website, adding new designs and features. See the current live website here: https://korean-game.modlangs.gatech.edu/