Technical Spiders

DeathMath: A Math Game Kids Would Actually Play

04 Oct 2011

joesunga:

Check out the project we knocked out at Startup Weekend Seattle EDU:

We created this game called DeathMath in 54-hours at Startup Weekend EDU. The title speaks for itself doesn’t it? If you were expecting some type of violent game with a splattering of math, you’ve come to the right place. This is a fighting game where you go one on one with another player and the only way to inflict damage is to answer the math questions quicker than your opponent, and correctly. Pretty simple, but oh so fun. We wanted the game to be engaging and entertaining for kids because all the other educational games weren’t, at least in our eyes. And if it helped strengthen ones mathematical chops by drilling them over and over again — all the better.

This was so much fun to work on. At first, I was terrified to work on a game since I’ve never done any real game development before. Jordan was able to help out so much in terms of domain expertise and showing just what can be done with HTML5 canvas. We were also super lucky to have great illustration by Kyle and graphic design by Joe (huge requirement for making a game). I even ended up writing the multiplayer match-making server that didn’t even make it to the demo. I at least want to polish & open source that, and would love to get the multiplayer pieces working.