2008

Epsilon Entertainment
Whitepapers
A years worth of work in writting
The key to Educations has changed, Interation is the new Medium  

Pomperaug
Epsilon Entertainment
5/10/2008
Contents
The Team 3

.........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction 4

Research 5

The Concept 12

The Game 14

Bibliography 17

Epsilon Entertainment
6
 Th e Tea m

Philip Simmons- President

Steve Northup- Vice President

Mark Mclean- Web Designer

Jeremy Schreiner-Art Designer/Concept Design

Colin Szost- Film/Commercial

Jay Hesse- Lead Game Development

Mike zaskarinskas-Game Designer

Tim Baird- Marketing/Booth

Ian Schofield-Booth/ Whitepapers

Ben Weinberg-Concepts

Ed Wlodarczyk- Booth/ Advertisement

Mr. Murphy/Mr. Bants- Supervisor

Epsilon Entertainment 6
 Introduction

Epsilon Entertainment is an independent video game company created by twelve

Pomperaug High School students. The goal was simple, helping younger students

succeed, and better their future. Not only did we want to help our fellow students, we

wanted to entertain, engaged, and most importantly, teach. As a group of students that

must work together to get any work done, it was necessary that we put one more variable

into our product, collaboration. With in our first brainstorm meetings we had successfully

chose our leaders, company name, and a basic website design. Junior, Philip Simmons

(President) and senior, Steve Northup (Vice President) were chosen by the team to lead

and conduct for the next 6 months. Both Simmons and Northup had previous years of

experience in, what was, the Information Technology Leadership Academy and were

looking for a future in the industry. After picking out key players and getting an idea of

who was going to do what, the brainstorming began.

After careful research of Connecticut Mastery Test, along with SAT, and CAPT

(Connecticut Academic Performance Testing) test result, we quickly establish that

Physical Science had significantly lower scores than reading, mathematics, and history.

Clearly we found our target subject. For a group of students inspiring to become

engineers, graphic designers, and business leaders this stuck home hard. We know how

important basic science is to succeed in life, and students need to know the subject now

more then ever. With global technology on the rise the world needs engineers and

scientist, and problem solvers. With a new generation not knowing this particular subject

Epsilon Entertainment 6
may mean a different future for not only technology, but the people who live in a tech

savvy world.

Epsilon landed on a specific topic inside of Physical Science. Basic Physics, first

because it is what eighth graders are learning coming into high school, and it is the basis

of what freshmen learn in their first year of high school. Second because it is usually the

most popular subject in American high schools. It tends to be nature to have an interest in

physics, most kids have played with dominos, and all gamers want realistic physics.

Experimenting and manipulating objects is just plain fun inside of video game, which is

why Epsilon chose to considerate on simple machines. Our team set out to research

professional findings on the topic, and we were surprised at what we found. Research

shows that students want a new, interactive, and fun median to learn.

Research

Epsilon Entertainment 6
 Epsilon Entertainment, prior to setting out to make an educational game that

would both teach, and allow students to have fun undertook, and studied research.

In an article written by John Hubisz, based on research done by the AAPT

(American Association of Physics teachers, of which he is a member), several disturbing

conclusions were made. In the study undertaken by the AAPT, the six member board

reviewed middle school physical science text books for “scientific accuracy, adherence to

a realistic portrayal of the scientific approach, and appropriateness and pedagogic

effectiveness of the material for the grade for which it was presented.” Hubisz also noted

“My colleagues and I recorded instances in which material was inappropriate for the age

level of the students for whom it was written” This just shows that book manufacturers,

editors and authors, are not publishing the correct information or engaging the student

enough, which is making it difficult to tech, to the level of 6th-8th graders. The AAPT

board went further and “…determined that, according to the criteria we set forth, none of

the 12 most popular middle-school physical science texts was acceptable.” This just

shows that the current way that middle-school students are being taught the sciences is

inappropriate. “In my opinion, textbook layout contributes significantly to our students’

dislike of science and inability to “get it””. This just told Epsilon Entertainment, that a

new medium had to be created that would teach kids science, but at the same time keep

them engaged and learning to like the sciences. This same article also found that the

United States lost its “edge” against the international community beginning in the middle

school years, so it was clear that something had to be done to stop the slide vs. the global

competition.

Another piece of research that Epsilon Entertainment has obtained, and is using in

formulating the game in production, was the Texas essential knowledge and skills

Epsilon Entertainment 6
(known as TEKS). In the TEKS handbook, there are six objective areas that a student in

the 8th grade should know upon entering high school. The very first objective is “the

student will demonstrate an understanding of the nature of science”, this is one of the

broader requirements that EE believes that our new game can address. However the

objective that Epsilon Entertainment, can most effectively address is the fourth goal and

its sub-goals of “The student will demonstrate an understanding of motion forces and

energy.” This goal can be almost directly translated to a student understanding the basics

of physics.

One other piece of information that EE is using is the CAPT (Connecticut

Academic Performance Testing) performance in the entire state of Connecticut. On the

CAPT test there are five rankings going from exceptional to poor, with the passing grade

being a three. In the state of Connecticut almost one fifth of students in the tenth grade

that took the test did not pass the states standards. This just shows that if science is

emphasized and enforced during the middle school years, scores are likely to rise

significantly.

Epsilon also found astounding statistics on how many students are playing video

games. David Walsh, Ph.D. of the National Institute on Media and the Family found this

interesting information. “9% of American children now play computer or video games on

a regular basis. Children between the ages of seven and 17 play for an average of eight

hours a week.” Another poll done by Business Week Magazine had this to show. “The

study polled 4,000 kids up to the age of 15-years-old (both boys and girls) and discovered

that 61 percent play video games on a daily basis.” Kids are playing video games. Why?

Simple. We found that in this new generation of kids are being placed in a world of

Ipods, flat screen, and a new kind internet. Almost everything is instant, and with that,

Epsilon Entertainment 6
entertaining. Electronics are being marketed from children from ages 3-10. Digital

cameras, televisions and computer programs are things that one would think an adult

would want. JULIAN E. BARNES of the New York Times has this to say about the

subject “Pre-teenage boys who might once have spent hours building Erector models,

now play mostly with video games, remote-controlled robots and other toys of the

electronic age.” Companies are now selling LCD televisions, fully Digital Cameras, and

electronic game systems designed, colored, and made just for kids. These products are

made durable, and kid friendly which is changing how they grow. We believe that kids

who grow up in this kind of atmosphere are expecting the same from our schools, who

are not bearing in mind this concept. This could be a major reason why students a starting

to loss interest in our curriculum. Education is just not as interactive as the world around

it which makes it seem less interesting to kids.

Here at Epsilon Entertainment, we were not satisfied with information and

statistics found from internet sources. We decided to put together our own survey, and

have a conversation with several eight graders from our local middle school. We found

several surprising points that both agreed and disagreed with research we had already

done. The one most amazing piece that we found unbelievable was that every single

student we spoke with plays video games on a regular basis.

We spoke with seven middle school eighth graders in a group discussion, as well

as a written student survey. We started are discussion on general subject likes/dislikes.

The top two classes that these students enjoyed the most were math and science. We

continues and asked why they enjoyed these classes were so popular. From what the

students said we can determine that science is enjoyed because it’s vast range of topics

and interactive labs. Math was the number two choice of students because students enjoy

Epsilon Entertainment 6
solving problems and feel a sense of accomplishment in the classroom when the complete

a complicated problem. From here we went to our next subject, Textbooks.

As high school students we find that textbooks an overwhelming and somewhat

difficult to understand. We knew that this would be a problem for middle school students

since there is no general difference in books when transferring from middle school to

high school. When we prompted the young students with the following question it was

obvious that things in school need to change. “When you have a textbook reading

homework assignment, how much do you actually do?” only one of the seven claimed to

read the entire text that is assigned. The rest of the students said that they either skimmed

the reading or read only the main points made in the chapter. The students said that the

books are boring, long, overwhelming. Most high school students would agree and also

often have trouble reading the same style textbook. We wondered how these students

would personally change the text books. The students demanded more pictures, diagrams,

and examples rather than massive amounts of facts at once. One student asked for text

that he could relate to and makes a connection to his own life. Epsilon Entertainment

concluded that these text books are often made to grown up for these kids. The books

often drone on and on with facts but then leave out examples or stop and give a picture

for the kids to look at. The kids seemed more interested in discussing interactive classes

at this point so we moved to those questions.

Every single student enjoyed interactive classes such as science labs and

computer classes. Epsilon asked which their favorite was, the response caught Epsilon

by surprise. Tech education is the most fun, interactive, significant class that each student

takes. At this point the Tech ED teacher, with a huge smile on his face, explained to

Epsilon the style of his class. The students are given basic skills and then are free to

Epsilon Entertainment 6
apply those skills to solve problems, create their own projects, and explore new ideas. A

young student interrupted explaining that it is the easiest class to remember information.

The rest explained how they enjoy the freedom and are able to have fun in their tech

class. They use computers, create race cars, and design flash animations. They explained

how it doesn’t feel like a class at all, and how they usually don’t even know that they are

learning. At this point the students did not know what was coming next. Epsilon then

introduced the video game portion of the survey.

Here at epsilon we are a very tech savvy group, some more than others, and we

generally don’t all play video games. Every single student, boy or girl, 13 or 14, they all

played video games on a regular basis. There is a 4 year difference between us and them,

yet they seem completely different, mainly, more connected. When the subject was

brought up, Epsilon was looked at with smiles and eager students ready to discuss the

latest and best games out there. The hours they played video games at home ranged from

3 hours to 30 hours a week. A huge rage in hours of play means that we have kids who

play every day and other who play some at friend’s houses. Either way these kids have

different opinions on games and how they use them. When asked if the students enjoyed

more physical interactive games such as guitar hero or Wii rather than regular video

games played with a game controller. All of the students enjoy playing party games

together and interacting with each other.

The next discussion we had was about bringing these kinds of game into the class

room and the home. The students said that if these types of games were introduced into

the class “the lazy kids would do their work.” the continued explaining how they would

be more into the lessons, rather than falling asleep while listening to a lecture. The

students then jumped to the idea of replacing a text book before Epsilon was able to bring

Epsilon Entertainment 6
up the subject. Interactive study guides would help these kids study because all of the

students found their books to bland.

The last topic we discussed was possibility of high scores, online multiplayer, and

leader boards. The kids viewed high scores and leader boards as not a necessity but

something that they would be interested in. Multiplayer is something that is “mandatory”

students say. When asked the about online multiplayer, students would only play with

classmates or close friends. This makes sense, students then explain how some online

services are subscription based and usually have “jerks” on the service.

This survey and interaction with students helped Epsilon Entertainment further

develop their game and gave a better grasp on how the students want their education

exposed to them. This also furthers Epsilon’s theory that schools are not keeping up with

the technology that’s developing around these new generation of students. Copies of the

survey we gave these students can be found at our website.

Epsilon Entertainment 6
 The Concept

Epsilon Entertainment had found their issue, done their research, now all that was

left was to apply it to a entertaining, and playable video game. The ideas began to flow

and concept designers began to work magic. The idea of manipulating objects to escape

from a room tended to be extremely popular among the group. Most of the members are

gamers and very familiar with the Half Life series, which uses physics realistically. We

were able to render a realistic graphic mock up, which is viewable at our website of what

the game might look like if we had the resources. Ideally this is how we want the game to

look, but us being just high school students could not make this great of a game. We

decided to continue with our concept anyway on the side, as well as create a “dumb

down” version on the game. We created more animations of how game play would work

and scenery such as the Megawattonia lab. Our Epsilon Concept team did a great job at

giving us a look at how the story and game play would work using the resources we had

at the time. At the same time we had to develop our booth game in time for the Expo in

Epsilon Entertainment 6
May. All of our concept and early ideas and be viewed at our website.

Epsilon Entertainment 6
 The Game
Escape from Megawattonia was created using the program Multimedia Fusion 2,

which is both graphically intense, and fairly easy to use, which was the unique blend that

Epsilon Entertainment needed to field the game that is being unveiled today. However

Multimedia Fusion was not the first program Epsilon Entertainment used when

attempting to create the educational game. The first foray into game creation was

permitted by the use of Panda3D, which worked well, but did not allow the flexibility

required, and was not very user friendly, and therefore game production using the

program was scrapped just weeks into production. The second attempt was made using

RPG maker VX, a step up on Panda3D in terms of being user-friendly, but the consensus

in the company was that the two-dimensional graphics would not cut it in the competitive

business of game design. Due to this feeling RPG maker VX was also cut from the list of

possible devises to create Escape from Megawattonia. The programs of Scratch and Flash

were never really considered by Epsilon Entertainment as they do not have the same kind

of quality provided by Multimedia Fusion, Panda3D, in addition to the tedious amount of

work that is required to get the games made in them is excessive when compared to the

final product.

Escape from Megawattonia consists of six levels based in various

Newtonian physics concepts and key ideas. The first six levels have the lessons

incorporated into the storyline, and teach students about levers, pulleys, incline planes,

wheels and axles, and Atwood machines. In the final (boss) level, the player must use all

the skills that they have learned in the preceding six levels in order the defeat the boss

(Mr. Murphy) and escape Megawattonia. When the idea to create a physics educational

game many ideas were thrown around in Epsilon Entertainment, some of which included

Epsilon Entertainment 6
a cow named Bessie, and a sarcastic helpful floating robot. The original plan also

included having the main character be one of the last surviving colonizers from earth in a

far out solar system attempting to survive in space. These ideas gradually where phased

out though for more conservative ideas, that would be easier to implement. Epsilon

Entertainment eventually settled on the plan that has been produced, and is very pleased

with the result.

In a quiet science laboratory, a young student works away studying the basic

principles of physics, and simple machines. A soft rumble is heard in the distance. Then

the ground starts to shake! Is it an earthquake? No, it’s the evil Mr. Murphy, who has sent

the lab into chaos. The doors are now blocked! The young scientist is now trapped.

That is the beginning of the game Escape from Megawattonia created by Epsilon

Entertainment. The challenge given to first time players is both intriguing and exciting

designed to draw them into the game and make them excited to learn. “The world of

Megawattonia has been thrown into despair by the evil Mr. Murphy, and it’s up to you to

save the day! In order to thwart his diabolical schemes, the clever you must utilize every

ounce of knowledge they can muster to overcome the challenges presented. Whether Mr.

Murphy succeeds in his wicked plan is entirely up to you. Do you think you have what it

takes to be the hero?”

Epsilon Entertainment 6
 Final Game Design

Epsilon Entertainment 6
 Bibliography
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E02E5DE1331F933A25751C0

A9679C8B63&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

- Newyorktime.com

- Buisnessweek.com

- CAPT Results." Region 15. 2004. Regional School District 15. Mar. 2008
<http://www.region15.org/captscores.shtml>.

- Hubisz, John. "Middle School Texts Dont Make the Grade." Physics Today. 2008.
American Intitute of Physics. Mar. 2008 <www.Physicstoday.org>.

- "TEKS Grade 8." SSC. 2001. Texas Education Agency. Mar. 2008
<http://www.tea.state.tx.us/ssc/teks_and_taas/teks/teks8.htm>.

Epsilon Entertainment 6