The Greek-language table game, Mificos
Today, rare languages are becoming increasingly popular for learning in game form. And Greek is no exception. However, the existing games on it are the adaptation of foreign platforms that ignore the features of the language’s structure. Mificos is a table game of learning Greek, allowing us to learn the basics of language, expand the dictionary supply, and get to know antique mythology more closely.
Big idea.
When it all started a few years ago, my brother Harris and I decided to teach Greek. They found a beautiful school with Greek teachers, and they took over. But at some point, I began to realize that I wanted to add more interactor to the learning process and get deeper into my own culture.
Me and Harris as Athens and Hercules.
The problem I started exploring mobile applications, cognitive channels, learning platforms that would help solve the problem. And she stopped at the board games. However, all the existing tablets were merely adaptations to foreign games that ignored the features of the Greek language. I wasn’t upset, I took it as a challenge. This was the idea of developing a table game mechanic and an identifier that would make it easy and fun to learn Greek. And at the same time, this project became the subject of my diploma.
After sharing my idea with my brother and school students, I was convinced that the idea was worthwhile. And the game could not only be integrated into the learning process, but could also be offered to people who learn language to go to a Greek university or get a job in Greece. The next step was to understand how the table game would help us to learn Greek. Then I re-analyzed the competitors and realized that the most effective games were designed to study alphabets, make sentences, pull grammars, select associations, find answers, and perform tasks. This led to the idea of combining these types of games into one and creating a product that allows us to learn the basic Greek language, as well as to supplement the dictionary supply. The only thing left was to come up with a story that would be close and understandable to the Russian-speaking audience.
First sketches
The search for an idea for us in Greece is both a tavern on the island off the coast of the sea, and a table breaking from the Mediterranean, and a famous Sirtaki dance performed under national music and ancient architecture, and… mythology, of course. This was the birth of a legend that became a visual metaphor for the project. The ancient Greek gods fell from Olympus directly into Aida’s Kingdom. The goal of the players is to bring them home while performing Greek-language assignments.
How to Play
The video features music inspired by Digital Minds Ltd on behalf of CobaltMusic. The trade is published on YouTube with time for use under the Continental ID system. My project is non-commercial and non-monetized. The video uses
Details of the game
The box is packed manually. At the top is a folded game field, under it is a game drum and card compartments with assignments, characters and surprises, and a bag of chips and instructions.
Prepare the game to place the game field on a solid surface, and cards with gods, tasks, and surprises on piles of shirts up. Prepare the game drum. Get the chips and the cube out of the bag. The beginning of the game select the god you’re going to play for, using the game drum. You get a character card that describes his abilities and weaknesses, and you get his chip. All in the game of the 12 Olympic gods.
The Game Field is divided into four sections corresponding to four kingdoms: the Kingdom of Aida, the Kingdom of Poseidon, the Earth Kingdom, and Olympus. And each one of them has its own color code. Also, all objects or characters in the map have a signature for Greek and a translation. This allows for additional learning of words as the game progresses.
Start Put the chips on the start of the game field, drop the cube, and make a move on the number of points dropped.
You can put your thing on any of the four tracks.
The game cards each move in the game field is a random task or a surprise (the circles are painted in the color of exercise). If you have received a card with a mission — do it if you are surprised — follow the instructions. Then make the next move with a cube when it’s your turn. You get three points for every job that you’ve done correctly. The game ' s card categories are designed to develop two skills: language skills (normal assignments) and communication (tasks from characters). It’s a 350-card exercise game. The assignment to develop the language skills of the Regular Mission Card will make it easy to learn the basic Greek language. In total, there are three types of exercise in this category: in lexic, in the background and in grammar (in each of 50 cards). The former contribute to the study of adjectives, antonims, synonyms and omonims, the latter to the study of Greek sounds and diftongs, the setting of blows and syllables, the Greek alphabet, and the others to the study of the structure of words and proposals, the expansion of the dictionary. These tasks can be found throughout the game. There are 150 such cards in the game.
Communicating cards from characters will expand the dictionary, and teach people how to communicate on different topics and how to deal with household matters. In all, there are four types of exercise in this category: from Aida’s Kingdom, from Poseidon’s Kingdom, from the Earth Kingdom, and from Olympus (50 cards each). Unlike «Language Development Tasks», participants can only be caught in certain locations. There are 200 such cards in the game.
Specialty If you’ve got an assignment from the character you’re playing for, you can pass the exercise on to another participant. And if the player does it, he gets three points, if he doesn’t, then one score earns the player who gave the job.
A card with a mission from Hefest. Only in the Kingdom of Aida.
The types of tasks in the game are exercises with and without the right answer. In the category of «Language Development Studies», there are 75 of them, and in the category of «Technological Development Tasks» there are 100 (25 for each type of assignment).
with correct response
without the correct answer
You can get both a fine and a bonus on these cards. A fine, for example, may deprive you of the right of movement on an entire horse, and a bonus may give you extra points.
Finish Finishirt and count the points. The game ends when the last player reaches the finish line. The winner is the one who wins more points.
Andentics
First sketches
Each letter of the alphabet has many alternatives. So when it comes to dialing, the text looks different and looks like a student record.
The other element of the brand style is the characters of ancient Greek myths stylized as vase. The colors of the heroes' bodies indicate their belonging to certain kingdoms. However, the game field uses inversion. A total of 63 characters have been drawn.
These are the inhabitants of Hades' Kingdom. Although Hermes and Hefest are the Olympic gods, they mostly live and work here.
The inhabitants of the Underwater Kingdom, including Poseidon and Aphrodite.
Artemis, Dionis, Demeter, and the inhabitants of the Earth kingdom.
The inhabitants of Olympus, including Zeus and Gera, Apollo, Athens, Ares, and some characters belonging to several kingdoms.
Advertisement media
At the store.
Creative ad: Athena’s birth from Zeus' head. The image of elevators has been developed by Freepick
Promotions at the language centre
An example of the cover and advertising posts for Greek communities in Vkonakta.
Narcissus ad sticker
Souvenir products
Souvenira’s T-shirts and shoppers with Greek characters make it possible to literally «exemplify» the role of an antique hero.
Brackets and throws These gift souvenirs are made by hand. The base is made of clay and painted with guash and acrylic paints, and stickers are affixed to the sides.
Manufacturing process
Broke with Eros, Minotaur, Aphrodite and Hermes.
Broke with Amphitrita (wife of Poseidon), Triton, Hera, Aphrodite, Prometheus, Eurydice, Cerber, Artemis and Nica.
Greek watches of Greeks take time in a special way. They have mornings from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m., noon from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., afternoons from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., evenings from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. and, finally, nights from 12 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is an amazing difference from our perception of the time of the day, and the clock is lit. They also teach you the right time.
The Chech and Femida showing who owns the phone.
A two-way bookmark (with Hera and Zeus) for training in Greek numbers.
The mask with the dream god Hypnos.
Souvenir dishes, while working on the project, I made, burned, and wrote some clay products. Their appearance was spontaneous, but the idea only strengthened the unity of all the components of the game built in the vasogram style.
Manufacturing process
Souvenir dishes with stories and characters: Hades and Cerbera, Aphrodite, Nick, Athens and Arahna.
The project is currently in the process of being implemented and protected by copyright. It is currently not commercialized and is used only for portfolio demonstration.
