Ask any teacher or parent: it's awfully difficult to mix real, practical learning with conventional kid's entertainment. That's why those few properties that actually manage to pull it off, like Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Magic School Bus, and Schoolhouse Rock are held in such high regard, even decades after they've finished their respective runs. A new game called ChemCaper is trying to do just that, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign, the first episode is now available on Android.
ChemCaper is set up as a Japanese-style RPG, in basic structure if not aesthetics. You play as Roub, a moon creature tasked with tracking down a local god to help with a creeping evil that's scouring his world. It's pretty standard save the universe stuff, and the exploration and turn-based combat elements will be familiar to anyone who's played through a conventional role-playing game. The educational aspect comes from the crafting system. While a traditional RPG (like, say, Skyrim) will let you craft potions, poisons, and weapons with either fantasy ingredients or super-simplified versions of real-world plants and materials, ChemCaper forces players to use actual elements, solutions, and compounds to power up their weapons and inventories. Even the pet system requires a little periodic table knowledge, and players use real chemist's tools like flasks and centrifuges to advance.
According to the press release, the real-world elements of the game are based on the International General Certificate of Secondary Education's (IGCSE) chemistry content. The game's visual style is unique, with fascinating and non-traditional character and costume designs, and the music is nothing to sneeze at either. The only real downer is the price: eight bucks is quite expensive for a mobile game, not to mention one that claims to be the first in an incomplete series aimed at children. On the plus side, it's compatible with Android TV devices, at least according to the Play Store listing. There are no ads or in-app purchases.
PRESS RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ChemCaper: Act 1 - Petticles in Peril, the world's first Chemistry RPG from ACE EdVenture Studio, will be launched for iOS and Android at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco on 16th March 2016.
ChemCaper is a Chemistry role-playing game based on the IGCSE year 7 Chemistry syllabus. Worldwide, it's a common problem for students taking Chemistry as it is one of the subjects that's hard to wrap their minds around. ChemCaper aims to help students understand the subject through play and grasp it from a young age.
Being in the education industry for 28 years, Anne Tham, the founder of ACE EdVenture Studio and two international schools brings aworld of knowledge that has helped create an educational role-playing game of this magnitude. The game is developed by ACE EdVenture Studio in collaboration with Artoncode, a leading Indonesian game developer with more than two decades of experience in the game industry.
ChemCaper also features the soundtrack of Norihiko Hibino, an accomplished musician who contributed song compositions for many award -winning games such as the Metal Gear Solid and Bayonetta series.
Since the soft launch of ChemCaper at GDC 2015, the game has been featured at Google I/O and numerous write ups in international media including Gamasutra, IndieGames.com, Tech in Asia and many more.
"The launch of ChemCaper: Act I - Petticles in Peril at GDC 2016 is the culmination of a three-year journey for us - from the idea of reinventing education for our own students in the area of science subjects, to finally being able to showcase an actual game for students to play and experience on their tablets and mobile devices," said Anne Tham, founder and Group CEO of ACE EdVenture Studio.
"We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our futurist, Sheikh Faleigh of The Futurist Foundation for being a great mentor in this journey and also to Tim W of GCM Consultants for his guidance and efforts in turning this project into one that is globally acknowledged."
ChemCaper Act 1: Petticles in Peril will be available for download on the App Store and Google Play on the 14th March of 2016. The enhanced PC version is scheduled for release on Steam in 2017.