IIT-M students develop game to raise COVID awareness in fun way

According to its developers, this browser-based game can be played on devices including Personal Computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones, among others. The game is available free of cost and can be played from the home page of www.letsplaytolearn.com. It is also available on IITM website under https://dost.iitm.ac.in/iitmdost/pages/game-corner

Based on initial prototyping and feedback, the game has been translated into several regional languages. Apart from English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Tamil, the game is now available in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi and Telugu.

The game was created by students who took a nine-credit elective course called ‘Let’s Play To Learn’ offered during the January-May 2020 Semester, in which students were taught game-based learning tools and techniques.

Highlighting the unique aspects of this game-based approach to creating awareness, Prof. Preeti Aghalayam, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, said: “The students felt the need to not only spread awareness but also convey the message in a fun-filled method, applying their learning in this elective”.

According to Preeti, the game takes inspiration from the famous ‘Super Mario’ game and consists of a character that encounters various right things, like masks, washing hands and also encounters things to be avoided, like hugs, handshakes.

As the character does the right things, points keep getting added. If the character fails to avoid a wrong thing, points get deducted to highlight the consequence. The game goes on for one minute and the players should aim for maximum points.