The project is a submission to the XPRIZE for GLOBAL LEARNING, an attempt to create an open source learning app that will be deployed on (hopefully) millions of children in the 3rd world on android computers. We chose minetest because the LGPL licence is compatible with XPRIZE requirements.
Technically most of the work is on serverside mods, although we will probably create our own client to provide a simpler look and feel for the kids.
I would like to say at the outset that I am very impressed so far with the quality and generosity of the community. (and may that continue ;) ) . Special thanks so far to paramat for the cool Savannah generation, also to tenplus and stu for their responsiveness on issues.
For our part I'd like you to know that much of our code will be developed as standalone mods (where appropriate) that can be reused by the community. Although the project is intended for usage on singleplayer machines, all our mods have been created to be compatible with servers. Hope these will be useful.
If anyone is interested in the project and would like to help out, feel free to reply to this thread or drop me a line. I would also like to know if people are interested in writing mods or creating models for the project. Most of this work would be immediately released as mods to benefit the community as a whole.
This will be a learning app like no other, in that we still want it to be a fun gaming experience. That means embracing the building and exploration aesthetic of minetest and extending it. The game is more of the rpg genre of minetest, so you'll see alot in that vien.
I have lots of things I'd like to accomplish with minetest, which I will add to this post in the future. For now, here's some interesting technical things we are building:
- text to speech (client only)
- awesome dungeon generation
- extended questing
- animal capture using letters (it's complicated)
- phonics
- educational puzzles
- swahili version
- better android ui experience
Our app is initially targeted at android and windows.
I've spent over a year on minetest so far and have really enjoyed the experience. I look forward to engaging with the community more.
I'm also interested in reaching out to the educators who already use minetest and seeing if we can work together to make things even better.
*NEW LOOK*
Here's what the updated Android UI looks like - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhvS39dkoUI
Our website is at http://eidy.org (more info coming soon)
Facebook : https://facebook.com/eidyplace
Twitter : https://twitter.com/eidyapp
