AR in Education: Instill Student’s Interest in Maths using Gamification

Creating an educational app for kids is no small feat. When I set out to develop Pippo Math, I knew that rigorous testing would be crucial to its success. After all, no matter how clever I thought my AR math bubbles were, the real test would be putting the app in the hands of actual users. Today, I'm sharing some insights from my testing phase and how it shaped the final product. The Testing Squad I recruited six testers with different backgrounds and tech experience levels. Having diverse perspectives was essential to uncover different types of issues and gather a range of feedback. Each tester was given a structured test plan covering six key areas: Game start Name input Introduction sequence AR environment launch Mission completion Mission failure The goal was to see if users could navigate through the entire experience without confusion, and to identify any pain points along the way. What I Discovered The Good Stuff Right away, I found that the AR concept was a hit! ...

After implementing the core mechanics of Pippo Math, I focused on enhancing the overall experience by improving visuals, adding sounds, and refining the gameplay. These enhancements make the game more engaging, immersive, and polished for players. I focused on 3 key improvements: 1. Bubbles To make the game more visually appealing, I enhanced the bubble materials by introducing three different colors. A script now assigns a random color to each bubble, making the game more dynamic and visually interesting. Additionally, I added a subtle pop-out animation when bubbles appear, giving a more polished and satisfying feel to the game. 2. Sounds I tried adding sound effects and background music which turns out they can immerse the experience of the gameplay. Even the smallest button click makes the game feel more polished. I incorporated various audio elements found on YouTube and FreeSound.org, including: Background music to maintain engagement. Gameplay music to create a fun and energetic ...

Enhancing Pippo Math: Creating a Polished Game Flow with Mission and Results Panels One of the most important lessons I've learned during the development of Pippo Math is that great gameplay alone isn't enough. Players—especially young learners—need clear context and meaningful feedback to fully engage with the experience. Today, I want to share how I enhanced the overall game flow by implementing two crucial UI elements: the Mission Panel and the Results Panel. The Mission Panel: Setting the Stage Every good game needs to establish clear objectives from the start. For Pippo Math, I created a Mission Panel that: Introduces the player's goal in a child-friendly way Builds anticipation through a countdown sequence Creates a smooth transition into the AR gameplay Implementation Process The Mission Panel implementation involved both UI design and code development: UI Setup : I designed a clean, papercut-style panel with mission text, a countdown display, and an "OK...

Testing plays a crucial role in game development, especially for interactive AR experiences like Pippo Math . Recognizing its importance, I allocated extra time in the timeline for thorough testing, allowing me to identify areas for improvement and refine both the code and gameplay. This blog explores five major challenges I encountered during testing and how I iteratively improved the game through dedicated adjustments. Problem 1: Inconsistent Bubble Spacing Issue: The first problem was the bubbles were unevenly spaced around the player. Sometimes, bubbles spawned too close together, while other times, they spread too far apart. This inconsistency made the game feel unpredictable and unpolished. Cause: The original code randomized the angle and distance for each bubble. While randomness added variety, it sacrificed clarity, especially for kids learning math. I realized the game needed consistent spacing while keeping the answers randomized. Solution: Instead of fully randomizing the ...

The next challenge was brining everything together into a fully functional game loop. In this blog, I’ll walk through the process of creating the Answer Manager , Player Controller , and Game Manager while setting up the UI for a smooth experience. Creating the Answer Manager The Answer Manager script dynamically spawns answer bubbles with one correct answer and randomized wrong answers, ensuring a unique experience each round. How It Works: Retrieves the correct answer from the Math Problem Generator. Generates wrong answers while ensuring no duplicates. Randomizes answer positions around the player in AR. Clears old bubbles before generating new ones. Key Codes 1. Correct answer retrieval: int correctAnswer = problemGenerator.GetCorrectAnswer(); Gets the correct answer for the current problem. 2. Wrong answer generation: wrongAnswer = correctAnswer + Random.Range(1, 5) * (Random.value > 0.5f ? 1 : -1); Creates wrong answers close to the correct one, ensuring a balance bet...

In Pippo Math, players interact with floating Answer Bubbles in an AR space. These bubbles display possible answers, and players must aim and select the correct one to solve the problem. To create this mechanic, I designed a 3D Answer Bubble Prefab that dynamically spawns with each math problem. Here’s how I built it using Unity, C#, and TextMeshPro : 1. Creating the Answer Bubble Object To start, I needed a simple, readable 3D object that players could interact with: 1. Create a sphere: Add  3D Object Sphere Scale it 2.  Add a Text Component for the Answer: Add  Text Adjust its position so it’s clearly visible in front of the sphere. Set the font size for readability, align the text to center , and change to readable color. 2. Writing the Answer Bubble Script Setting up answer : public void SetAnswer(int value, bool correct) {     answerValue = value;     isCorrect = correct;     answerText.text = value.ToString(); } Assigns the...

Designing an Intuitive Gameplay Flow for Pippo Math Creating a smooth and engaging gameplay flow for Pippo Math required a combination of structured learning and hands-on experimentation. From the landing page to the core gameplay, every transition needed to be intuitive, ensuring young users could navigate effortlessly. While workshops provided fundamental technical knowledge, self-study helped refine the interactions, optimize user experience, and tailor the game to its intended audience. Structuring the Gameplay Flow 1. Landing Page: Setting the Tone with Motion In a recent workshop, I delved into various types of animations in Unity, which included: Animator Controller (State Machine) Animation Clips (Predefined Animations) Scripting Animations (Using C#) These animation techniques opened up many creative possibilities, particularly in adding life to user interfaces and characters. When designing the first interaction for Pippo Math , I opted for a simple yet engagin...

One of the key mechanics in Pippo Math is the ability to generate random math problems for players to solve. To make this happen, I created a Math Problem Generator in Unity using C# and TextMeshPro for UI text handling. Here’s a step-by-step look at how I built this core feature: 1. Setting Up the Equation Display The first step was to create a space in the UI where the math problems would appear: In Unity, I added a TextMeshPro Text to the scene, naming it EquationText . This text dynamically updates with new math problems as the game progresses. The text field was left empty in the editor because equations would be populated through code. 2. Creating the Math Problem Generator Next, I built a script to handle the generation of random math equations. Create the Script: In the Project panel , I right-clicked > Create > C# Script and named it MathProblemGenerator . Write the Code: Inside the script, I added logic to randomly generate addition and subtra...