To help his 7-year-old daughter learn, this father did more than just tutor. Because he developed a game that will soon be released on Steam.
Note: The image is a symbolic image.
What kind of game is this? The educational game looks a bit like a classic roguelike à la Slay the Spire and has the clever name “Super Algebrawl”. The aim here is to practice basic mathematical arithmetic in a playful way.
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Math tutoring with a difference
Which gamer doesn’t know it from their childhood? You would actually really like to continue gaming, but your parents keep interrupting you and want you to learn something for school instead. A clever way to combine both are learning games. These not only give you more time on the PC – you might also actually learn something useful.
Benjamin Soule probably thought that too. He developed the educational game “Super Algebrawl” to help his 7-year-old daughter learn math.
Who is this? Benjamin Soule is part of the developer duo “Punkcake Délicieux”, which, according to the Steam page, has set itself the task of developing a game every month.
The most popular of these, for example, is the roguelike strategy game Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate with currently 93% positive reviews on Steam, with almost 4,000 reviews.
How did the game come about? On X, formerly Twitter, Soule reports that he created Super Algebrawl for his daughter in November 2023. Only later did he decide to actually publish the game with “Punkcake Délicieux”.
The game is now almost finished and already has a Steam page.
Mathematical puzzle as a magical wild boar king
But how does Super Algebrawl work? As the wild boar king with magical, mathematical powers, you control your animal subjects.
Each of these animals has an associated number. These numbers then have to be mathematically combined, for example added or multiplied, in order to correspond as closely as possible to the opponents’ numbers.
But you have to be clever. Because every companion that was not used at the end turns against you and deals damage to the Wild King.
As the game progresses, more and more calculation methods, animal companions and special abilities will be added. One round should take around 30 minutes.
Surprisingly, the whole thing actually looks pretty fun, especially for an educational game. And a little practice in mental arithmetic certainly never hurt anyone, right?
Even if the genre of educational games is not necessarily very present in the gaming world, one should not neglect their influence. 51 years ago, an educational game for children was supposed to teach responsibility and the history of the pilgrims, and in doing so it basically created the genre of survival games: 51-year-old educational game for history is actually the first, real survival game – released as a remake on Steam