Roadmap

Current Release: Pre-Player-Facing Demo 2 (v0.7.1) #

For summaries of current and past releases, see the Changelog.

Next Major Release: Player-Facing Demo (v0.8.0) #

Overview #

Developing a player-facing demo is the top priority. This demo will consist of a small set of levels progressing from single-digit to multi-digit addition. These will be organized in 3 different topics played on 3 different pims. The player will require no external resources to play through these levels.

The priority will be to make the start of the full progression of the game enjoyable and easily playable. It will improve on the designs of Blueprint.2 and use pictorial methods of solving problems to achieve goals in pictorial terms. This means it won’t go very far along the progressions outlined in Blueprint.7 yet, and won’t reach “Super Practica B” at all.

The aesthetics will mostly be only stock graphics and sound effects at this point.

View issues

Features #

• Multiscopic level-selection map
• Pimnet interface redesign
• (2/6) Goal-mechanics enabling about 6 different types of levels
• (Bonus: “Autoplay” mode to model level-completion)

Content #

• Bubble-grouping pim
• (0/19) Bubble-grouping levels
• Grid-counting pim
• (12/32) Grid-counting levels
• Grid-tracking pim
• (0/48) Grid-tracking levels

Architecture and Backend #

• Upgrade to Godot 4
• Make the interface backend less convoluted

Aesthetics #

• Complete set of suggestive signal effects to guide the player
• Simple vector graphics for mathematical objects
• Stock menu graphics and sound effects

Infrastructure #

• Make .pdf and .epub versions of the Blueprint downloadable on the website — [Issue]

Later #

After the player-facing demo, my top priority will be to document the reasoning for my design decisions, so that collaborative design could be possible as according to Blueprint.9.5.

It should be much easier to add new features and content to the player-facing demo after it’s released. So open-source development could only get really effective after the player-facing demo and the design documentation are completed.

I’ll have to see how interested people are in funding and contributing to Super Practica before continuing to plan from here.

Eventual Release: v1.0 #

Version 1.0 will be something that I could begin to recommend as approaching “the optimal method for learning mathematics”, though its content coverage will not be very large. It will be a complete game focusing on arithmetic that fulfills the basic promises of the Blueprint.

It will have a line of progression through Super Practica A, B, and C. This means that it will make mathematics easily playable, it will simulate some problem-domains in which mathematics is used, and it will have a reliable level-progression to make expertise acquirable just by playing the game.

There will be content outside of common curriculum, so most adults will be able to learn some new mathematics by playing it. Though this will still be limited to arithmetic and number theory.

It will have more than stock graphics. That Super Practica should look nice is very important.

The empirical framework of testing should be set up. At around this point tests should be run to see if Super Practica actually works or if there needs to be major redesign.

From here we would be able to develop Super Practica to perfect the playability, playthruability, efficiency, and essential accuracy of its existing content. We would be able to cover arithmetic more completely. And we could begin to branch out into Algebra and Geometry, if this turns out to be viable.