If you want to learn a language today, you have traditional methods that go from classes at institutes, books and even CDs. But what happens when all that knowledge doesn't stick? Nothing better than turning to games. And this time we show you Crystallize, a 3D video game to learn Japanese..
Today more than ever, the potential of using video games as an educational tool is really starting to bear fruit. Among the notable examples we can mention Tako, a game to learn Japanese that is available on mobile devices. Another alternative is this Crystallize, another 3D video game to learn Japanese, developed by a group of students led by Erik Andersen, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University (Ithaca, New York). According to this team's research, games tend to be more fun when you play with other people, but if you're playing an educational game, interacting with other players can help you learn more.
Based on that foundation, Crystallize is an immersive and interactive experience that uses conversations with NPCs (non-player characters) as the driving force behind the game. It's a role-playing title in which you create your character and guide him through a virtual Japan where all characters speak the native language. You start by walking through the school hallways where your goal is to learn to communicate to make friends and get a job. For that you can collect the words the NPCs use, storing them in a vocabulary inventory for future situations (which can then be used to build new sentences when looking for work or making new friends).
Interestingly, collecting words you're not familiar with can decrease your confidence counter (just like in real life!). Once you're familiar with the game system you can start doing missions, which if completed successfully give you money and new items. But be careful: taking on missions that are too difficult to complete will make your avatar lose confidence and go back home.
Unfortunately there are no audio recordings to help you with pronunciation, but in the meantime you can try the game prototype, which is available for free download from its official website. Crystallize, for now, is a prototype that has the basic learning system where you can learn from greetings to typical conversations in Japanese, and it's available on Windows, Mac and Linux. For the moment the game doesn't have a concrete release date for its final version, since the developers are working on a virtual reality version they hope to launch in the future.
Attention
The game is a few years old and the server it needs to connect to start is offline. Our friend and user Jonathan Hecl found the solution to this problem. You only have to edit the file CrystallizeSettings.txt, which is in the Settings folder, and change the following parameters from false to true. It should look like the image.
In this way, the game will start by clicking on "Sign up", and go straight to character creation and then to exploration. We thank Jonathan Hecl for his kindness and hope that now everyone can enjoy Crystallize. Thank you for reading!
