Topic: Kanji Gakusei

[cat]

Kanji are Chinese characters that are used to write the Japanese language. There are several thousands of them. All Japanese children have to learn about 2200 kanji at school. Gakusei (pronounced "gucksay") means student.

Help our little girl to finish her homework by finding the six required Kanji.



Once you have found the characters, it is YOUR task to write them in her notebook.
An animation shows the correct writing stroke by stroke. Can you write them in the correct order?

 


Download here


The game uses Besh's MOUSE GESTURE SYSTEM script module that I enhanced a bit to support kanji.

Concept, graphics and coding: cat
Music: raeff
Testing: raeff, Mandle, Stupot, Cassiebsg, selmiak, Cornelius, Moeka, Aika, Kanade


When you have finished playing the game, please share your screenshot with us! It should be located in C:\Users\<your name>\Saved Games\Kanji Gakusei\screenshot.bmp

[Ibispi]

Congrats on the release, cat!

[CaptainD]

Looks cute!  Congrats on the release Cat!

[Privateer Puddin']

よくやったね！

I learnt a few hundred for exams a few years ago, forgotten most now though!

[Creamy]

Great! Now, I can finally write "Penelope Tree catfishes a mountain dog" in japanese

Spoiler: ShowHide

[selmiak]

congrats on the release cat

Longplayed it already, of course there are SPOILERS in this video!

REUPLOAD with lots of fixes!

[Mandle]

Conratulations cat!

I will play the release version with my students!

@selmiak: The screenie for your longplay gives away one of the puzzle solutions. Maybe hide it or change it?

[selmiak]

Thanks for noticing Mandle. Fix'd!

[cat]

Well done, Creamy!

Thanks for the Let's Play, selmiak! As already noted, this is based on an older version. The released version has nicer graphics and an option to adjust difficulty when drawing.

[selmiak]

after screwing up everything I can on the longplay video I uploaded a new version of it. Enjoy. Click it to see the difference like night and day...

Also I'm getting better at writing these kanjis (it that the plural of kanji?) the more I play the game 

[vga256]

Cat - sorry for the necropost, but I just played Gakusei and really enjoyed it. I stumbled on your post after looking for bugfixes for Besh's Mouse Gestures module so I could support - you wouldn't believe this - Kanji drawing in the game I'm working on. Hard to believe you built an entire experience around that already!

The gestures work exactly as I would have hoped in your game. Would you be able to describe your implementation a little bit? I'm trying to think about how I could add support for angled/curved gestures like these to the module. (e.g. how to interpret fairly complex prototypes in the right locations)

Cheers,
vga.

[cat]

Hi vga,

I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

About the technical parts: I added two main features on top of the module -  setting it up in a way that a certain stroke order has to be followed and that strokes start and end within a given area. I think I also modified the the module interface a bit to support specific angles, but I will have to take a closer look at the code to be sure. I sadly was not able to add support for curved gestures. tbh most of the code in Besh's module was way above my head

[Mandle]

Hi vga,

I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

About the technical parts: I added two main features on top of the module -  setting it up in a way that a certain stroke order has to be followed and that strokes start and end within a given area. I think I also modified the the module interface a bit to support specific angles, but I will have to take a closer look at the code to be sure. I sadly was not able to add support for curved gestures. tbh most of the code in Besh's module was way above my head

I have soooo many fond memories of the game using it in classes with Japanese kids, some of whom were learning those Kanji in school and some in the same class who hadn't yet. It was a wonderful combination anyway of familiar Japanese and basic English concepts.

[vga256]

About the technical parts: I added two main features on top of the module -  setting it up in a way that a certain stroke order has to be followed and that strokes start and end within a given area. I think I also modified the the module interface a bit to support specific angles, but I will have to take a closer look at the code to be sure. I sadly was not able to add support for curved gestures. tbh most of the code in Besh's module was way above my head

Thanks for the reply. The math in Besh's module is above my paygrade as well. Your concept makes a lot of sense - how did you implement stroke start/end for specific shapes? I'm having a hard time imagining how to pull this off!

[cat]

I will have a look at the code when I have some time. Are you working on a commercial or freeware game?

[vga256]

Thanks. It's a commercial title. Per Besh's module licensing agreement (LGPL 2.1), I will be releasing the modified module source afterward.

[cat]

I posted my modified code of the module in the module's thread.

[vga256]

Awesome, and thank you! Looking forward to comparing notes and seeing what I can come up with. It's great to see some new life breathed into the module after quite the dormancy period.

Will respond in-kind in the thread with my modifications once I've got something serviceable.

[milkanannan]

Played this last week and really enjoyed it! Great work with the stroke recognition.