Building content for FirstVoices Games

Owned by Clarissa Forbes
Last updated: Apr 30, 2024
5 min read

 

Overview

Screenshot of the games page on a FV language site with 3 games tiles, Pull Together, Phrase Scrambler, Wordsy

FirstVoices has several language learning games that are automatically generated from your alphabet and from the content in your Dictionary.

This is a guide for language teams to understand what kind of content they need to upload to make the games work for their site.

 

General requirements for game content

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Access permissions screen when editing words

Included in Games

In general, in order for any piece of content on your language site to appear in games, it must be marked as Included in FirstVoices Games.

If the content is not enabled in this way, then it will not appear in the games. You can use this feature to hide content that may be appropriate to have in a dictionary, but would not be appropriate to show in a language learning game.

Access level

Games will use content from your site that the player has the appropriate permission to see, based on the setting provided for “Who can see this entry?”.

For example, a logged-out visitor will only be able to play games with content that is marked as Public. They will not be able to play games with content that is marked as Members-only.

Click here to read more about who can see your language entries.

The best way to make sure that the games function for your site is to make sure there is a healthy amount of content available to the most general visitor to your site.

  • If your site is Public, you should have Public content available.

  • If your site is Members-only, you should have Members-only content available.

Shown to kids

Users can also play games in the Kids Area. Content is only shown in this area if it is marked as Included in the Kids site. If you want the games to function correctly in the Kids Area, it is important to make sure you have content on your site with this setting set to “Yes”.

To see what content is available to kids, you can always check what is visible in the Kids Area. Click here to learn about navigating the Kids Area.

 

Language Administrators and Editors can change any of these settings at any time on the edit page for the word or phrase.

Click here to read about editing words and phrases.

 

Requirements for specific games

Phrase Scrambler

This is an easy game to play (not always an easy game to win!) – and it is easy to get started setting it up. The game helps learners at all levels learn the grammar of your language by putting words in an appropriate order.

Requirements

  • Phrases in your Dictionary

  • The phrases must have at least 2 words (separated with spaces)

Recommendations

  • Add audio recordings to your phrases to include a “listen and try again” hint.

  • Short phrases are great for beginners.

  • Long phrases and sentences are much harder, and are great for intermediate and advanced learners.

This game may not be a good fit for your language if your language is not written with spaces separating the words.

 

Pull Together

This game is great for anyone to get more familiar with your language alphabet. For beginners, it can be great listening practice to get started with spelling in the language. For intermediate learners, it can be used as a flashcard tool to guess words based on the translation and practice spelling with as few mistakes as possible.

Requirements

  • Alphabet

  • Words in your Dictionary

  • The words must have translations

  • The words must have audio recordings

  • The words must be able to be spelled using only your alphabet letters – words containing additional characters like ? ! , will not count.

Recommendations

  • If your language uses both uppercase and lowercase letters (e.g. a/A are the same letter), check with FirstVoices staff to make sure your Alphabet is set up to recognize capitals.

  • If your alphabet has other kinds of letter variations (e.g. a/á are the same letter), check with FirstVoices staff to make sure the accents are recognized.

 

Wordsy

This is an advanced level game that requires players to have a good grasp of your language’s spelling system, and have knowledge of some vocabulary and how to browse your dictionary. It is a great game for intermediate and advanced learners who are expanding their literacy. Sharing your progress with the daily game can also be a good way to build connections between learners.

Requirements

  • Alphabet must be set up

  • Words in your Dictionary

  • The words must be able to be spelled using only your alphabet letters – no additional characters like ? ! ,

  • The words must be spelled using exactly five of your alphabet letters.

Recommendations

  • The more 5-letter words you add, the easier this game will be to play.

  • This game has the same solution for everyone, no matter what content they can access on the site. Make sure to focus on adding words that are shown to kids, available in games, and are the highest access level (e.g. Public).

  • If your language uses both uppercase and lowercase letters (e.g. a/A are the same letter), check with FirstVoices staff to make sure your Alphabet is set up to recognize capitals.

  • If your alphabet has other kinds of letter variations (e.g. a/á are the same letter), check with FirstVoices staff to make sure the accents are recognized.