“Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

November 9, 2009

Cheating is always a problem in school, and one that most educational videogames are not immune to.

In creating its latest title—a game designed to teach the history of biology—Toronto-based Spongelab Interactive was concerned about walkthroughs being posted online by those who had already completed the content. Their solution was to hire programmer Alex Maslov, a Centennial College graduate, to make the game dynamic and randomize content.

Maslov’s task took him four months and resulted in a “cheat-proof” educational title. He also landed a new job—Maslov is now employed by Spongelab’s sister company InViVo Communications.

The unnamed title is due to enter beta testing next spring towards a 2010 mid-year release.

ITBusiness.Ca has a video and short story on the subject up on their website.

Posted in Canada Games & Education

Comments

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by sirdarkat on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 14:53.

"cheat-proof" LOL

next someone is going to claim something is hack-proof

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by deuxhero on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 09:26.

It's called randomization. It's been around for years, and by "years" I mean it's older than Windows (Rogue).

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by Kajex on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 22:51.

Hey man- Captain Kirk cheated. And look at what a bad-ass he was. Cheating can be a good thing. :D

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by DarkSaber on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 07:41.

Captain Kirk was fictional.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by strathmeyer on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 22:50.

Wow, who knew using walkthroughs was cheating???

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by kagirinai on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 23:35.

What, you didn't think using material from outside the game was perhaps defeating the intent of the designer?

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 20:42.

...mmmmm randemzied test...so if one lists all the randomized events and dose a compelte walkthrough...then what?

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! Stop supporting big media and furthering the criminalization of consumers!! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/what-is-cigital-disobedience/

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by kagirinai on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 20:34.

That interview was a bit dubious and my experience with Centennial doesn't give me a lot of confidence in this game. They don't discuss in any kind of detail what kind of randomization is involved, or even how the basic play of the game occurs (which makes speculation on how the randomization works fairly difficult).

It's quite possible that they've got a great, innovative, educational title, but you'd never know it from that article.

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by Godkarmachine on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 19:02.

Personally I say don't make it "Cheat-proof". It'll be a good lesson for the kids when they use a walkthrough, ace the game, and fail every test they take because they didn't learn anything. The game is apparently supposed to teach the history of biology, so if someone bothers to cheat through it, they must not be all that interested in the history.

- Stand back! I have an opinion, and I'm not afraid to use it.

Re: “Cheat-Proof” Poses Obstacle to EDU Game Developer

Submitted by CyberSkull on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 18:35.

"Cheat-proof" is a rather disingenuous goal. There is no such thing. Rather, the goal should be "cheat-resistant".

Shout box

Andrew Eisen: That article is over five years old, Uncharted. A fun blast from the past though.02/12/2012 - 10:47pm

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DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am

Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm

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RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm

Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm

Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm

james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am

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Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm

Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm

james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm

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james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

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