Brazilian professor creates mobile game that combines fun with mathematics

Agência Brasil | OCTOBER 15, 2016

Learn math playing. That's the idea of Matemagos, a game designed for smartphones that combines magic with the subject considered the horror of students. The game began to be developed almost two years ago during a doctorate course at the University of Kyushu, in Japan, by Sylker Teles, game design professor at the Analysis Center, Research and Technological Innovation Foundation (FUCAPI).

Learn math playing. That's the idea of Matemagos, a game designed for smartphones that combines magic with the subject considered the horror of students. Image credit: Fucapi

Teles explained that he chose math because he discovered that the subject is one of the major education problems in developing countries.

In Matemagos, the player enters the "Kingdom of Tabu'Ada" [the kindom's name makes a reference to a word in Portuguese for multiplication tables], where a sorcerer opens a dimensional portal, allowing the entrance of evil creatures.

Wizards, who are the game heroes, need to prevent them from conquering the kingdom and seal the portal. But to win the battles, the player needs to apply math skills of elementary school.

"Six wizards are the main characters [of the game] and each one is based on a different aspect of the world's culture. There is a character, a little indigenous boy, who represents the Amazonian culture. He is a shaman. His duty in the game is exactly to heal. He heals other characters," reported the professor, who comes from the Amazonas state.

The Matemagos game was developed for Android and iOS platforms, and can be downloaded for free. The game is expected to be launched at the end of October.

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