IITM students design digital COVID-19 awareness game

Students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) have developed a multi-lingual free of cost digital game to form pubic awareness on COVID- 19, the premier institute said on Monday.

“IITM Covid Game” takes inspiration from the favored ‘Super Mario’ game and is out there in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, besides English, it said.

Students have developed the browser-based digital game to form awareness among the general public, particularly children, on the importance of following precautions announced by the govt. to safeguard themselves against coronavirus.

“The game takes inspiration from the famous Super Mario game and consists of a personality who encounters various right things-like masks, washing hands and also encounters things to be avoided like hugs, handshakes.”

“As the character does the right things, points keep getting added. If the character fails to avoid a wrong thing, points get deducted to spotlight the consequence. the game goes on for one minute and thus the players should aim for max points,” a release from IIT-M said.

The game was created by students who took a nine- credit elective course called “Let’s Play To Learn” offered during the January-May 2020 Semester, during which they were taught game-based learning tools and techniques, it added.
The game are often played on personal computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

It is available free of cost and should be played from the house page of www.letsplaytolearn.com, it said, adding, the game was also available on the online site of IIT Madras under https://dost.iitm.ac.in/iitmdost/pages/game-corner.
Prof. Preeti Aghalayam, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITM, a co-facilitator for the elective course, said “the IITM Covid game could also be alittle but very meaningful and interesting contribution.”

“And it clearly exhibits how thoughtful and aware our students are,” Aghalayam was quoted as saying within the discharge .