Tutorial

The 'Kanji Safari' multiplayer game helps students learn Kana and Kanji whilst playing by themselves or against other players. Up to 4 players can play simultaneously on the same computer, adding a great deal of fun to learning through its competitive challenge, whilst at the same time maximising the use of computer resources.

The game has been carefully balanced to cater for students just beginning to learn Kana, up to experienced students who know Kanji and like more challenging gameplay. The built-in handicap system also allows games to be properly balanced when being played by students with differing skill levels.

The full sets of Hiragana and Katakana are available, as well as a large number of Kanji characters (with this first release, 240 Kanji are included - a total of 12 Kanji tilesets). The Tileset data file will be updated periodically and released free to JWM users with a 'JWM download subscription' at the www.lavasoft.com web site. Eventually all 97 Kanji tilesets will become available.

To choose tilesets for a game, select Select tilesets... from the Exercises menu. The Select tilesets dialog will then be displayed (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1. The Select tilesets dialog

The Kanji in each tileset are numbered using the JWM coding system, with 20 Kanji in each set (the range of codes in a particular tileset are displayed when you run the mouse over its checkbox). The JWM coding system basically follows the grading system used by the Japanese Ministry of Education, so you can just start off by selecting tileset 1 and working upwards from there if you want to gradually learn all the Kanji.

Note: If you select any Hiragana or Katakana tilesets, all tiles displayed in a game will be Kana (ie. no Kanji will be used, even if they were selected). Thus, if you wish to use Kanji tilesets, make sure all Kana checkboxes are unchecked.

To clear all selected tilesets, press the Clear button.

Once you have selected the tilesets to use for a particular game, you need to set up the players and other characteristics of the game. This is done via the Setup players dialog (see Figure 2 below).

Figure 2. The Setup players dialog

Using this dialog, you can add new players, delete players and select which players will compete in a game. Each player can also be assigned a handicap - this handicap determines the number of points which the player starts with at the beginning of a game. Values between 0 and 1000 are valid. For example, to give a player a handicap of 10 points, put '10' into their respective handicap box and when the game starts their score will be set at '-10'. Thus, they will have to get more tile matches to win against other players in the game.

Sound effects are also used to enhance gameplay significantly: a lion roar is played for the first highest point score awarded for matching tiles and an elephant trumpet for any subsequent highest point scores awarded. A turkey gobble is played for the first lowest point score awarded and a goat bray for any further lowest point scores awarded. Sound effects can be switched on or off using its checkbox in the Setup players dialog.

A game can be played with tiles covering the play area (to increase difficulty), or the play area can be left open. If you are in the process of learning new Kanji, you could leave the play area open. This mode is also a great way for a single person to revise Kanji, their readings and their meanings for an upcoming test. To play a game with tiles, check the cover the play area with tiles checkbox.

A wide selection of attractive tile styles come bundled with JWM, including a number of cartoon animal tiles, geometric tiles, marble textured tiles and others. Thus, you can select a tile texture which suits your mood. The Tile selector tint can also be changed to suit the tile texture selected.

You can also select one of three different play area sizes: small, medium and large. Each play area size has a different number of double and triple match tiles, as shown in the table below. Of course, the larger the play area size, the more challenging the game.

small - 2 triple matches, 3 double matches
medium - 4 triple matches, 6 double matches
large - 8 triple matches, 12 double matches

Playing a game

To start a game, select Start 'Kanji Safari'... from the Exercises menu. This will bring up the Kanji Safari dialog shown below in Figure 3 or Figure 4 (depending on whether you checked the cover the play area with tiles checkbox).
Figure 3. A sample Kanji Safari dialog (open)

Figure 4. A sample Kanji Safari dialog (covered)

If you start a game with only a single player selected, simply use the mouse to click tiles which match. If you are playing a game with more than one player, control of the tile selector moves from player to player as they complete their turns. The first 3 players use controls on the keyboard (these controls are fixed and shown in the Setup players dialog), whilst the fourth player uses the mouse.

Scores for matching tiles are based on the number of strokes in each Kanji character, motivating students to learn more complex Kanji. A double-score is also given for triple tile matches, significantly rewarding players who know all the properties of the Kanji. Thus, to get the maximum score, you need to have the Kanji with the largest number of strokes and you need a triple tile match.

The Round counter can be used to limit games to a certain number of rounds. Before you start a game with other players, you need to decide how many rounds you will play. When you hit this round limit, the player with the highest score wins the game.

You will also see a Player timer and a Game timer at the top right corner of the screen. The Player timer shows how long a particular player has taken to have their turn, and the Game timer shows how long the game has been running. You may wish to limit a player to have their turn within 30 seconds to keep the game moving along.

The game progressively works through all selected tilesets by randomly selecting words from them until all have been used. Then it begins the full set of selected tilesets again. Thus, you will be exposed to a comprehensive set of Kana or Kanji whilst you play.