The Red Castle Project
The Red Castle is a game-based learning course designed for 8-16 years old kids. We have held this course in 3 different versions. In the first version, we hold the course in the normal attendance classes, then we decided to hold each session in a place related to the educational aim. So in the second version, for each session, we transfer kids to different subject-related places all around the city. Finally, we have developed the course into a VR app. The final version has made it possible for kids to travel and learn through hundreds of places in the virtual world.
The first version, in the classroom
The second version, in the different places around the city
The third version, in virtual reality environment
Cultural symbols:
Nowadays, most Iranian children follow animations, applications, and video games that have been designed by foreign companies. As a result, there is not any sign of Persian culture neither in the content nor visual graphics of these media.
The “Red Castle” course has been designed specifically for Iranian kids and teenagers. As the head designer and project manager, one of my goals in this project was to help kids to get more familiar with their history and culture. So, we consider several Persian symbols and concepts in the designing process.
Persian Superheroes:
In the Red Castle game, Kids could get scores by doing the challenges as homework. To encourage players to get progress, when their scores reach the specific numbers they would get titles of honor. The titles are names of underrepresented Persian men and women who have been national heroes in different fields at their own time, including scientists, chemists, philosophers, astronomers, ministers, commanders, architects, Mathematicians, or sailors.
For example, the last title is the “wise Arshit”, who is known as the first Iranian sage and philosopher. He was born in 476 B.C. and people titled him the wisest man of his time.
Logo Design:
I have considered 4 different concepts for designing the logo including the Castle, the phoenix, the path which players should pass to reach the Red Castle, and the typography of the word “سرخ” (means “red” in Persian). You can also find all these 4 concepts in the illustration which has been designed for the covers of books.
Project Team:
Project manager, Head designer & Idea developer: Saba Hor
Curriculum consultant: Zahra Hoseini
Teaching consultant: Fateme Ashrafzade
Book writers: Saba Hor, Zahra Hoseini
Book illustrators: Parisa Morovati, Rokhsareh Irani
Graphics: Reihaneh Torabi, Nesa kordi
Animations voice actors: Mahdi Nariman, Marzie Heidarian, Shirin Emami, Naghme Yusefi
Visual Effects: Saba Hor, Ali Saffar
VR application programming: Padide-Tejarat company
Project Sponsor: Sorkh Institute