Web-Based 3D Educational Game Research And Design

With the development of society, the progress of science and technology, and the improvement of learning principle, through-play learning and mobile learning have constituted the most important way of learning in the Information Age where the wide application and effective integration of Web and virtual reality technology have guided people new access to understand the world and acquire knowledge. Online education, another way of learning, has been as much appealing and popular as learning through play by taking advantage of Web cross-platform technology and 3D media. On the other hand, study and design of educational games have turned out to be a social focus: governments and institutions, together with experts and scholars have actively involved in the issue. Those mentioned, therefore, have not only theoretically contributed so much to study and design of educational games, but also technologically provided practical supports.However, most educational games now ignoring keeping balance between education and games are simply no more than a mechanical combination of words, pictures, flash and videos, which can't make mobile learning possible because of a less pleasant application of cross-platform technology. As a consequence, it has emerged as a problem to be solved with urgency how to fully integrate Web, virtual reality technology and 3D to construct a ecological, virtual and mobile Web-Based 3D Educational Game (short for W3EG) for learners.Attempting to solve the problem, this paper, methodologically by taking advantage of literature, case-study and software engineering, first presents a systematic review concerning the educational games at home and abroad, which investigates in detail the development, definition and denotation of educational games. Accordingly, it defines the concept of W3EG and characteristics, connotation and educational value of W3EG, followed by explanation of W3EG's theories in terms of learning principle, theory of through-play learning and theories of technologies including Web technology, 3D technology and integration technology. Then, the paper analyzes the feasibility of W3EG. Finally, by taking classroom setting and games both into consideration, it proposes a detailed project in accordance with design goals, rules, frames and function patterns. The present paper aims to offer resolution to shortage of educational multimedia resources by way of creating virtual environment and games for learning in the hope that learners can be better motivated in learning process, their learning efficiency can be optimized, and their acquisition can be more autonomous and optimistic. Furthermore, as for the significance of the paper, that is ,on the one hand, to enrich theories pertaining to study and design of educational games so as to provide a renewed way for researchers who are interested in integration of software and media;on the other hand, to popularize the application of Web and 3D technology so as to give reference to the advanced technological exploration in the field of educational game design.