IIT Madras develops online game to create Covid awareness

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) today said its researchers have developed a digital game 'IITM Covid Game' to create awareness about the Covid-19 virus among the general public, particularly children.

This game is browser-based and can be played on any device including Personal Computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones, among others.

Based on initial prototyping and feedback from different audiences, the students team translated the game to several Indian regional languages to improve its reach.

Apart from English, the game is already available in 12 languages — Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu.

"The IITM Covid game is a small but very meaningful and engaging contribution, and it clearly exhibits how thoughtful and aware our students are," Preeti Aghalayam, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, said in a statement.

This 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, in which students were taught game-based learning tools and techniques.

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

s the character does the right things, points keep getting added. If the character fails to avoid a wrong thing, points get deducted to highlight the consequence.

The game goes on for one minute and the players should aim for maximum points. The students plan to make the game available in more regional games in the future.

The game is available free of cost and can be played from the home page of www.letsplaytolearn.com'. It is also available in the website of IIT Madras..