Roman Palace: A Videogame for Foreign-Language Vocabulary Retention

Abstract

[EN] The goal of this work was to develop a serious game which would aid in the retention of foreign-language non-contextualized vocabulary items indifferent age categories. To this end, the loci method was used to enhance visual and spatial memory amongthe game¿s players. The novelty of this proposal lies incombining mnemonic strategies within an exploratory video game environment. Structurally, this project consists of three main pillars: pedagogical foundations, the development of the serious game, and the evaluation of the game's efficiency through qualitative and quantitative study. The 3D game was developed through the Unity game engine.The prototype¿s efficiency was assessed quantitatively in anexperimental group of 21 participants who were compared with a control group of 27 participants. All the data were displayed in R Studio using the ggplot2library. The study was complemented with qualitative findings collected through semistructured interviews with a group of 7 participants. The experimental method proved to be more efficientand more entertaining than the conventional method used in the control group.