Most importantly, when I talk to my kids about a video game, I’m teaching them that after they get lost in the experience of game play, they should also stop, back-up, and think about the game as if it were a text. In the case of my kids and Donkey Kong, I’m ask them to think about what it means when they “like” something or think it is “cool.” I’m asking them to evaluate their own thinking about the game, to assess the language they’ve used to describe their experience, and then to revise or iterate their language in a more precise way. Metacognition, put very simply, describes an individual’s ability to think about one’s own thinking. My kids are older than three, and they are already pretty good readers, but they need more guidance understanding the ways they can apply vocabulary to make meaning from the world around them.ĭiscussing Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze with my kids also helps them to develop their metacognitive functions. In some ways, that’s kind of obvious, how can one acquire anything that’s not there? So, put more vocabulary in front of your kids and they’ll have a larger vocabulary. Research shows that exposure to more words between birth and three years old correlates to increased language skills. It reinforces a use of precise language and increasingly complex vocabulary. However, it might also end on day 4 if you fail to reach the goal to increase loyalty to +20 on the end of day 3.This kind of questioning probably annoys my kids, they just want to play the game. Gameplay either ends on day 11 because the "Great and Honorable Leader" decided to invest in "newer technology", or Republia gets overthrown into Democria, or vice versa. The game's challenge is derived from trying to deduce what effect the different news stories will have (both on readership and Republian loyalty) and making the most of the news stories presented for any given day by choosing which to show and in what size. The Ministry of Media tasks the Editor in Chief with both expanding readership and increasing loyalty, while the rebels ask the Editor in Chief to run damaging stories while still increasing readership. New stories appear as the clock counts down toward press time. Gameplay consists of dragging different wire stories from the left side of the screen to the newspaper template on the right. Several primitive storylines play out in the headlines of stories that the Editor in Chief chooses from, including the marriage and divorce of two famous actors, the increasingly clear unpreparedness of the Republian military, the defection of celebrities to Antegria, and increasingly tumultuous weather as the rebellion gains steam. If he does not, at the end of 11 days he is told his post is no longer required, and his family have been killed off. If he complies, the rebellion is successful but his family is killed and the new state of Democria tasks him with producing the same propaganda that the Republian Ministry of Media did. The Editor in Chief's family is held by the government, and their privileges and continued survival are contingent on the Editor in Chief performing adequately.Īs the game continues, the wire service is hijacked by dissidents who instruct the Editor in Chief to start running damaging stories in order to increase support for the rebellion.
However, in The Republia Times, the player-character is the Editor in Chief of the state controlled newspaper in Republia, which has recently ended a war with Antegria.
#GAMES LIKE THE REPUBLIA TIMES FOR FREE#
The Republia Times can be played for free at .Īs in Papers, Please, the protagonist is a nameless bureaucrat tasked with competing against the clock in order to fulfill his mandate for a totalitarian state that is recovering from a lengthy war. The Republia Times is a much simpler game than Papers, Please, with less ethical complexity and a more cynical conclusion.
Their visual styles also imitate obsolete computers (a style also used in Pope's other game, Return of the Obra Dinn). It either takes place in a universe similar to that of Papers, Please or in the same universe but several years after the events depicted in Papers, Please.īoth games contain several similar themes, the protagonist is responsible for the welfare of his family and is approached by rebels intent on toppling the regime. The Republia Times is a precursor to Papers, Please, created in Flash as a warmup entry for Ludum Dare 23.