Game facts and game description

Description

You’re alone in a room with a bomb. Your friends, the “Experts”, have the manual needed
to defuse it. But there’s a catch: The Experts can’t see the bomb, so everyone will need to
talk it out – fast!
Put your puzzle-solving and communication skills to the test as you and your friends race
to defuse bombs while attempting to communicate quickly before time runs out! Whether
it’s defusing a bomb or deciphering information from the manual, everyone has a crucial
role to play.

Features

● A co-op party game for two or more players – While usually played in person
together, you can play remotely using your favourite third-party voice chat service.
● Face challenging puzzles – Test the limits of your communication skills… and
friendships?
● A different bomb every time – Procedurally generated puzzles keep the action
fresh.
● Only one copy of the game needed to play locally – Have friends join in as Experts
by printing or viewing the free Bomb Defusal Manual: www.bombmanual.com
● Mission and Free Play Modes – Missions increase in difficulty as new modules are
introduced. Unlock Free Play Mode to set the pace by configuring your own custom
bombs.
● Steam Workshop mod support (Steam only) – Try new community-made modules,
missions, and more from the Steam Workshop! (PC/Mac/Linux only)
● VR Supported – Enter an unmatched immersive experience, isolated from your
Experts. Swap out between rounds and share the experience with your friends!

Project outline

The idea and purpose of bringing KTANE to the classroom was because learning should be
fun. Furthermore, I have experienced the advantages of game-based teaching in my
classes regarding the students’ motivation to attend school, and how it could improve
their learning outcomes and help them succeed with their education. Acknowledging the
benefits of game-based teaching and learning, I believed that KTANE would contribute to
build confidence in the classroom by improving the students’ motivation, socialisation,
solidarity, collaboration and thus their learning success, because of the hidden learning
scenarios that occur playing games. The students learn without really knowing it, as they
have to use their proficiency in a subject or their foreign language skill to be able to solve
a problem or a task etc., and without realising it, they practice an area from the curriculum
and some of the skills mentioned.

Learning goals

● To communicate and collaborate in English
● To improve the students’ English language skills, their vocabulary and fluency.

Introduction

Having decided that the students should play KTANE, I had to think about how to
implement it successfully. First, I had to learn how to play the game myself, so the first
step was to talk to a colleague, who had already played it in class, and could introduce me
to the game, the VR glasses and the manual. We played the game a few times, meanwhile
my colleague told me all about her own experiences combined with some tips and tricks.
Secondly, it was very important to me to give the students the correct introduction, so
they felt confident playing the game and wouldn’t back out of it, if they e.g. thought it
seemed too difficult.

How to embed

Bringing KTANE to your classroom, as a teacher, maybe you may have to think differently
about how you define successful teaching, e.g., in regard to the loss of control – when
handing control over to the students, while they are playing and you as the teacher can
still be confident that they are learning something – because they do! Playing games, the
students practice a number of skills e.g., they collaborate as a team, they are social and
active, they plan a strategy to be capable of playing the game the best way and to win –
here to be able to defuse the bomb.

Use in class

Introduction

● First, I described the game.
● Goal: To defuse a bomb by disarming all its modules before its countdown timer
had expired.
● Then I showed them the manual.
● I explained that they should work in groups of 4 – and by communicating and
collaborating they should guide the person with the VR glasses, so he or she would
be capable of defusing the bomb.
● Then I showed the students a bit of the video on YouTube, so they could see what
the bomb and some of the modules looked like.
● We agreed that the first sessions should be in Danish until they felt confident
about playing the game and then they could switch to English.

1. Level: First session

● In groups of 4 the students chose the person who should wear the VR glasses.
● I showed “the player” how to use the remote control and guided her through the
manual to the first task, called “The first bomb”.
● The other students had a look at the manual and chose a module each to focus on
during the process.
● We jumped into the game and I joined the group and if needed explained to them
what to do and how to use the manual in order to disarm the modules.
● After 3 sessions they felt confident about the game and knew how to play it. They
were ready to play the game on their own and I left the group.
● They played the game 3 times before switching to English.

2. Level: Second session

● In groups of 4 the students should jump to the next level and defuse the bomb
called “Something old and something new”.
● As a pre-task, each of the group members should describe the keypads in the
module “On the Subject of Keypads”.
● The goal with this task was to find a common language in the group, since each
person describes and compares the keypads individually and to be able to find the
correct keypad in the manual– the group members had to understand the
description and the symbols the player e.g. compared the keypads to.

Evaluation

In plenum, we evaluated the students’ experiences and their learning outcomes playing
the game.
Student experience, testimonials and quotes:
● Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a lot of fun and a brilliant game that the
students truly enjoy playing.
● The students felt motivated playing the game and were very positive about it.
● Some of them had a lot of obstacles talking English but felt confident
communicating when playing the game.
● Many of them realised that it wasn’t that difficult to play the game in English
because of the manual written in English.
● Having played the first session, the students found it very useful to work with the
module called “On the Subject of Keypads” by describing the keypads individually
in the groups in order to find a common language which would improve the
process when trying to disarm the module.
● Positive feedback from the students – who were non-gamers. One mentioned “that
it was a different and fun way to learn English.
● The students enjoyed playing KTANE and asked if they could play it again next
semester.
● A few students were not that keen on wearing the VR glasses but preferred the
roles as experts.
Students:
● “It was a different and fun way to learn English.”
● “Because of the help needed from the experts in order to be able to defuse the
bomb, VR made it easier to venture into speaking English.”