A new Kickstarter campaign has appeared for a game called Var and the Vikings that not only looks like fun but is actually designed to help you learn. And it's not like those maths games you used to get to play in school sometimes either. Rather, this web-based game will teach you about game design, specifically an aspect of artificial intelligence called a behaviour tree.
This project comes from Brainworth, a developer that believes that education is failing to keep up with technological change. They want to use game mechanics to make some progress towards solving that problem, and Var and the Vikings is an example of that.
The game itself is a 2D puzzle action game about, obviously, vikings. You play as a warrior called Var, who looks like your typical viking, historically inaccurate (apparently) helmet, giant hammer, and all. His quest is to find out why his homeland is being invaded by “mysterious steampunk robots and scary monsters”. On his way, he recruits a squad of backup characters that each have unique abilities, like an archer, a mage, a blacksmith, and even an elk. The game will involve levelling up and skillsets, so it's far from simplistic.
But the most interesting feature, of course, is that you can actually program the A.I. for your squad, or even for Var himself (leaving you to sit back and watch the game progress without you). The game won't exactly teach you how to code, but you'll be provided with a visual representation of a behaviour tree so that you can learn on a more understandable level how these things are done.
If that sounds like the kind of thing you're interested in supporting, head over to the Kickstarter page and see if you want to put in a pledge. $10 will get you a copy of the game and your name in the credits.
