Mysterious Surini is an educational computer game created for
children attending both elementary schools as well as high schools where they
may find themselves learning the basics of search algorithms. The game gives
the player a piracy-themed adventure, where he learns and internalizes
the workings of the Dijkstra's algorithm through well-selected activities. Dijkstra's
algorithm is used for finding the cheapest path in a given graph. The algorithm is
used in various fields of science, for example computer science, where it is used
for routing packages of information that travel through the Internet, making it
useful for children to know about it. The design of the game is adjusted to
the school environment, making its learning objectives hidden and offering
a fun gaming experience. The player embarks the game as a friendly pirate,
where he helps the governor of the island Fantan to find his missing daughter
Arabel, who was kidnapped by a hostile tribe, the Tantams. He can only succeed
if he successfully finds his way through four islands. To do that, he must find the least dangerous paths to all hostile tribe houses on each of the four islands.
In this way he collects coins, making it possible to complete the game.
All the four islands together represent a complete learning process of the above
mentioned algorithm, whereas an individual island is used for the representation
of a single learning stage. Mysterious Surini is a new opportunity for all teachers
to embed a learning game in their curriculum, making it more interesting and
diverse for the children as well as simplifying the process of learning while
getting better results than ever before.
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