Basic information

• Platform: PC (+ tablet/smartphone)

• Development: Unity

• Number of players: 1

• Genre: Reflexion

• Target : Bachelor students at

Sorbonne Universités

Hellink: the project

• What? An educational game

developed for Sorbonne Universités.

• Why? To raise awareness of

information literacy among students:

researching, criticising, exploiting

and quoting reliable sources.

• How? The game’s structure is an

alternation between narrative

phases and gameplay phases.

A « Serious game »?

• This game is… a game: it aims for

coherence between a strong

and original narrative, a unique

gameplay, and carefully

balanced teaching notions. Its

quality standards are those of the

indie game scene.

• Target audience: bachelor

students. It can be used beyond

the bachelor’s degree to review

the basics of this domain.

Hellink – Educational goals

• Define a research subject: Define the required

level of your publication, how to structure your

research.

• Reliability: Know the questions to ask in order to

keep a critical eye on any piece of information.

• Quote one’s sources: Avoid plagiarism and make

your publication usable by others.

• Global goal: Not giving a thorough training, but

raising awareness about those notions.

• The game makes those notions appealing and

makes the player practice them in an

entertaining way through its gameplay.

Hellink – Training in the humanities

Beyond the use of this analytical eye in the sole

scientific context, the game aims for formation to the

digital humanities and popular education:

• Practicing one’s critical sense beyond the scientific

context, but also in the player’s everyday life and their

relationship with society.

• Understanding the need for precise and complete

information in our complex period of time to go beyond

appearances and understand our society’s mechanics.

• Showing fictional situations in a sci-fi universe

echoing our reality, to invite players to question it.

Gameplay: Dialogue

• 3 gameplay phases:

• 1/3 : Dialogues for story development. Fixed screen, characters

talking in the foreground.

Gameplay: Keywords

• 2/3 : Focus on defining the subject and understanding research tools:

you must find several keywords linked to a subject and assess their

complexity level by browsing a corpus of text as quickly as possible.

Gameplay: Source reliability

• 3/3 : Inspired by Papers, Please. Practicing critical analysis on an

information source. The opponent presents a false assertion and

several sources to back it up. You must find the errors in the sources

and link them with the publication rules they break.

General tone and artistic direction

• One main inspiration: Ace Attorney !

Emphasis on elaborated storytelling served

by the gameplay.

Omnipresent humour to lighten the mood

and make the game immediately

attractive.

Strong and more serious emotion moments

at key plot points.

Exaggerated and off the wall situations in a

manga/cartoon spirit.

Ace Attorney, Capom Co., Ltd.

The game’s world

• Atmosphere: Science-fiction

(Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix…)

• Place/Time: Paris, 2044.

Université Pierre et Marie Curie.

• Protagonist: A female expert in

cybercriminality and data security.

• Pitch: An investigation in the

university about a large-scale

hacking, leading to a murder and

the revelation of a worldwide plot.

Ghost in the Shell, Production I.G

Characters: Hero, Sidekick, Mentor

Characters: Hacktivist, Pr. Beaver, Winter Salesman

Characters: Augustin Barruel, Pr. Rabbasch, Criminologist

Setting: The Server Room

Setting: The Atrium

Setting: The Mentor’s office

Setting: The Basement

Setting: The Jardin des Plantes

Setting: The Bachelor Library

Setting: The Last Floor

The team

• Myriam Gorsse : Head of Information Skills Training in the

University Pierre et Marie Curie, Executive producer on Hellink.

• A video game professional team:

• Thomas Planques : Creative director, producer, 10 years

of experience in the video game field.

• 2 game designers

• 1 assistant producer

• 1 environment artist, 1 character designer, 1 UI artist

• 1 developer

• 1 sound designer/composer

• 1 dialogue writer et 1 script doctor

Summary

• A game in a sci-fi universe with a humorous

tone, inspired by Ace Attorney, teaching

information research and critical analysis.

• An alliance between the best aspects of

entertainment and teaching!

• Contacts :

• Myriam Gorsse – Executive producer

myriam.gorsse@upmc.fr

• Thomas Planques – Creative director

thomas.planques@gmail.com