A Framework for the Creation of a Reading Video Game for Children

When children start to learn how to read in primary school, they are given children’s books, collections of tales, to read in class or at home, but not all children enjoy books to the fullest, and worse, many do not like reading at all. The aim of this paper is to propose a method to adapt such books into video games, hence giving the possibility to read the same stories in a different, interactive medium. Children being familiar with video games, and being avid players, they may more easily enjoy a story through this medium rather than another. But as we work on the matter at hand, two main issues arise, which we will discuss further below. How to adapt from text, often illustrated, to video game? Considering the target audience of this effort, how are we going to make it understandable, legible, and accessible to young children? Said questions are meant to help developers and researchers understand better how to work with children’s literature and children’s games having always their audience in mind.