Trip Hawkins has always been ahead of the game. Back when gaming wasn't a mainstream business, he designed his own major in Strategy and Applied Game Theory at Harvard. Hawkins left the safe confines of Apple Computer (AAPL) in 1982, where he worked with Steve Jobs as director of strategy and marketing, to start up his own videogame company, Electronic Arts (EA). In 2003 he founded Digital Chocolate to develop games for the burgeoning mobile industry.

    Since stepping down as CEO of Digital Chocolate in 2012, Hawkins has been focusing his attention on If You Can Company, a startup that creates educational videogames for 6- to 12-year-olds. In his role as CEO, Hawkins has brought game industry vets like Stewart Bonn (former producer from Electronic Arts), Ben Geliher (former product owner of Moshi Monsters at Mind Candy) and Jessica Berlinski (former executive director of Gamedesk and Character Counts) on board. John Couch, vice president of education at Apple, is a company investor and has joined its Board of Directors.

    To date, Hawkins has raised $3 million in capital from angels and seed venture funds, including Greylock, Andreessen Horowitz, Maveron, and Founder's Fund. The idea behind this company is to develop "AAA" quality gameplay experiences that also happen to teach kids while they're playing. The first game from the studio is IF …, an iOS game created by a team that includes former Mind Candy developers. All corporate and curriculum work for the game is being handled in San Mateo, Calif. A free version of the game will launch in late January first on iOS devices.

    The 3-D action-adventure game introduces kids to Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), an educational philosophy that emphasizes communication skills, conflict resolution, and character development, among others. IF ... introduces these concepts through a fictional universe featuring cats and dogs. After years of warring, cats have established a home planet of Catonia, and dogs have created Dogma. Players create a dog or cat avatar and receive a spirit guide akin to a Jiminy Cricket or Tinker Bell, but in feline or canine form. All of the characters have been voiced over so that younger children can experience the game as well.

    "We present the curriculum to players intuitively through gameplay experiences that unfold as they explore Greenberry and its surroundings," said Hawkins, who noted the gameplay will have elements of Nintendo's Animal Crossing franchise and also feature collectible creatures a la the Pokemon games. "When litter builds up in town, players can ignore it or they can pick it up and even create a recycling center. The goodwill you build up in the town will have characters feel about similar to Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life."

    While kids won't notice any of it -- the game was designed to be fun and engaging -- a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to make it educational. The game developers draw from several documents and specs regarding teaching standards, beginning with the State of Illinois, which introduced the first-ever government SEL standards, and the Nueva School, pioneers in the SEL field. The team also works with the Stanford Research Institute and with UC Berkeley (Greater Good Science Center).

    特里普•霍金斯总是傲然挺立于游戏行业的潮头。忆往昔，当游戏还不是一项主流生意的时候，正在哈佛大学(Harvard University)读书的霍金斯设计了自己的主修专业：战略与应用博弈论。他后来出任苹果电脑公司(Apple Computer )战略和市场营销总监，与史蒂夫•乔布斯并肩工作。1982年，霍金斯辞去这份安稳的工作，创办了自己的企业电子艺界公司(Electronic Arts)。2003年，他创立数字巧克力公司(Digital Chocolate)，开始为蓬勃发展的移动产业开发游戏。

    自2012年卸任数字巧克力公司CEO以来，霍金斯一直在全身心地打理如果你能公司(If You Can Company) ——一家旨在为6到12岁孩童创造教育视频游戏的初创企业。肩负CEO之责的霍金斯将好几位游戏业老兵招致麾下，比如电子艺界公司前制作人斯图尔特•波恩、心灵糖果公司(Mind Candy)旗下网游产品《莫希怪兽》(Moshi Monsters)前负责人本•盖利赫，以及Gamedesk公司和Character Counts公司前执行董事杰西卡•柏林斯基。苹果公司教育业务副总裁约翰•柯西是这家公司的投资者之一，而且已经加入它的董事会。

    到目前为止，霍金斯已经从多家天使和种子风险基金募集了300万美元投资，投资人包括格雷洛克(Greylock)、安德森•霍洛维茨(Andreessen Horowitz)、马贝龙(Maveron)和创始人基金(Founder's Fund)。这家雄心勃勃的公司希望为孩子们开发出寓教于乐的“AAA”级游戏体验。它的处女作是一款名为《如果》(IF…)的iOS游戏，研发团队包括几位曾经在心灵糖果公司工作过的开发人员。相关人员正在加州圣马特奥市处理这款游戏的所有企业和课程工作，游戏的免费版本将于1月下旬率先面向iOS设备推出。

    这款3D动作冒险游戏诱导孩子进行社交和情绪学习( Social and Emotional Learning，简称SEL)，贯彻的是一种强调沟通能力，解决冲突和个性发展等方面的教育理念。为灌输这些概念，《如果》创建了一个以猫和狗为主人公的虚构宇宙。经过多年的交战，猫建立了一个叫做Catonia的家园，狗也建立了自己的家园Dogma。玩家创建一个狗或猫化身，并拥有一位类似于吉米尼蟋蟀(Jiminy Cricket)或小叮当(Tinker Bell)、但形态为猫或狗的精灵向导。所有这些角色都配有话外音，以方便年龄更小的孩子们也能体验到游戏的乐趣。

    霍金斯说：“当玩家们探索Greenberry和它周边地区的时候，我们通过依次展开的游戏体验，直观地向他们呈现课程内容。”他指出，这款游戏将融合任天堂公司(Nintendo)旗下游戏《动物之森》(Animal Crossing )的某些元素，还有一些与《口袋妖怪》(Pokemon)系列游戏相类似的可收集的生物。“垃圾在城里积聚成堆时，玩家可以视而不见，也可以把垃圾捡起来，甚至还可以创建一个回收中心。你在城里累积的善意将让这些角色产生一种类似于《生活多美好》(It's a Wonderful Life)主演吉米•斯图尔特那样的感受。”

    为了让这款游戏具有教育意义，研究人员做了大量工作，而孩子们丝毫不会注意到这些凝聚在游戏场景背后的心血，因为这款游戏设计得非常生动有趣。游戏开发人员借鉴了多份教学标准文件和细则，伊利诺伊州在全美率先推出政府SEL标准，以及SEL领域的先驱努埃瓦学校(Nueva School)自然是他们率先学习的对象。此外，这支团队还与斯坦福研究院(Stanford Research Institute )和加州大学伯克利分校(UC Berkeley)至善科学中心(Greater Good Science Center)结成了合作关系。

    The game has been divided into chapters, and different lesson plans are taught over the course of a month. The first chapter will explore positive and negative emotions and the multiple layers within each emotion. For example, anger is generally considered a secondary emotion because something else is causing it. Throughout the game, new characters will be introduced, and players can learn about their emotional state and explore back stories on why the characters feel the way they do.

    "We introduce the concept of a check-in when you interact with people, checking to see how they're feeling and being more mindful and socially aware about that," said Hawkins. "We also teach about the concept that feelings can get escalated up and down, and we introduce some tools for self-management and regulation of emotions."

    Gameplay illustrates these concepts in different ways. When a player's avatar becomes emotionally elevated, it floats into the air. The spirit guide teaches the player how to calm down using lessons from SEL. Later in the chapter, the player will encounter a mother who's been separated from her baby, and she's angry because she thinks the player is responsible. Now the player must use these same calming techniques on the mother, applying what they learned earlier. As a reward, the player will ultimately reunite the mother with her child.

    "We learn by doing, and gameplaying is a fundamentally potent way to learn if you're put into a situation that can be transferred into the real world in the way that benefits you," said Hawkins. "If you look at Angry Birds, you're not learning anything that can be applied to the real world. There are lots of parents that are despondent because they have a child that has a mobile addiction. We all have a mobile addiction, let's be frank, but many people are using tablets, smartphones, computers, and game consoles as an electronic babysitter. We've designed IF … to present kids with scenarios where they need to make decisions within a fully engrossing fantasy world, and those same decisions can be applied to everyday life."

    The game will explore SEL educational guidelines that Hawkins said aren't being addressed by many schools today, including how to manage your emotions, how to develop positive relationships, and how to make effective decisions in society. Another benefit for parents is that the lessons the game teaches also address bullying.

    "If a bully played this game they wouldn't immediately realize that they're a bully -- and this game isn't going to teach them not to be a bully -- but it would increase their sensitivity and they would start to better understand the consequences of being a victim," said Hawkins. "I really do have a long-term belief that what we're doing with this game doesn't just help the victims, it would actually help bullies realize that they're better off not being bullies."   

    这款游戏分为若干个章节，一个月内安排不同的教学计划。第一章将探讨积极和消极情绪，以及每种情绪内的多个层面。比如，愤怒被普遍视为次级情绪，因为它是由其他原因造成的。从始至终，这款游戏会不断推出新角色，玩家们可以了解这些角色的情绪状态，同时探索背景故事，以了解它们产生各种情绪的原因。

    “我们引入‘查阅’(check-in)概念。这样，玩家与人互动时就可以查阅并更加留意他们的感受，从而在社交过程中意识到这一点，”霍金斯说。“我们也传授情绪可能会大起大落这个概念，同时还引入了一些对情绪进行自我管理和调节的工具。”

    游戏设置以不同的方式阐释这些概念。当一位玩家的化身情绪激动时，它就会漂浮到空中。精灵向导教导玩家如何使用从SEL课程中学到的经验教训冷静下来。在后面的章节中，玩家将遇到一位与宝宝分离的母亲。这位母亲非常愤怒，因为她认为这位玩家应对此事负责。现在，玩家必须把同样的冷静技巧用在这位母亲身上，再次应用此前学到的经验教训。作为奖励，玩家最终将让这位母亲和她的孩子重新团聚。

    “我们边做边学，如果你被投入到一种情势下，而且这种情势能够以有利于你的方式转移至现实世界，那么玩游戏就是一种极其有效的学习方式，”霍金斯说。“玩《愤怒的小鸟》(Angry Birds)时，人们无法学到任何可以应用到现实世界的东西。很多家长因子女玩移动设备上瘾而感到沮丧。坦率地说，我们每个人都有这样的嗜好，但现在有许多人把平板电脑、智能手机、电脑和游戏机当作电子保姆来使用。我们设计《如果》是为了给孩子们呈现一些场景，在这个引人入胜的奇幻世界中，他们需要做出一些可以在日常生活中应用的决策。”

    霍金斯说，这款游戏将探索很多学校目前还没有解决的SEL教育指导方针，其中包括如何管理情绪，如何培育积极的关系，以及如何在社会上做出有效的决策。对家长的另一个好处是，这款游戏传授的教训也有助于解决霸凌问题。

    “如果一个小霸王玩这个游戏，他们不会立刻意识到自己是这类人——这款游戏不会教导他们停止恃强欺弱——但它将提高他们的敏感性，他们将开始更好地理解被人欺侮的滋味，”霍金斯说。“我的确怀抱着一个长期的信念：通过这款游戏，我们不只可以帮助受害者，其实还将帮助小霸王们意识到，如果不欺负人的话，他们的境遇也会好得多。”   

    If You Can will release the first chapter of the game for free and then offer a subscription for additional chapters. Hawkins noted that the global market for private tutors today is nearing $150 billion, and with no direct competition, he believes parents will invest in this game to supplement in-school education and also offer a positive mobile gaming experience to kids who are playing with tablets and smartphones anyway. Schools will be able to use Apple's volume-based pricing to subscribe to the game, although they will also get the first chapter for free.

    "I met with the superintendent that runs the public schools in San Francisco, which includes 56,000 students, and they have 8,000 kids in after-care," said Hawkins. "A lot of these schools use Race to the Top money to buy tablets without really having a great assortment of educational apps that are even available. There's nothing remotely like what we're doing, so there's definitely an opportunity there."

    Hawkins said the focal point for the company at first will be the consumer market. And then in parallel they have strategic partners like the Boys and Girls Clubs of America that will use iPads and IF … as part of their after care program. The company is also talking to academic researchers at Yale and other colleges to develop research projects that will show that the game is effective.

    Wanda Meloni, founder of M2 Research, believes If You Can could do very well because parents are continually looking for quality games their children can play, but also learn something from.

    "Parents always feel much better about purchasing a game that has elements of learning that reinforce education concepts," said Meloni. "In schools, the discussion of bullying has become a central theme for teachers and school administrators who are looking for programs they can implement."

    Hawkins said he's taken the same approach with his educational company as he did at EA when creating the Madden football franchise, which went on to generate over $4 billion at retail. He's assembled a team of proven game creators and educators. Come January, the world will see if he can do it again.

    如果你能公司将免费发布这款游戏的第一章，随后将推出额外章节的付费订购服务。霍金斯指出，全球私人教师市场现在已接近1,500亿美元。他相信，由于没有直接的竞争对手，家长们将掏钱购买这款游戏，以补充学校教育，也将为那些无论如何也要玩平板电脑和智能手机的孩子提供一种积极的移动游戏体验。学校可以使用苹果公司的使用量计费方式(volume-based pricing)认购这款游戏，但它们也将免费获得第一章。

    “我已经会晤了旧金山公立学校总监，这些学校共有56,000名学生，其中8,000名孩子正在接受课后护理服务，”霍金斯说。“许多学校使用联邦政府力争上游计划(Race to the Top)拨款购买平板电脑，但它们并没有详尽评估形形色色的教育应用软件。我们正在做的事情目前还没有别人在做，哪怕连沾边的也没有，所以我们绝对有一个机会。”

    霍金斯说，他的公司将首先把目光对准消费市场。然后，作为一项并行措施，他们与一些机构结成战略合作伙伴关系，比如美国儿童群益会(Boys and Girls Clubs of America)将使用iPad和《如果》游戏作为其课后护理计划的组成部分。此外，这家公司正在接洽耶鲁大学(Yale University)和其他院校的研究人员，希望他们设计一些科研开发项目，以证明这款游戏蕴含的教育意义。

    M2研究中心 (M2 Research)创始人旺达•马龙尼看好如果你能公司的发展前景，因为家长们一直在不断地为孩子们寻找寓教于乐的高品质游戏。

    “如果家长购买的是一款包含学习元素、有助于巩固教育观念的游戏，他们的内心感受自然会好很多，”马龙尼说。“在学校，霸凌现象已成为教师和学校管理层不断探讨的中心议题，他们正在寻找可以应用的解决方案。”

    霍金斯说，当年在电子艺界公司开发《疯狂橄榄球》游戏(Madden )的时候，他已经采用过如今这家教育游戏公司正在使用的策略，而这款橄榄球游戏最终也创造了超过40亿美元的零售额。现在，他集结了一支由身经百战的游戏开发者和教育工作者组成的团队。霍金斯能否再创辉煌，1月下旬将见分晓，就让我们拭目以待吧。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒