So I didn't do any programming yet, but I like planning things before jumping in. One of the things is the layout of the minigame and how everything fits on screen, so I don't end up having to re-animate stuff and redo a bunch of work.

For placeholders I drew myself as the player character and my husband as the helper character who tells you what to do.

HUD

The HUD contains a score (questions right / total questions), a player level (which would carry across multiple minigames eventually), and a in-game currency (which would let the player unlock cosmetic stuff eventually). Keep in mind the in-game currency is ONLY IN-GAME; you earn that currency by getting questions right, not by paying anybody real Earth Bucks.

Romanization

I'm going to ket the user turn on or off romanization. Duolingo makes you work with the Devanagari script but it doesn't suit my needs. I can read Devanagari - I took a Hindi class with a bunch of kids for a year and that's what we learned the entire year - but I don't really need Devanagari. Reading comprehension can come later; I need to be able to speak with my in-laws since they only speak Hindi. Since apps like Duolingo make you use the writing system, I feel like it kills my momentum.

Vocab minigames

I tend to be fine at learning grammar via a book. Like reading program code, there are rules and putting those rules into practice will help solidify it over time. What I really struggle with is vocabulary. I may know how to form a sentence in Hindi, but I don't have the words I need to pop in there.

I want vocabulary minigames that go fast and let you drill the words. Questions go by fast, you hear the word/sentence, you answer, you're right or wrong and get the word again later for more practice. Duolingo is so slow and I can't get practice with the same words consistently. I have Hindi flash cards but they're paper and it's very possible that I could mispronounce things and learn the word incorrectly.

Watching people play through the original game (like the Spanish version Fantasía de Español) the game is so easy to play and they'll just sit there and keep answering questions over and over and just kind of get into it. There isn't anything there to kill momentum.

Learning Esperanto vs. learning Hindi

When I was learning Esperanto, I'd spend a ton of time using Memrise-based flash cards to learn vocabulary, and it worked really well for me. And I keep finding myself want the same sort of experience with Hindi, but even though there are flash cards in Hindi on Memrise, you run into the same problem with being required to read Devanagari - the momentum-killer for me. And again, I don't have that motivation to become a speed reader in Hindi - I need to be able to practice with the actual words and grammar and practice speaking and listening.

Anyway, that's all I really did tonight. It's finals week so my workload is relatively light; just grading stuff that's coming in last-minute. But I'm gonna take it easy the rest of tonight. Ĝis la revido!