About
Our Children Need Quark
Hello, we're Idriss and Serge, and we are pioneers in applying a field of neuroscience to game design called, "brain ergonomics".
Quark is our first project, and we need your help to realize our dream to create wonder and relight the love of science for students around the world.
We believe Quark will unleash this potential.
Idriss is a professor, entrepreneur, and neuroscientist who was invited by Stanford University to research the brain's cognitive basis of mathematics. Serge brings over 30+ years of experience as a researcher, professor, executive, and digital and internet entrepreneur. We, and a small team of ultra-talented engineers and designers in Australia and France, want to help children around the world understand science.
Quark is a language-free interactive game for the iOS and Android that naturally enrolls children to the subjects of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). This first version of Quark takes children on a fun and challenging journey from the birth of the universe to a full-fledged star system. Quark opens childrens' imagination to science in a way lectures cannot anymore.
Quark is Education
We don't believe that the old method of education, where teachers are lecturing like gods to students in organized rows, works anymore. The younger generation's brains are in many ways too stimulated by technology to slow down and absorb these lectures. There is a great contradiction between how they learn and how they live.
If you ask a child, or even a teenager or young adult, to choose between playing a game of Angry Birds or listen to a lecture on the laws of the universe, 90% of the subjects will choose Angry Birds, the other 5% will give up listening after 20 minutes and join the others in a game of Angry Birds.
An Educator's Testimonial
We spoke with a teacher of science to middle school students in Queens, New York. She told us, "these kids have parents working two jobs, so they really have no one making sure they do their work. They all have devices now: a phone, a tablet, and a computer. They're on them all day long chatting with friends and playing completely mindless games. Not only is it hard for me to engage them for 50 minutes every day because of all the distractions, their minds are just not tuned to take in information through lectures."
Gaming is one way to learn, but many games are either not engaging enough, or the learning goal is simply not achieved.
Quark is designed to bring science to students in a way that inspires them and holds their attention: through intuitive gameplay.
Quark is Brain Ergonomic = Opens the Brain to Learning
Quark uses a field of neuroscience called, "brain ergonomics", that we are pioneers in.
Recall the famous "wax-on, wax-off" scene in the Karate Kid. Ralph Macchio was told by his wise teacher, Mr. Miyagi, to wax his cars in a very specific way. Eventually Ralph became so frustrated with not learning Karate that he threatened to quit. Now was the chance for Mr. Miyagi to teach Ralph a big lesson. He had been learning Karate!! The very precise circle motions Mr. Miyagi had taught Ralph were in fact precise martial arts moves to block and strike opponents.
This is Quark! With Quark, the behaviors in the game are created to relax and open the minds of students, so that the opportunity to learn and think critically and imaginatively is enhanced by distributing the cognitive load across more areas of your brain. Before long, our gameplay will have brought you in contact with the laws of the cosmos, the very building blocks of life, without you ever noticing.
When students finally sit down again to learn about science, they'll be warmed up and more knowledgable and inspired than they ever realized they could be.
Quark Creates the "Proud to Play" Gaming Industry
The educational intentions and ergonomic game design means that Quark is a game that will make your children, students, and even yourself "Proud to Play". No more of those depressing questions about "what am I doing with my life?" after sitting in your house for days without showering, lost in a mindless game that teaches you nothing. Quark is a game that actually gives you something valuable for your time: brain development and education.
We believe that this guiltless gaming experience, where you are Proud to Play, is an entirely new industry in which we are here to pioneer.
Quark's success will open a healthier gaming market for our children and students.
Look Inside Quark
- App for iOS or Android
- Target age: 7 - 22
- Game built using: Blender for graphics, Unity3D as the development platform, and Pro Tools for sound design.
In-game, the intuitive game mechanics themselves support the fundamental laws of physics. You will learn - not from equations - but by playing.
You will be throwing quarks against each other until you create protons and neutrons, which, in turn, you will manipulate to create atoms, then matter.
You will stir beautiful hydrogen nebulae, then more complex star nurseries to create your first stars, then magnificent supernovae. And once you have become really good at it...immense galaxies.
As you play the game, you will be creating your own Universe, your own Cosmos!
(*Note: All videos and photos of Quark are from its prototype and do not represent final product experience.)
Quark is Universally Accessible
Quark does not use language. This means that children in all markets, not just privileged markets, will have access to the game immediately. They won't need to learn a foreign language or wait for us to release a game in their language edition.
Quark is available to any child in the world who has access to a iOS or Android device. By using mobile operating systems, we ensure that Quark is portable and that down time, like long commutes to school or work, where usually mindless games are played, will now be replaced by Quark.
Quark, Right Now
The single player version of Quark will be available mid-December 2013. This version will be to primarily test and refine the gameplay on the open market while opening doors to market and sell the product.
We have a team of artists, neuroscientists, engineers, and business advisors working to bring Quark to life.
Why Kickstarter? Social Quark
We need your help to transform Quark from a single-version app experience into a community gaming universe where children and students around the world can do amazing things to increase their interest and imagination of science.
Examples of community features are:
- co-design the Cosmos
- post videos of their creations
- receive comments, help, and advice from the community
- build teams
- challenge others
Where the Money Goes
With $15,000, we will invest resources on:
- the server infrastructure
- the community management system
- playable characters in the game : Galilee, Newton,
Messier, Einstein, Heisenberg, Pauli, and more.
We envisage Quark to be an integral part of education in the future, not just for younger students, but for the world's best universities too. We can imagine Australia’s best universities, along with MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, or Běidà accrediting Quark players.
By backing Quark today, you are not backing yet another game, you are backing a future where all human beings around the world are literate and enlightened to the laws and mysteries of the universe. Just imagine how rich a future like that could be.
Be Proud to Play!
The Quark Team
Designed by Scanderia in Melbourne, Assembled in France
Because we want to take the best of breed, Quark is designed in Melbourne, Australia, and is assembled in the medieval city of Parthenay, France.
Academic Influences
For neuro-lovers, we owe much to Belchior et al. 2013, Bavelier & Davidson 2013, Bavelier et al. 2011, Dehaene & Brannon 2010, Dehaene & Changeux 2011, Dehaene 2009 and Clarke 2013. We also love the works of Matthew Peterson and Ken Robinson.
Risks and challenges
OUR RISKS
1) How Can We Stay Alive in the Hyper-competitive Gaming Industry?
We need to consistently be upgrading our game quality through graphic and sound design. Because our game is not competing with World of Warcraft, we don't need Hollywood-style graphics out of the box. Instead, we just need to make sure our graphics are good enough to keep a gamer's attention, but our game concept is so innovative that the gameplay, and not the graphics, becomes the driving factor behind the gamer's motivation to play. However, we can envision future partnerships with top designers who are eager to break into the educational gaming space.
2) How Can the Game Work on All Mobile Devices Fluidly?
Microchip technology follows Moore's Law, so every year the processor intensity scales at a mind-boggling rate. However, because we're aiming for a global market, we can never underestimate the technology capacities of all nations. Therefore, we have setup an incredibly thorough testing process that uses older mobile technology to test over-clocking performance challenges.
Questions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support
Funding period
- (30 days)