Game Map by H5P: Connecting H5P Activities Together to Create a Gamified Learning Experience, Video Game Style

Game Map, a new H5P activity, lets you create a video game style experience using a wide-ranging series of questions. Choose a background image to serve as the map of an imaginary world, just like in Super Mario. To progress around the map (earning points without losing too many life points), students must successfully complete the challenges you’ve set (such as answering questions, watching content, etc.) based on your predefined settings.

Example of Game Map in use, provided by H5P.org

How to create a Game Map activity in Moodle

In Moodle, add “Game Map” to the content bank of your course

Accessing the content bank of a Moodle course [in French]

Adding a new Game Map activity to the content bank of a course

Next, choose the image that will serve as the map for your game and set it as the background. For my part, I used the Adobe Express image generator (which I have free access to through MagicSchool) to create the map of a fantasy island. (To learn more about MagicSchool, check out this article [in French].)

The image generator I used creates static images, but if you can access an animated image that suits your needs, feel free to use it!

The AI-generated map of a fantasy island

Designing a Game Map activity in Moodle

After choosing a background image, you can play with the following:

• Click on “End screen” to set what will be displayed on the screen at the end of the game for the student who succeeded or failed. (You can choose an image and add text.) You can also specify the feedback that will be shown based on the student’s score at the end of the game.
• Click on “Visual settings” to modify the colours of the stage markers or the layout of the paths between the stages.
• Click on “Audio settings” to set background music or sounds for different game events (such as losing a life, earning a life, failing the game, etc.).
  You can find royalty-free audio files (such as sound effects or music) on Pixabay and other sites.
• Click on “Behavioural settings” to configure various aspects such as the number of life points students will initially have, or the maximum time allowed to complete the game.
  In the “Map” box, you can specify whether completing a stage is an absolute requirement to move on to the next one, or if the student can roam freely between stages.
• Click on “Text modifications or translations” to translate the various messages displayed to the player into another language, as needed. Some elements might already be translated, but as more stages are added to the game, the list of items to translate will grow.

Creating a stage (designing an H5P activity within the game map)

Clicking on “Step 2 Game map” opens the star-shaped icon that enables you to add a stage (exercise generator). The heart-shaped icon next to it allows you to add a “special stage,” which marks the end of the game or a place where the student earns an extra life or additional time.

The star-shaped icon allows you to create a stage in the game

A stage can take the form of almost any H5P type of question or activity, for example:

• multiple-choice (with variation: multimedia choice and single choice set) 
• true or false 
• open-ended   
• fill in the blanks 
• drag the words  
• mark the words  
• interactive slideshow presentation with various questions  
• interactive video (with different types of questions added to the video)
• drag-and-drop  
• find the hotspot  
• memory game  
• dialog cards  
• audio recorder 

There are also some H5P “activities” that are more about providing information rather than being truly interactive activities. For example, you could share:

• text
• an audio file
• an image
• an image with hotspots  
• a video
• a slideshow
• accordion content  
• a sequence of images that change with a click (image slider), or gradually when sliding the cursor (agamotto)

Choosing the type of content for a stage

You can then create the activity just as if you had accessed Moodle’s content bank. Next, specify which other stage (or stages) it should be connected to on the map. This will create a path between these stages. You can also set a time limit for the stage or determine a minimum score that the student must achieve in the game before being able to access this stage.

Creating an activity (a stage)

Once the activity is fully set up and the stage is properly configured, drag the stage marker to where you want it to be on the game map.

The visual representation of my map with all the stages (activities) in position

I hope this proves useful if you feel like creating a learning path in one of your courses!