DEV Community: Valentin Briukhanov

Esport as Motivation for Learning

Valentin Briukhanov — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:43:42 +0000

Our first LAN in university is forever tied to Heroes of Might and Magic 3 in my memory. I remember how we discussed strategies and analyzed every match. We had deeper debates about which faction was better and more complex math calculations than we ever had in our classes. And let's not forget the intricate spreadsheets for building calculations and strategies in Diablo 2. Then we discovered Colobot and tried to figure out how to compete there—but sadly, there was no multiplayer in that programming game. 20 years later, I'm making games where you can compete with your programming and problem-solving skills.

The main issue with most STEM-related competitions is that they're not exciting for spectators—and often not even for participants. They can feel like exams on steroids, making it hard to convince students that these kids are superstars. Competition in classrooms can be a double-edged sword if it just turns into a race for grades. It needs to be fun and engaging, not just about who's the best.

We've already seen how geeks and nerds became popular—through video games and esports. Twenty years ago, pulling all-nighters playing Quake earned you a "nerd" label. Now, it's a ticket to being the coolest in class. While esports might not be at the peak of its hype this year, maybe this is exactly the right time to use it as a motivation for learning. Esports competitions feel normal now, making it much easier to bring them into schools. If video games could turn nerds into rockstars, maybe esports-inspired competitions can make STEM learning just as thrilling.

Game Design Constraints as a Driver for Educational Games

Valentin Briukhanov — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 09:25:07 +0000

Constraints are a driver for creativity in game design. You've heard it before—but what about educational games?

I've made enough educational games to understand the power of constraints. Creating game-based learning is an Obstacle Course Race for designers: technology limitations (schools using Chromebooks or simple tablets), fitting curriculum standards, keeping the audience in mind, ensuring age-appropriate content, etc. And the final boss of game-based learning? Turning educational content into a game in a way that makes it both engaging and essential to the gameplay.

My solution is in the first sentence of this post. I treat constraints as a catalyst for creativity, taking inspiration from games built on the same principle—like "Human Resource Machine" or "Colobot", where limitations shape mechanics, encourage problem-solving, and lead to unique gameplay experiences. In educational games, the same approach applies: embracing constraints forces innovative design solutions that make learning both engaging and essential to the game itself.

AI, Absurdity, and Learning Faster

Valentin Briukhanov — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 16:31:29 +0000

Imagine a fox standing in the doorway on the roof of an English manor, gripping the frame with all its limbs as the strongest wind blows. Or picture a certain green ogre (you know who, but let’s dodge copyright paranoia) standing in front of an igloo, trying to weigh the sun against a one-pound weight, just to figure out what time it is. Weird, right? If you can’t easily imagine this, maybe some text-to-video AI can help. In fact, the weirder, the better. Oh, wait — I haven’t told you why yet. Here’s a hint: 风 (wind) and 时 (time).

About six months ago, I started learning Chinese and passed the HSK1 exam in just three months. However, I quickly realized that I needed to memorize many characters, and my learning speed was painfully slow. Even worse — keeping them in my memory wasn’t as easy as I had thought, especially the tones. That’s why I researched memory techniques and chose the Memory Palace method. After adapting it to my needs, my learning speed skyrocketed. Even better, I could retain the characters in my memory for much longer.

To use this technique, you must first create a spreadsheet with initials, finals, and tones and learn how to use it. It just takes time and patience — you can do it in a week, easily. But the next step is where imagination and visualization come in. That was never a problem for me — I’ve spent years immersed in video games, so my brain naturally builds wild, colorful scenes. But the more I talked to others, the more I realized that not everyone finds it easy to picture absurd, detailed scenarios packed with vivid elements. And in memory techniques, the crazier the scenario, the better it works.

So, what if we had a tool that could instantly create absurd, animated scenes for us? And I think you’ve already seen plenty of these short videos recently. Yes, I’m talking about AI-generated videos — text-to-video AI models. Just type your scene as a prompt, and you’ll have a bizarre, memorable short video in seconds. The best part? You don’t need perfect visuals. Artifacts, distortions, weird object blending — these imperfections make the video even more memorable. More anchors mean easier recall.

We often think of AI as a tool for creating polished visuals. But what if we used it for something messier that thrives on imperfection? Like how we use LLMs for brainstorming and idea generation, crazy “broken” stories can feed our brains better than perfect ones. Sure, AI pulls from existing knowledge, but the story is still ours. Maybe AI can be our crazy muse.

Elite Commodore 64 Source Code is available

Valentin Briukhanov — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 14:37:34 +0000

I have often mentioned that my video game education started with the ZX Spectrum (you know, it may be known as the Commodore 64). One of the games that left a huge impact on me was Elite.
Just imagine how advanced the game was in the 80s. It was a space trading game with a huge universe, and you could explore it. What I remember from the game is how hard it was to get used to the controls.
Docking to a space station was a challenge — no, it was THE CHALLENGE! There was no scaffolding, no help, just your ship and rotating narrow port. I have no idea how many times I crashed into the station.
The game's difficulty was insane, and I loved it. In our notebooks, we wrote prices for different goods on different planets. We planned our routes to make some profit and avoid pirates.
Or, if you are a fan of space combat, you could become a space pirate and/or a bounty hunter. I still don't know how they could make such a game back in the 80s. And now, we have a chance to see the game's source code.
Yes, this long intro was a "trap" to lure you to the source code ;-).

Elite Commandore Sources

Lua needs more love

Valentin Briukhanov — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 14:36:39 +0000

Three years ago, I became familiar with Lua for an interview test task. Before that, I had no experience with it.
So, my first surprise was how easy it was to learn and start using it. Yes, complained a little about the "continue" statement, but it was easy to get used to.

The next time I got to Lua it was when we started to work on CodeCombat Worlds -- Educational Game on the Roblox platform to teach kids programming. So yes, we used Luau. Luau is an extension of Lua with some improvements, such as type-checking and other features. I already have experience with interpreting languages, so getting used to Luau for game development was easy. When I started to use it, I was a little skeptical that we could use it for our ambitious project. I was wrong, and I was happy to be wrong. Lua is an excellent language for game development and scripting. I like its simplicity and straightforwardness.

When I recently decided what game engine to play with, I found that Defold is using Lua. It's an excellent choice for this game engine as it highlights its simplicity. I'm not sure I would use Defold for big projects; however, it's an excellent choice for small projects, especially educational games, because it is easy to make HTML5 games with it (Hello Chromebooks in schools!).

If you are interested in more technical details, I would recommend the article "Lua is so underrated" by Noë Flatreaud, which inspires me to write this post.