Have you played this game?

You can rate this game, record that you've played it, or put it on your wish list after you log in.

Voices of Spoon River

by Jon Scoresby, Tim Stowell, Tom Caswell, Jared Bernotski, Marie Duncan, Marian Jensen, Jennifer Jorgensen, and Brett Shelton

About the Story

"Every cemetery has a plot, a series of secrets that some would prefer stayed buried.

This graveyard is haunted. It wouldn’t be, except that unresolved issues torment Spoon River’s former inhabitants and prevent them from resting.

Your mission is to set these issues right and release the suffering dead. Read the epitaphs, talk to ghosts, explore the town and examine objects till you find needed clues.

Good luck! The eternal peace of several souls depends on your determination."

This game was designed by a group of graduate students and their professor at Utah State University as an activity to test activity-goal alignment for researching educational game design. The game was implemented in a class of middle-school students on their unit of poetry covering early 20th century American literature: "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters.

Note there are 2 Easter eggs found within the game as well. One has to do with the common items collected in IF that *seem* to have no function here. When this egg is unlocked the entire Spoon River Anthology is available for reading within the game. The second Easter egg has to do with the single item that has no useful purpose in solving the ghosts' issues, and will reveal epitaphs of the authors when "used" properly.

If you use this game for any educational purposes, please let us know, we'd appreciate it!

Page Update History

  v.6: 15-Mar-2011 00:11 - Brett Shelton (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed description
v.5: 15-Mar-2011 00:10 - Brett Shelton
Changed description
v.4: 14-Mar-2011 23:55 - Brett Shelton
Changed version number
v.3: 14-Mar-2011 23:55 - Brett Shelton
Changed author, external review links
v.2: 14-Mar-2011 23:49 - Brett Shelton
Changed cover art, forgiveness
v.1: 29-Sep-2007 20:48 - IFDB
Created page

1 Off-Site Review

ETR&D
Aligning game activity with educational goals...
This game was used for research on activity-goal alignment for teaching middle school students a unit based within the Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. The link provides access to the article, full title: Aligning game activity with educational goals: following a constrained design approach to instructional computer games.
See the full review

Game Details